UM Living Lab Climate Change Adaptation and Renewable Energy Awareness in RCE Central Semenanjung

UM Living Lab Climate Change Adaptation and Renewable Energy Awareness 

in RCE Central Semenanjung (Fraser's Hill) 

11-12 November 2016

Benefits of Academia-Community Engagement Project:

1. Generating new ideas
Often when local participation is involved, some of the best ideas in sustainable communities are generated. A constructive collaboration always outweight potential challenges.

2.  Behavioural change
Sustainability requires behavioural change on a personal level to change day-to-day activities. If   community member buy-in from the initial stage, chang is more likely to stay.

3. Funding opportunities
There are numerous funding in recent years which requires greater citizen involvement.

4. Conflict prevention
By involving the community from day 1, less likely there will be rejection and resistance at a later stage of the project.

5. Wider dissemination of information and knowledge
As involvement of community increases, information and knowledge about resources and
opportunities will circulate well.

6. Building presence and relationship between academia and community
Face-to-face is still the best way to monitor the relationship, gather valuable information and to
understand the issues faced by the community.

10 points to write a catchy essay

Writing an essay requires more the artistic side of you rather than the analytical one.

An essay should not be too lengthy and formal or boring.

You should write by keeping your readers in mind and confirm whether you have to fulfill certain requirements (essay contest, statement of purpose etc.).

Let me share 10 points to make your essay interesting;

1. Make sure the first few sentences are interesting enough to hook your readers.

2. Quote some famous people but make sure it is relevant to your essay.

3. Insert an interesting short story or teaser to another article or film.

4. Ask a question which could not be answered by a simple yes or no.

5. Share with the readers the visual cues i.e. I walk carefully not to slip on the icy pavement. Tyre marks are everywhere on the road and cars are moving slowly. I could smell the woody charcoal from the nearest chimney. It was December in Hannover and will be a long one.

6. Include interesting facts.

7. Reveal a common misconception.

8. State your objectives.

9. State the statistics.

10. Check the flow and connectivity. You don't want to be jumping from a topic to another and revert back to the previous one.

Whatever types of essay you choose to write (narrative, persuasive, critic, opinion, rantings etc.), make sure you have the structure outlined, organize your points and continuously improve it.

Lastly, I share with you the link to my essay that I wrote when I was still a post-grad student in 2008. It won the first prize of the Malaysian Students Association Japan Merdeka essay contest. Good luck!
https://phobiacollaboration.wordpress.com/tag/msaj-merdeka-day-essay-writing-competition/