It has been six days since I assumed the new position. Life wise? It has been a busy week. We are planning and strategizing research for the next year. Things must be done according to the objectives and the strategy of UTM and AHIBS.

In order for me to prepare a strategy and propose activities that are relevant to my colleagues, I believe I need to understand their strengths, weaknesses, current performance, and direction. Thus, for the past few weeks, with the help of Asma, we have been collating data about their current performance. And beginning this week, I set up a meeting with them, one by one.

Today, I started to meet up with some colleagues to understand their current performance and plans for the next year. I started with Dr. Basheer, who is the newcomer to AHIBS. He is enthusiastic about pursuing his research goals in AHIBS. I showed him how to use RADIS, UTMHR, and the upcoming e-LPPT. We then discussed his research direction and career planning in AHIBS. I am happy to see that he knows what he wants to do and how to achieve it.

Then, it was Farzana’s turn. Unlike Dr. Basheer, Dr. Farzana is our senior associate professor and is renowned for her work in green marketing. Apart from discussing her research direction, Farzana also gave some ideas on how to improve research activities in AHIBS, especially in BizConnection. I also had a meeting with Mazuwin and Rohaida. Mazuwin has been with us for the past year. She needs to put more effort into securing a research grant, and we did discuss some potential avenues for funding. Dr. Aida is the last person that I met for today’s session. Aida knows what she needs to improve on and has some plans in the pipeline. Apart from research grants, Aida is looking for an opportunity to be a keynote speaker. She is an expert in corporate governance and risk management. I hope she will get the opportunity soon.

I had my lunch with Dayana and Vithya, my students of MSc Foodi. They had an appointment with Madani & Co. for their MIDAS 2 project. The host was supportive in sharing their company’s story. Dayana and Vithya have started their empathy stage for design thinking to come up with innovative solutions for the company.