Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia (AJCUI) and Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) of Malaysia will be organing A Talk Series 2020 with the theme “Navigating to the New Normal: Rethinking the Role of Energy Towards Global Sustainability”.

This talk is part of a close collaboration between both the universities, sparked from an initial matching grant partnership, led by Associate Professor Dr Ting Ding Hooi of UTP and Associate Professor Dr Endang Sulistyaningsih of AJCUI as well as a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two universities.

With the signing of the MoU on 20 May 2020, both institutions have agreed to establish a programme of academic and research cooperation which includes, but not limited to, exchange of scientists and faculty members, exchange of students, exchange of teaching materials and scientific information (including for internship, research attachment, capstone projects, and academic visits), development of collaborative graduate and postgraduate courses, including joint supervision of postgraduate students; joint research projects which may include sharing of facilities and equipment, and matching of research grants), joint publications, joint cultural programmes and joint conferences and workshops. This cooperation reflects the willingness of both institutions to contribute their resources to enhance international education and understanding.

The Talk Series 2020 is aimed to gather together interested parties – industry players, academics, higher institution students, to participate in the current global development in the Global, Regional Economy and Sustainability Practices, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Talk Series 2020 will provide participants with the development of the energy business and the impact of the COVID-19. The focus will be on how the pandemic has impacted on the sustainability of the Energy Sectors.

Speaking at the virtual press conference of the Talk Series 2020 held today, UTP Vice Chancellor Prof Ts. Dr Mohamed Ibrahim Abdul Mutalib said warnings of an imminent global recession have been ringing louder than before. With key economic data worldwide continuing to disappoint amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, experts say the worst is yet to come. The global economy is now slowing down, and some sectors have even collapsed. Until now, there is no scientific prediction as to what the world can rely on. The vaccine and medicine are still far from expectation, and the uncertainties are certain now.

“Does the world still have a future? Is it still relevant to talk about sustainability; even Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? How then does the energy sector play its role amid this situation? Will there be a new normal for the energy sector in the coming future? How do energy industries and governments cope with this situation? These issues need special attention, and AJCUI and UTP are at the front line to provide a scrutinised view to these issues,” he said.

Dr Agustinus Prasetyantoko, Rector of AJCUI, saw the importance of the webinar, “This webinar comes at the right time when the world is looking for some insightful views to cope with the current crises and future challenges. The serial topics of the webinar are not only important to update our knowledge and awareness, but also to inform public sector policies as well as private corporate decisions. We also acknowledge that the speakers are those with competence, experience and professionalism in their fields.”

On the collaboration of the two universities, he said, “It is always a good initiative to collaborate with institutions and colleagues with expertise, experience, and competence like UTP. We are honored to have an opportunity to work with the university, and we hope our collaboration can be intensified and extended not only for today but also for the future. We are now moving along the right track of collaboration to the goal we have set. We do appreciate all initiators working behind this collaboration, especially the Faculty of Economics and Business of AJCUI with its special think tank group on sustainability studies—the SDG Analytics.”

The webinar series is a joint initiative of the two universities in the South East Asian region to strengthen partnership and cooperation. The collaboration will be followed by another series of activities in research, teaching, and student exchanges.

While the research cooperation arrangement is being finalised, the webinar has formed its shape. The webinar is divided into three seasons, namely Season I on June 2020, Season II on September 2020, and Season III on December 2020. The first session has five talks, structured in a deductive way.

Starting from an opening talk on global and regional economic issues, the talk will be followed by detail topics at the sector level: energy sector dynamics, future sustainability practices, energy business operation, and government policy responses.

The speakers are the knowledgeable brains of the two universities with a long experience in the field—the top leaders, bright lecturers, real business actors in the energy sector, as well as the policymakers form the two countries of Indonesia and Malaysia.

The Talk Series 2020 is free, highly interactive and will include a live Q&A. To register, go to https://bit.ly/talkseries_UTP_AJCUI. All talkseries will be delivered in Microsoft Teams Meeting Apps platform.