Today unfolded as one of those days where the boundaries between leadership, scholarship, and administration seemed to blur into one continuous flow of responsibility.
The morning began at Dewan Senat Ainuddin Wahid, Canseleri UTM, where I attended the MESYUARAT JAWATANKUASA PENGURUSAN JABATAN TIMBALAN NAIB CANSELOR (PENYELIDIKAN DAN INOVASI) BIL. 4/2025 at 9:00 AM. My role was as a member of the meeting and also (for today) to present a paper work outlining the requirements for academic staff traveling abroad to have complete insurance coverage. Our management is taking interim steps to support staff performing official research activities by covering insurance premium costs, while simultaneously encouraging researchers to include such costs in their research proposals. Arriving early allowed me to prepare for the presentation, and also to polish my NALI Educator Award 2025 slides, where I added two more reflecting my 2024 and 2025 scholarly engagements.
Right after Friday prayers, my pace quickened again as I rushed back to RMC for the JKP RMC Management Meeting at 2:15 PM. I was glad I had suggested an earlier start time; otherwise, the meeting would have drifted to 2:45 PM, losing valuable minutes. Here, I presented my Laporan Perkara Berbangkit (LPB), which focused on synthesizing a new document to streamline research expenditure. The proposal aims to reduce unnecessary bottlenecks, moving away from repeatedly asking sponsors for permission when research expenses don’t perfectly mirror proposals. In theory, this aligns with Weber’s critique of bureaucratic rigidity, where efficiency often gets lost in layers of rules. Our initiative is a small step toward more flexible governance in research management. Just wait for it to be finalized, perfected, and announced.
But I couldn’t stay long. By 3:00 PM, I had to be at the JTNCPI office, Bilik Mesyuarat Belian, for a Grant Briefing. As the sole RMC representative, I was there to provide my support and expertist. We commenced at 3.05pm via Webex (with nearly 400 people joined), listened to Prof. Farid, who spoke on research alliances, followed by Prof. Johari Surip and PM Dr. Sabrina Adam, who shared insights on community grants. I helped to respond several questions asked in Webex chat, and at times, explain verbally too. This multiplicity of roles, teaching, administering, advocating for researchers, reminded me of role theory in sociology, where individuals constantly juggle multiple, and sometimes conflicting, social expectations.
After the briefing, I returned to the JKP meeting, which stretched until 6:20 PM. By then, our discussions had shifted to Audit Lanjutan feedback requiring responses to Unit Audit Dalaman (UAD), UTM. Exhausting as it was, it also reinforced the principle of Durkheim’s functionalism: every piece of this process, however tedious, contributes to the larger stability and integrity of the institution.
And yet, even as the day’s formal agenda ended, my responsibilities did not. Hanging over the weekend is the continuing task of preparing documents for Jabatan Audit Negara’s Research University (RU) audit. In moments like these, I am reminded of work–life balance theories, which argue for clear separation between personal time and professional duties. But in practice, especially in academia and administration, that line is porous. The audit doesn’t wait for weekends, and responsibility stretches beyond the calendar.
As Merdeka season reminds us, freedom often comes with responsibility. Today’s string of meetings, presentations, and preparations may feel relentless, but they are all part of the collective endeavor to strengthen UTM’s role in research and education, an institutional “independence” built on accountability, teamwork, and vision.
#20242025 Day 060
#Friday
