IO, Jakarta Nabila Daneta Putri and Syafira Irviana Nawir, 2017 undergraduate students at the Faculty of Dentistry, Universitas Indonesia, won 3rd place for the Undergraduate Student Research Competition Category in the international dental student competition “The 2021 FDCU International Symposium and Research Day” organized by the Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. They succeeded in securing an achievement and representing Indonesia under the supervision of Melissa Adiatman, Herry Novrinda, and Peter Andreas.
The event was divided into two parts, namely, a symposium presenting speakers and research delegations from various universities throughout Southeast Asia, as well as a research day for competitions by dentistry students from various universities. Participants came from Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), Guangxi Medical University College of Stomatology (People’s Republic of China), Tohoku University and Tokyo Medical and Dental University (Japan), University of Malaya (Malaysia), Vanlang University, and University of Medicine and Pharmacy (Vietnam), as well as Airlangga University and North Sumatra University (Indonesia).
The symposium and research day presented various research topics, such as dental education, clinical implantology, stem cells or regenerative dentistry, molecular aspects of muscle pain, genetics in dentistry, dental materials, and so on. The competition was held online on May 24.
Nabila presented research on the topic of Covid-19 related to dental education entitled “Knowledge, Perceptions, Attitudes, and Preparedness of Indonesian Dental Co-Assistant Students about Covid-19 Disease and Infection Control”. Meanwhile, Syafira presented research entitled “Evaluation and Satisfaction of Dentistry Students in the University of Indonesia Towards Online Learning during The COVID-19 Pandemic”.
“This international symposium strengthens international cooperation between universities and becomes an opportunity for students to showcase their research. In addition, this activity also motivates students to participate in international competitions,” stated Melissa Adiatman, one of the supervising lecturers from the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Indonesia, as quoted by Ui.ac.id, Monday (7/6/2021).
“This research is a valuable experience for students and lecturers who supervise it as it allows us to find out the current situation of knowledge, perceptions, attitudes, and preparedness of dental students throughout Indonesia, regarding Covid-19 and online learning,” she added.
Furthermore, Nabila hopes that her and Syafira’s research can be useful for the general public, dental students, the government, and educational institutions, especially those related to dentistry. “Hopefully this activity can lead to high enthusiasm to build relationships with dental students between countries, as well as forming a critical scientific mindset so that they can produce other research works for the student level,” said Syafira. (est)