IMU Dentistry Student Shines at 7th Airlangga Dentistry Scientific Meeting

Airlangga Dentistry Scientific Meeting (ADS Meeting) is an annual scientific competition which is held by the Faculty of Dental Medicine, Universitas Airlangga Indonesia.

This is also the first time that the competition was held online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The International Research Competition aimed to increase research interest for all international undergraduate students (including Co-ass students) from Health Major Students such as Medicine, Dental Medicine, Pharmacy, Midwifery, Nursing, Public health, etc. The theme of this year was ‘Cellular and Molecular Approaches in Dental Science’. Out of the 13 teams, IMU’s undergraduate dentistry student Esther Kok Sook Kuan, was selected as one of the 5 teams to compete for the Grand Final Round which was eventually won by Esther and IMU.

Esther was involved in an in-depth characterisation and analysis of the results and manuscript writing, in a daunting experience inside a project in collaboration with University of Health Sciences Lahore, Kuwait University of Health Sciences and IMU.

She mentioned that, at the competition,  it was an eye-opening experience to learn about the latest dental science discoveries through other’s research projects. This is what Esther had to say “I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to the School of Dentistry and IMU for giving me support to step further into other platforms to present my research project. To me, it was indeed a great learning curve to be involved in research projects for my undergraduate studies. Besides, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation towards my supervisor, Dr Umer Daood, for his endless guidance, support and motivation throughout the research. The fruitful time and discussions we had together was definitely an unforgettable experience. I learnt invaluable knowledge in the analysis of the results, such as Raman analysis, Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Besides, I was also actively involved in the manuscript writing, where I learnt to think critically while reading other research studies.”

Esther shares more about her experience

“It all stated in our 4th year of study when Dr Umer introduced me to the new compound, quaternary ammonium (QA) compound in our intracanal medicament research project, where he emphasized on the antimicrobial property of the new compound. This triggered my interest to carry out another research on the adhesive with this compound. I was truly humbled to be given an opportunity to be involved in this research study.” “I was then encouraged to enter the International Research Competition of Airlangga Dentistry Scientific Meeting. With this platform, I shared the knowledge and experience I gained from this research with other international students. Besides, as one of the five selected teams for the Grand Final round, I was given eight minutes to present our research with twenty-five minutes of Q&A session. It was extremely challenging to confront all the questions presented to me. However, with great understanding and recent updates of our research, I was able to answer each of them precisely. Despite learning as a presenter, my experience was also extended to learning about the latest dental science discoveries from other research projects.” “During the preparation of the slides for the presentation, I learnt to use graphics well and improve on my presentation skills. Most importantly, I learnt to be confident while presenting. I have to thank my supervisor again as he identified my weaknesses and gave unsolicited suggestions about my presentation.” “In the scientific meeting, I had the opportunity to make many positive connections and have discussions with other presenters regarding their research topics. This has allowed me to expand my horizon of knowledge and experience. I learnt a lot from this experience and am eagerly looking forward to utilising that knowledge when taking part in future competitions.”