OSEAN PROJECT WINS RECOGNITION

The Oxford & Cambridge Society of Malaysia is a proud supporter of the OSEAN project.

Berlin, 1 June 2005 - DaimlerChrysler and UNESCO presented the Mondialogo Engineering Award with a total of 300,000 euros in prize money on 30th May 2005 in Berlin, Germany. An international jury
awarded the prizes to the 21 best project teams from 28 countries.

In this unique worldwide contest, international project teams have worked together over the past year to produce engineering proposals to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development in developing countries. Among the prize winners, the partner team between University of Cambridge Engineering and University Sarawak Malaysia - East Malaysia were able to pick up the award and the prize money. They were also one of the five project teams that received an additional mention: "Special Jury Recognition" for outstanding achievements.

Dr. Alvin Yeo, Nam Nguyen and Mike Khaw represented the project team to attend the prize presentation ceremony in Berlin.

Their winning project idea aims to implement a photovoltaic or solar power system in the remote community of Bario (East Malaysia), for the purpose of providing a sustainable power supply for the community to access ICT facilities. This project is a partnership between the non-profit organization OSEAN, Engineers Without Borders-UK and local university UNIMAS.

Cambridge alumni taking part in this project include Wong Pau Min, Lim Sze Yiin, Tay Zern Chu, Andrew Lamb and Michael Khaw. Participants from UNIMAS include Kho Lip Khoon, Poline Bala and Dr. Alvin Yeo. Harvard alum Nam Nguyen also played an active role.