On the 22nd of August, I received an invitation via an email from the Malaysian Nuclear Agency as a speaker at the International Conference on Non-Ionizing Radiation (ICNIR 2019), Kuala Lumpur, held on the 1st-3rd October 2019. Well, obviously the invitation came as a surprise because I could not relate any of my previous work to the word “nuclear”.
The title of my presentation…
Later I discovered from the PIC that the Agency was interested to know more about a paper I co-authored with my PhD student, Manvin Kaur entitled “Impact of smartphone: a review on positive and negative effects on students”. The paper, published in 2018, was based on Manvin’s review of past literature from 2010 to 2018, related to her project.
Me trying to make some points here….
My first thought was to ask Manvin to present her work at the conference, because I really felt that she should take the ownership of her work. Plus, it would be a good experience for her to share her doctoral project to the public. Apparently, the committee insisted that the supervisor was the one to present, and so with Manvin’s approval, I took up the slot for the talk.
Prof. Rodney Croft from the University of Wollongong asking me on how to measure “impact” in social sciences research…
The experience was an eye opener indeed, since most of the participants were experts who study the direct (and indirect) impact of radiations from the advancement of the latest technology, particularly 5G. It was a pleasure to receive positive remarks from the audience, for example from Prof. Dr. Alexander Lerchl from Jacobs University Bremen, Germany (who said that “I could relate your topic with what’s happening with my children…) and also from Dr. Chiyoji Ohkubo from Japan EMF Information Centre (who highlighted WHO has now acknowledged online games as an addiction…). And Prof. Rodney Croft from the University of Wollongong who asked me on how to measure “impact” in social sciences research.
A token of appreciation from the organising committee…
Details of my participation at ICNIR 2019 can be found at UTM News via https://news.utm.my/2019/10/highlighting-the-psychological-impact-of-smartphones-on-students-at-the-9th-international-conference-on-non-ionizing-radiation-icnir-2019/
While the PPT slides of the presentation can be accessed via ResearchGate https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337136514_The_Psychological_Impact_of_Smartphones_on_Students
You can also read Manvin’s paper via ResearchGate https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328483615_Impact_of_Smartphone_A_Review_on_Positive_and_Negative_Effects_on_Students