Being the Secretariat and host for Good Design Week (GDW) in 2019 was the most memorable experience for me. GDW was an international event that brought together the best industry experts, academic, researchers and brightest design students from Swinburne and Curtin University to share the good design experience in industry, academia, and education. We also had a line-up of prolific international speakers for the three-day event, and had about 250 participants.

Organising such an event was a herculean effort from the small, but feisty team in the School of Design and Arts. It was indeed an amazing feat as GDW took place about the same time as the Malaysia Board of Technologist (MBOT) accreditation. I recalled having to prepare for the interview audit one minute and the next rushing to follow up on the sponsors for the symposium. This was our first time organising an event at such a scale - and the pressure was on. There were many sleepless nights, and even more meetings than I could recall.

My favourite part of GDW was when the first speaker for the day started. Audience lights go down, stage lights go up, and you are standing in the back with a smile on your face because you know something awesome is coming and your audience is going to love it. Seeing everyone networking and hearing the “Good job, what an amazing event” comments were wonderful as I happily ticked off another academic bucket list, for the school. This was indeed a testament to the amazing teamwork displayed by the staff in the School of Design and Arts, and the university as a whole.

This year will be my seventh year with Swinburne. I started working with the university when it was a one-building campus in 2005. Upon returning to Swinburne in 2014 after my studies abroad, I have seen the university grow from strength to strength. Happy 20th anniversary Swinburne Sarawak, may you continue to contribute to community development and to the state of Sarawak.