NIWASHANI AP MURTHI AMRSB has bagged Young Achiever Award

NIWASHANI AP MURTHI AMRSB has bagged Young Achiever Award

• August 02, 2021

Like any other typical middle-class person, I've always wanted to accomplish something significant in my life to honour my late father. I didn't get the opportunity to grow up with his love and care because he passed away when I was five months old. My mother and grandmother always told me that my father truly wished for me to achieve great things in the future.

My ambition was to become a doctor. However, I decided not to pursue it due to a lack of funding and financial support for my studies. I believe in being flexible and seizing opportunities as they arise in order to achieve my goals. By God's grace, I was given the opportunity to study Biotechnology at Quest International University Perak for my bachelor's degree. It was there that I began to find a piece of new knowledge, gain new experiences, and learn more about myself.

Unfortunately, during my second year of studies, I was involved in an accident that resulted in leg fractures. With lots of struggles and hurdles, I had completed my Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology with flying colours and was blessed enough to meet my life partner during my studies.

With my family's blessings, I married my life partner exactly one week after my bachelor's degree convocation ceremony. This time, I had to endure pain when my knee dislocated on the day before my wedding. I tried my level best to turn all of my imperfections into my strength even though I had to be wheelchaired till I recovered. Right after my knee started to heal, I began to discuss my interest and desire to pursue my postgraduate studies with my husband, in the hopes of realising my dream and inspiring others.

Pursuing the Master's degree was one of the most difficult decisions I've ever made in my life. Initially, I received an offer letter from UTM and UPM to pursue my Master's degree in Biotechnology. I was clueless about which university, programme, or mode of study I should undertake. I took the initiative to explore numerous resources in order to find out more information about these programmes.

Thus, I decided to enrol in the Master of Science in Safety, Health, and Environment at UTM due to my passion and curiosity in this field. I had challenged myself to excel in this program, which is distinct from my Bachelor's degree course (BSc in Biotechnology), and in a field where men predominate in the workplace.

Again, the same scenario happens where my hand was injured. I tried my hardest to break out of my comfort zones and pick myself up whenever life threw me a curve ball.Despite my hand injuries, working time, and managing our class mainstream students, I completed my first semester with good results. In the first semester, I faced many struggles by being a mainstream student representative of our batch because it was held solely online. To be honest, I have no idea where to begin since the online learning setting and the university environment are both new to me. However, I never gave up and contributed my best by undertaking this commitment. Today, I am proud to say that I successfully guided all of my peers throughout our studies. I am delighted to continue my responsibilities, polished well in Semester 2, to guide new students as best I could.

For your information, I am also a member of other prestigious professionals’ associations as listed below:

Asian Federation of Biotechnology (AFOB)

Royal Society of Biology (RSB)

Malaysian Society of Occupational Safety and Health (MSOSH)

Malaysian Industrial Hygienist Association (MIHA)

Malaysian Society for Molecular Biology & Biotechnology (MSMBB)

Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH)

Asian Federation of Biotechnology Malaysia Chapter (AFOB-MC)

Malaysia Biotechnology Student Association (MYBIOSA)

In addition, the Malaysian Board of Technologists has recognised me as a Graduate Technologist, and designated me as a professional biologist titled AMRSB by the Royal Society of Biology. I recently completed the OSH Coordinator course and am making active progress towards becoming a competent OSH Coordinator.

My group's green product innovation, titled "Eco Air Purifying Lamp," was recently published in the 7th International Biotechnology Competition and Exhibitions' abstract book.

Moreover, I have participated in the 4th International Conference on Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (ICMBB 2021), the SfAM International Applied Microbiology Conference, the Next Generations Cytogenetics Symposium, the 15th South East Asian Technical University Consortium (SEATUC) Symposium 2021, and other professional development activities.

As a married woman, excelling in both studies and workplace is even more challenging during this pandemic situation. The constant love and support from my husband and family has provided an excellent foundation for me to realise my late father's and grandmother's wishes. Tough times make us realise that we are stronger than we think.

I took this as a challenge and continued to do my best to achieve my dream and also learn new skills by enrolling in various skill enrichment classes, webinars, and courses such as programming, Aspen HYSYS, Phyton, Arduino, SQL, and Bridal makeup classes, as well as scoring a good result at my university for my master studies despite my hand injuries. As a result of consistent hard work, I was also selected to be one of the recipients of our university's scholarship- the UTM National postgraduate fund.

In the midst of the pandemic, I enrolled in a variety of online learning, webinars, contests, workshops, symposiums, and conferences to keep my knowledge and understanding of various disciplines up to date. In one year of the pandemic, I seized the opportunity and managed to gather over 100 certificates in various fields.

I'm also honoured to have been nominated for the Young Asian Excellence Female Personality Category 2021 in the field of Modern Technology as the "Excellence Young Asian Female in Biotechnology, Safety, and Health Award 2021."

After going through a rigorous profile verification and interview process, I was delighted to be chosen as a Women's Icon Award winner. The Women Icon Award is a prestigious honour given to women who have made significant contributions to society. 

I have more to accomplish and explore in my quest for knowledge and enlightenment. It takes lots of courage and self-belief to stand up from zero and build pieces of myself from scratch. The dream is not about the destination, but the art in its journey. We all might have fallen at some point in our life, but we’ll eventually learn from our experience, remember that the dark sky ain’t permanent and rise like a phoenix again. I strongly believe that every end is a new beginning. Don’t be afraid to begin it and travel the journey alone. All the struggles will be worth it. Let us paint our lives with bright colours, design them with happiness, kindness, love, and our own definitions of success.

There is a wonder woman in all of us that keeps on reminding us that “It’s not about what we deserve, it’s about what we believe."