Yoobee In-House Tech Research Symposium 2023

On Wednesday 8 November 2023, Yoobee College of Creative Innovation held its first specialist in-house technology research symposium. It was hosted at Auckland’s City campus and was attended, in-person and online, by staff members and students, from the Faculty of Technology across our Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington sites. The event was convened by Dr Kathryn Hardy Bernal, Head of Research for our Yoobee Colleges; supported by the Head of Faculty for Technology, Dr Narayan Nepal; and managed by Manju Parthinathan, Technology Team Leader in Auckland. The purpose of this endeavour was to showcase the background, experience, expertise, and research focus areas, activities, and outputs, of all staff employed on our Technology courses and programmes.

The presenters were Aisha Ajmal, Arthur Lewis, Arun Kumar, Fozia Zeeshan, Ibrahim Rahman, Imran Khaliq, Kevin Dowd, Manju Parthinathan, Mohammad Norouzifard, Narayan Nepal, Ranju Raveendran, Rouwa Yalda, and Sagar Dake. The intention was to introduce and share the disciplinary skills and knowledge of our staff, while demonstrating our research strengths to not only our students but also our faculty team, in order to bolster our collegial environment and foster our research culture in the computer sciences and digital media fields. Presentations were thus recorded for future reference and screening.

Staff were asked to highlight their current role at Yoobee Colleges, and present their professional and academic backgrounds and qualifications, before discussing their passions and niche interests. They were then given an opportunity to focus on one specific past achievement or current research project, and explain their methods, methodologies, experimentations, and findings. Presentations were followed by questions from the audience.

Altogether, this was a fascinating and eye-opening venture for all involved. While we work closely with many of our peers, we are not always familiar with the exceptional independent research contributions and industry projects and collaborations undertaken by staff employed at Yoobee College of Creative Innovation. The event emphasised that members of our Faculty of Technology are particularly prolific regarding quality-assured research productivity. Therefore, the In-House Tech Research Symposium was beneficial for the development of our research-active environment.