28 October, 2020

AAPG Student Chapter at University Teknologi PETRONAS presents Asia Geoscience Student Conference

 

Asia Geoscience Student Conference (AGSCE) is an annual event conducted by APPG-UTP-SC and EAGE-UTP-SC and other geoscience clubs of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS. It is a collaboration event with all the geoscience clubs. This event was sponsored by ALECA, CGG and CSD UTP.

ASIA GEOSCIENCE STUDENT CONFERENCE (AGSCE) Summary

Asia Geoscience Student Conference (AGSCE) is an annual event conducted by APPG-UTP-SC and EAGE-UTP-SC and other geoscience clubs of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS. It is a collaboration event with all the geoscience clubs. This event was sponsored by ALECA, CGG and CSD UTP. This year’s AGSCE is special and different from the past years as it is held online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead of a physical 2-day conference, AGSCE 2020 is a 4-day online event, split into two sessions. The first session is the pre-event. Competitions such as Abstract Presentation Competition, Case Study competition and GeoQuiz took place during the two-day pre-event. The second session will be the main event. There will be sharing sessions, conference and forums for the two days. AGSCE 2020's pre-event was held on the 10th and 11th of October while AGSCE 2020 main conference will be held on 24th and 25th of October using online platform, which is Microsoft Teams.

AGSCE’s main objectives are to assist UTP and ASEAN-wide geoscience students in developing professional contact and industries, to gather geoscience students from different regions in Asia that aims to promote regional and international collaboration through education and competitive activities such as forums, conferences and competitions. This event is also believed to be the platform of opportunities for geoscience students across Asia Pacific to contribute ideas in assisting the development and advancement of geoscience in the region.

For the opening of AGSCE on 10th of October, it began with an opening speech presented by AGSCE project director, Farah Asyura. During AGSCE pre-event, universities across Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand such as UTP, UM, UKM, UI and Chulalongkorn University has participated in the mentioned competitions such as abstract competition, case study competition and GeoQuiz. For abstract competition and case study competition, the participants were required to hand in their abstract and case study report before the day of the pre-event. On the day of the pre-event, groups for abstract competition and case study competition presented their answers in front of the judges through videocall.

For the abstract competition, the participants may choose to present either in oral form or in poster form. Judges were also allocated 10 minutes for QnA session with the participants. The creativity of the participants was shown in presenting their abstract and case study answers. As for the GeoQuiz competition, the quiz was held online using a website and the participants were allocated with 15 minutes to answer the quiz. There were 4 rounds of GeoQuiz, for each round, only the highest score and fastest time will proceed to the next round. The winners for the competition will be announced during the closing ceremony of AGSCE 2020 main conference.

For the upcoming main event, which will be held on 24th October and 25th October, there will be a sharing session by Mr. Grandika Primadani, a Petroleum Geoscientist from Beicip-Franlab Asia on 24th October. On the same day itself, we will be having a conference session by Dr Mohammad Muqtada Ali Khan, a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Earth Science of University Malaysia Kelantan. On 25th October, we will be having another sharing session by Mr Oskar Pakpahan, who is currently a senior geophysicist or team leader quantitative interpretation in Beicip Franlab Asia. There will also be a forum session, with the panels including Mr Askury Abdul Kadir, Ms Aida Bakar and Mr Sulaiman Zahid. We believe that the sharing sessions, conference and talks will provide insights and useful information to the participants.

Amidst Covid-19 pandemic, the organizing team has given their best in adjusting to this new norm to handle this annual event in a very new way, which is through online platforms. It was not easy, as it requires a lot of hard works and changes, but the 2-day pre-event was a success. The committees have done their best to adapt with this new normal and take last year’s event as their benchmark to make AGSCE 2020 a huge success.

Article contributed by Vritnney Suzie John, UTP AAPG Student Chapter