It is not an everyday occasion to have prominent young scientists from all over Indonesia meet in one place. But this was what happened when some of Indonesia’s best young scientists attended the inaugural edition of Kongres Ilmuwan Muda Indonesia (KIMI) 2022 in Jakarta, 3-4 December 2022. Among them are the Science Leadership Collaborative participants.
Organized by Asosiasi Ilmuwan Muda Indonesia (ALMI), KIMI 2022 focuses on the theme Memperkuat Arsitektur Sains Masa Depan Oleh Ilmuwan Muda Indonesia (Strengthening Future Science Architecture by Young Indonesian Scientists).
During her opening remarks, Sri Fatmawati, now former Chairwoman of ALMI, shared the purposes of organizing KIMI. She said, “We hope young scientists will have a more influential position, be able to face challenges and problems, and continuously move forward and bring changes.”
The young scientists then proceeded to engage in focus group discussions about emerging issues and development in their respective research clusters: identity, diversity, and culture; archipelago, marine, and bioresources; life, health, and nutrition; water, food, and energy; earth, climate, and the universe; disasters and community resilience; materials and computational science; economy and society; and law and democratic governance.
The insights from this discussion will be crystallized to update SAINS45, a book published by Akademi Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (AIPI) that acts as a reference to the direction of Indonesia’s research and scientific development 100 years after its independence.
“This is the first time I can be part of our National Academy of Science. We formulated or gave our view on how science should be formed related to our topics,” said David Virya Chen, one of the SLC participants who also participated in KIMI. “It’s a very exciting moment to see how we can make something for Indonesia’s science,” added him.
For the SLC participants, the event did not end there. The Conversation Indonesia also prepared the SLC Network Gathering for its SLC cohort, team, and facilitators. So, on Sunday afternoon (04/12/2022), the SLC cohort finally met face-to-face after six months of attending online sessions.
The gathering itself was deliberately designed with various somatic exercises to help the participants ease off after months of online sessions. It was led by Beth mAcDonald, Louie Angsico, and Sahala Harahap, SLC consultants and facilitators who are also leadership development experts from the United States, Philippines, and Indonesia.
“It’s a nice feeling because finally, we met. Almost six or seven months we only do Zoom, now we see the person,” told Venticia Hukom after the gathering. “When we do the exercise about yes, no, and avoid that’s also fun,” added her, referring to the session where SLC facilitators used Randori to train them to think more systematically and be more assertive and constructive in responding to something.
When asked about the gathering, Fito Rahdianto, the SLC Project Manager, said he hoped this could be an opportunity for the participants to expand their network within Indonesia’s scientific community. “I hope this gathering could foster our relationship, not just internally within the cohort but also with other networks,” explained Fito Rahdianto.
The overflowing enthusiasm and positive energy throughout the two-day event can reflect one thing: the young scientists’ passion and ambition to contribute to this nation. And these occasions will hopefully create camaraderie among them in navigating Indonesia’s science ecosystem.
Watch this video to find out more about the Science Leadership Collaborative Network Gathering!
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