KUCHING – After emerging as the Asia Pacific champion a pre-university student from Kuching has earned the spot to compete in the world finals of an engineering competition in London this November.
Eighteen-year-old Peter Ling Ting Rang recently won the regional level of the Present Around The World (PATW) competition at Tsinghua University in Beijing, qualifying him for the finals in the UK.
The first Malaysian to win the Asia Pacific final, Ling was among eight students representing Australia, Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan who vied for the title.
“It was a challenge as I had to compete with postgraduate students,” Ling said, adding that he appreciated the support from his family, friends, lecturers and the IET Local Network.
The Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus foundation in engineering student took home the prize money of £400 (about RM2,700).
The runner-up was Smrithi Keerthivarman from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
Ling will represent the Asia Pacific in the concluding round of the PATW in London where he will face finalists from Africa, Europe, Middle East, South Asia, the UK, and the US.
Ling, who is the reigning Malaysian PATW champion after having won the title in June this year, hopes his achievements will inspire more university students to take part in the competition.
The PATW is organised annually by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), a leading engineering and technology professional organization headquartered in London. It has over 160,000 members in 127 countries.
The competition is open to students aged between 18 and 26. Competitors have to demonstrate their presentation skills on a topic related to engineering and technology in front of an audience and a panel of judges for 10 minutes. A further five minutes is allocated for questions from the judges.
The panel of judges at the Asia Pacific final comprised Karen Maddocks, the First Secretary and Head of the Beijing Science and Innovation Team based at the British embassy in Beijing; Ian Mercer, IET Head of International Operations and China Country Manager; and Andy Watson, Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the IET.