A conversation with Dr Siti Khayriyyah Mohd Hanafiah (Kye) — the winner of FameLab 2018. In this interview, Kye shares the invaluable experience she gained from the competition and how it has changed her life.
She also shares her opinion on the importance of promoting science communication at all levels of education. (Note: The audio in the first minute is not so good but the remaining part is okay).
Video duration: 24.44. min.
Dr Khayriyyah Mohd Hanafiah Khayriyyah completed a Bachelor of Biomedical Science (Hons) at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) in 2009, where she was also active in intervarsity debate; representing IIUM as both a debater and adjudicator. She was ranked top 10 adjudicators in the 2007 Asian Universities Debating Championships, top 10 best speakers in the 2008 Women’s Intervarsity Debating Championships.
She then continued to pursue a Master’s of Science in Public Health under the Global Disease Epidemiology and Control program at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she also interned at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva, under the Department of Immunizations, Vaccines and Biologicals.
Having developed a keen interest in tuberculosis diagnostics, Khayriyyah then joined the Diagnostic Development Laboratory at the Macfarlane Burnet Institute, Melbourne as part of her PhD in Immunology at Monash University, Australia.
During her PhD, she was awarded Gilead Young Investigator Travel Award to present her findings on novel serological biomarkers of viral hepatitis at the 2015 International Symposium on Viral Hepatitis and Liver Disease, Berlin, Germany; Highly Commended Oral Presenter Award, at the 2014 Australian Society for Medical Research Student Symposium 2014; and the runner-up and first prize at the 2014 Monash Central Clinical School 3MT and Burnet Student Symposium, respectively.
Upon graduating with her doctorate degree in 2015, Khayriyyah joined the Microbiology and Biotechnology Program at the School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia as a senior lecturer.
In 2017, she was awarded the Australian Endeavour Research Fellowship, to pursue research in tuberculosis biomarkers. Her current research activities relate to tuberculosis biomarker discovery and alternative antimicrobial strategies against clinically important pathogens.
She became the 2018 Champion of FameLab International, the world’s biggest and longest-running science communication competition with over 27 competing countries. Since then, she has been committed to building science communication capacity in Malaysia, through hosting various training workshops, and involved in short film/documentary projects using science communication as a tool to impact public perception.
She is a co-founder and current Chair of the Malaysian Science Communication Network, and the Chair of the Malaysian Science Communication Module development, under her affiliation with the Young Scientists Network-Academy of Sciences Malaysia.
The article was originally published on Medium
