UNAIR NEWS – As a world-class university, Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) continues accelerating its performance in various fields, including research. As a result, UNAIR has some accomplished researchers with global achievements, one of them is Prof. Muhammad Miftahussurur, dr, MKes, SpPD-KGEH, PhD, FINASIM, listed among the Top 100 Indonesian researchers.
The Faculty of Medicine (FK) researcher and Vice Rector for Internationalization, Digitalization and Information (IDI) UNAIR made the list of 2023 World Top 100 Medical and Health Sciences Scientists in Indonesia some time ago. This achievement is assessed based on the productivity and quality of research and scientific publications in internationally accredited journals.
Faced challenges
Getting the achievement to be one of the best researchers is not easy. Prof. Miftah shared that he had faced challenges and difficulties during his research. They are mainly related to access and research facilities.
“Of course, I faced difficulties and more than the conveniences. Especially with the grand or funding system, which in Indonesia is not yet as well established as abroad, both in the amount of funding and the procedures,” said Prof Miftah.
Prof. Miftah also said that another challenge to face was a technical problem. In Indonesia, said Prof Miftah, the technical problems are more extensive than in other countries, mainly related to acquiring research tools and facilities that require significant funds and a long time.
“There surely technical difficulties. In Indonesia, the technical difficulties are greater than in other countries. Not everything that we get abroad can be obtained easily in Indonesia. Of course, this makes things difficult and becomes a common challenge for Indonesian researchers to perform globally,” explained the doctorate alumnus of Oita University, Japan.
Share tips for beginner researchers
This proudest achievement from Prof. Miftah will certainly spark the enthusiasm of other lecturers and researchers to follow in his footsteps. For this reason, Prof. Miftah shared several tips for currently struggling researchers.
According to Prof. Miftah, collaboration is one of the main aspects that supports the success of the research process to produce quality publications.
“I think Superman does not exist in this world. So, to be able to continue carrying out research and producing quality publications, we must work together. Here, for example, I can carry out research continuously because there is a strong research team. Without the team, we might not be able to publish regularly every year,” explained the Head of Helicobacter pylori and Microbiota Study Group Institute Tropical Disease (ITD) UNAIR.
Collaboration, he continued, will make it easier to distribute roles in a balanced manner. This way, research and publications can also run optimally.
“For example, if we have a research group, there are members who are more competent at writing financial plans, then there are those who have more detailed experimental skills, and so on. Of course, if done simultaneously, the results will be better, “he said.
Finally, Prof. Miftah appealed to researchers to actively follow foreign research trends. He said, directly or indirectly, they could encourage researchers to improve their quality and capacity.
Finally, Prof. Miftah appealed to researchers to actively follow foreign research trends. He said, directly or indirectly, they could encourage researchers to improve their quality and capacity.
Author: Yulia Rohmawati
Editor: Binti Q. Masruroh
