FNU’s College of Engineering, Science and Technology (CEST) Assistant Professor, Dr Shiu Kumar.

Fiji National University (FNU) academic, Dr Shiu Kumar’s research has been recognised by the University of the South Pacific (USP) in the category of Best Student Research at the 9th Research Excellence and Innovation Awards 2021.

Dr Kumar, an Assistant Professor at the FNU’s College of Engineering, Science and Technology (CEST) received the 2019 Vice Chancellor’s Prize for Best Student Research jointly with a colleague, Dr Michael Ha’apio.

The award recognises a researcher whose research activity has achieved considerable impact and recognition outside the University.

“I am overwhelmed and fortunate to have received such an award as it recognises my years of hard work and sacrifices for conducting high-quality research and getting highly ranked journal publications,” stated Dr Kumar.

The award was in recognition of his research paper titled “Brain wave classification using long short-term memory-based OPTICAL predictor” published in Scientific Reports, a Q1 ranked journal.

“My research work focused on developing improved brain-computer interface (BCI) systems. Specifically, it concentrated on developing algorithms that can recognise different categories of the brain-wave signals captured using electroencephalography (EEG) sensors. The research work will be beneficial in the development of enhanced BCI systems and hence valuable for neuro-rehabilitation and other purposes.”

Dr Kumar’s contribution to knowledge is in the discipline of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Pattern Recognition, completed his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) with three Q1 journal publications, three Q2 journal publications and five papers in international conference proceedings.

: FNU academic Dr Shiu Kumar won the Vice-Chancellor’s Prize for Best Student Research at the University of the South Pacific.

“My sincere gratitude goes to my PhD supervisor Dr Alok Sharma who encouraged me to carry out quality research that is of international standards and Fiji National University for assisting me with my tuition fees while pursuing my PhD. I also appreciate my family for supporting me to conduct my research after work hours,” added the proud recipient.

Dr Kumar has a well-established research track record of international standards. To date, Dr Kumar has published 15 international journal papers, 14 of which are in ranked journals, has presented his research at 15 international conferences, and has a citation H-Index of 9. Dr Shiu Kumar also won the Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Award at Fiji National University in 2019 in recognition of outstanding achievement in research in the category of Higher Degrees by Research. He is currently continuing his research on human-computer interaction systems and simultaneously in the field of sleep stage classification and DNA-binding protein prediction.

“As an academic, conducting research ensures that you are conscious of recent advancements in your field of study which will assists me in the delivery of courses at FNU,” he mentioned.

FNU’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research, Professor Mohini Singh while congratulating Dr Kumar on his latest accomplishment encouraged other academics at FNU to continue to undertake research in their specialised fields and contribute to knowledge as well as inform their teaching.

“Dr Shiu Kumar is an exemplary early career researcher who has to date been consistent with his research and high-quality publications, and I commend him for his hard work and outstanding research achievements,” said Professor Mohini Singh.