Assamese academics wins highest teaching award at Flinders University, Australia
Dr. Udoy Sankar Saikia, who is currently working as the Associate Director of Applied Population Studies Programme at Flinders University, South Australia has been recently selected for “Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching” for the year 2011. This award is highest award category in teaching in an Australian University and normally awarded to only one every year. Dr. Saikia has been awarded for his sustained commitment to effective and policy relevant teaching through constructivist curriculum design to foster independent learning and empower students to achieve their goals in life. Udoy Saikia’s achievement as a teacher in an overseas university is quite inspiring to Assamese community with the fact that he completed his school and college education in Assamese medium. Among various achievements during his student career, Udoy Saikia received the Indian Friends of “London School of Economics Award” (year 1994) and “Australian Geographical Society’s Best Student Presentation Award” (year 2000).
An economist/demographer by profession (MSc from London School of Economics and PhD from Flinders University), Dr Saikia’s achievements in academic research have been demonstrated through many peer reviewed research publications and two commissioned reports, several conference presentations and two international awards (one from Germany and one from New Zealand). As an international consultant to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Dr Saikia co-authored the first Human Development Report for Autonomous Region of Bougainville- an island in Papua New Guinea. His area of research broadly covers population and sustainable development issues in Asia and the Pacific regions. Dr Saikia is currently the Vice President of the Executive Council, Australian Population Association- the peak research and advisory body on Australian population.
Dr. Saikia who has been residing in Australia for last 13 years, has a strong connection with grassroots developmental work in Assam. He is the founder member of South Australians Supporting Children and Women in Assam, (SASCWA), and successfully initiated ongoing community based project on early childhood development in Assam. With Dr. Saikia’s initiative SASCWA has developed a strong partnership with a local community organisation (Parijat) in Assam. SASCWA currently provides funding for primary schools in a number of remote communities in Assam to buy infrastructure and books for the students. SASCWA has also been providing salaries for three teachers in three different schools in these communities on an ongoing basis. With the collaboration and support from local members from Guwahati – SASCWA is currently in the process assisting a village community based in Village Maghupara near Guwahati to transform their village into a model village in near future. Detail about SASCWA can be found at www.sascwa.org
Dr. Saikia originally comes from Tarjana Kakoti Gaon, Jorhat and son of late Dr. Padma Dhar Saikia and Mrs. Santi Prova Saikia.
Random Stories
2 Mar 2014 - 1:41pm |
AT News
Two top lawyers have come out to provide legal assistance for Akhil Gogoi who was arrested on Sunday wee hours from his own rented house.Bijan Mahanjan and Bhaskar Dev konwar have agreed to conduct...
3 Feb 2013 - 2:13pm |
AT News
Hundreds of people had a narrow escape from a major incident, when a powerful blast took place in Gossaigaon minutes after the Howrah-Guwahati down Garibrath Express passed Goabari in Kokrajhar...
26 Nov 2015 - 5:41pm |
Pranjal Saikia
Pune, the Cultural city of Maharashtra will witness first ever Pune and North-East India Integration Youth Festival - Anthem 2016 on January 16. The event location is the Irish Village...
4 Jan 2018 - 7:35am |
AT News
GUWAHATI: The special operation unit of Dibrugarh police set up to probe the APSC scam is filing its next charge sheet on Thursday. Led by senior police officer SS Panesar, the police team is well...
Other Contents by Author
A Hindi remake of the first Assamese thriller Dr Bezbaruah, released in 1969, will hit the screens later this year. Directed by Anshuman Barua, nephew of the film’s original maker Brojen Barua, Shivam has kept intact the skeletal structure of the story and also retained many of the swinging and romantic numbers. “The skeletal structure of the original story is almost intact though there are some peripheral changes keeping in mind the changing times. People don’t send telegrams anymore, there are mobile phones today. So you have to keep such things in mind,” the Mumbai-based Anshuman said to media.
He didn’t incorporate any Bollywood elements as such...
A subsidiary of the central ministry of coal in Assam is steadily refusing to compensate for crop damages wrought by its open-cast mining. This is after the Gauhati High Court told the company to pay compensation of more than Rs 4 crore in its January 2007 order. The North Eastern Coalfields (NEC), an arm of Coal India Limited, in April appealed to the court against its order; the matter is pending. The January decision was in response to a July 2005 petition by landowners affected by the mining operations near Margherita town in Tinsukia district.
Opposition to open-cast mining is quite old. NEC took over the mine in 1973 from the uk-based Assam Railways and Trading Company. In 1985, it...
The State has set a target of 46 lakh MT rice production for the year 2010-11 but abnormal weather conditions, i.e., dry spell and low rainfall, could hinder accomplishment of the target. State Agriculture Minister Pramila Rani Brahma told that while rice yield during 2008-09 was a record 40.70 lakh MT, the figure for the year 2009-10 was under assessment and likely to be around 42 lakh MT. According to her, for attaining self-sufficiency, the State requires around 41 lakh MT rice a year.
“For the current year (2010-11), we have set a target of 46 lakh MT but adverse weather conditions might affect realization of the goal. Still, we are working out a number of interventions...
Sky watchers may get a treat starting 10th August , 2010 night as the famous Perseids meteor shower is expected to peak, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said. Several Sky observers enjoyed the event from different parts of Assam. The Perseids meteor shower is considered among the "most reliable," being seen usually between August 10 and 14. The famous Perseids meteor shower will be observed with its peak on the late night of August 12 until dawn on the following day, meteors are easiest to see if there is no moonlight and light pollution. An exceptional shower may occasionally show tens or even hundreds of meteors per minute, but around...
A new Radio Serial , namely, BIGYANE AANILE JOWAAR is broadcasting from August 1, by the All India Radio, Guwahati , gaining popularity among the listeners. The aim of the programme is to highlight the achievements of the scientists of modern India (India after independence) in science and technology.
14 interesting achievements have been identified. All these topics are related to life of people. The topics are – 1. Saving Asian elephants, 2. Bamboo flowering and tissue culture, 3. Catalysts in petrochemical industries, 4. Computer technology in India , 5. Dinosaurs dung and evolution of grass, 6. Energy from the oceans, 7. Food irradiation technology in India , 8....
Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma rushed to the Barpeta on Thursday evening, immediately after reaching Guwahati from New Delhi. The southern district of ASSAM, Barpeta, plunged into a state of crisis and high tension after police resorted to firing, which killed four and wounded scores Wednesday. This follows highly charged protests and stone pelting by All Assam Minority Students Union (AMSU) around the DC’s Office Wednesday. AMSU was protesting for cancellation of the Pilot Project of the ongoing updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) citing anomalies.
National Workshop on Endoscopic Sinus Surgery, organized by the North Eastern Branch of The Association of Otolaryngologist of India, in association with Department of Anatomy , Gauhati Medical College, Guwahati and Sanjevani Hospital, Maligaon, Guwahati will be held on 17th...
Mrinmoy Kumar Sarmah , a class ten standard student of Maharishi Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Silpukhuri, Guwahati, Assam has successfully participated in, 2010 “ International Conference of Children and Youth, Brazil 2010”. In this connection hr lead the country and performed several activities from June 5-10 in Brazil. Previously he submitted on write-up within 250 words with a focal theme “Socio-Environmental Global Change” and on the basis of merit of his write-up, along with 7 others selected out of 90 lakhs write-ups from all over India. They have prepared the Indian Children Charter of Responsibilities on environment where they mentioned how to...
Eminent social entrepreneur of Assam, Dr. Pradip Kumar Sarmah, founder Centre for Rural Development (CRD) an Ashoka Lemelson Fellow is invited to participate in ‘Velo-City Global Conference’ in Copenhagen from June 22-25 this year. This is observed as an honour in recognition of the outstanding contribution of Dr. Sarma who has fought to establish an alternative sustainable livelihood for the poor.
Velo-City is widely considered as the premier international cycling planning summit in the world. It is also the largest bicycle conference ever organised. This conference is hosted by the Municipal Corporation of Copenhagen with approximate intake of 1000 international...
Doordarshan Kendra, Guwahati will starts weekly environmental programme from June 5 to mark the World Environment Day. The duration of the programme will be half an hour. Dr. Krishna Gopal Bhattacharjya, Professor of Chemistry Department of Gauhati University, Dr. Hari Prasad Sarma, Readar of Environmental Science Department of Gauhati University, Jaideep Barua, Head of Environment Department, Assam Science Technology...
Add new comment