Prof. Dr. Ong Wee Jun, the Director of the Center of Excellence for NaNo Energy & Catalysis Technology (CONNECT) and the Assistant Dean of the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University Malaysia, was awarded the prestigious PETRONAS-Academia Collaboration Dialogue (PACD) 2023 grant during the award ceremony held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on 19 August 2024.

Prof Ong’s project, titled "Solar-powered artificial photosynthesis of CO₂ for greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction from flaring onshore gas terminals", secured a total grant of over RM 1 million. The project focuses on tackling one of the most pressing global challenges - reducing CO₂ emissions - by developing solar-powered solutions for artificial photosynthesis and electrosynthesis via nanocatalysis, a potentially game-changing technology for the energy industry.

Prof. Chen Binghui received the award certificate of Xiamen University Malaysia from Malaysia's Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Datuk Ts Mustapha Sakmud alongside Senior Vice President of Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM), PETRONAS, Datuk Ir. Bacho Pilong, Prof. Ong Wee Jun (Principal Investigator of the project) and Dr. Khairun Nisa Binti Mihat.

The grant was presented by Malaysia's Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Datuk Ts Mustapha Sakmud and Senior Vice President of Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM), PETRONAS, Datuk Ir. Bacho Pilong. Attendees at the prestigious ceremony from Xiamen University Malaysia included Prof. Chen Binghui, Dean of the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, and Dr. Khairun Nisa Binti Mihat, Manager of the Research and Postgraduate Center.

The event was part of the celebrations marking the 50^th anniversary of PETRONAS.

For this round of PACD 2023, a total of 61 projects have been approved and awarded by PETRONAS, with grants totaling RM 71 million to deserving recipients from 25 universities nationwide. The recipients were selected from a highly competitive pool of 588 applicants, underscoring the rigor of the selection process.

Prof. Ong received the certificate of appreciation as an acknowledgment of the successful acceptance of the research proposal during the PACD 2023.

Prof. Ong expressed his sincere gratitude: "This grant represents a major milestone for our research at CONNECT at Xiamen University Malaysia. It signifies the confidence and commitment of PETRONAS to clean energy innovation and offers us the opportunity to drive impactful change in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to work with PETRONAS toward decarbonization and carbon neutrality in Malaysia by 2050."

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Exciting Postgraduate and Postdoc Opportunities at CONNECT Right Now!

In line with this PETRONAS project, fully-funded Master's and PhD opportunities, as well as postdoctoral research fellowships (open to Malaysian citizens), are available at Prof. Ong’s CONNECT group at Xiamen University Malaysia. The research focuses on electrocatalytic and photocatalytic CO₂ conversion to clean fuels using tunable 2D nanocatalysts.

If you are interested in joining Prof. Ong’s team on these groundbreaking PETRONAS projects at CONNECT, please send your CV to Prof. Ong Wee Jun (weejun.ong@xmu.edu.my) by 30 September 2024.

Prof. Ong Wee Junis currently supervising 12 postgraduate students and 2 postdoctoral research fellows at CONNECT. He has received numerous prestigious awards, including consecutive 5-year Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researcher 2019-2023, World’s Top 2% Scientist 2020-2023 by Stanford University, Green Talent Award, Merdeka Award Grant, etc.

For more information about Prof. Ong Wee Jun and his research group, please refer to the link below:

https://sites.google.com/site/wjongresearch/