Past iFEST Event Highlights

UM UG iFEST 2025

The Undergraduate Ideas Festival (UM UG iFEST 2025), organised by Universiti Malaya to spotlight student innovation projects and connect them directly with industry, concluded after showcasing 2,600 final year projects over three days.

Held from 24 to 26 June 2025, the programme recorded 8,400 minutes of simultaneous presentations, with participation from 300 industry judges and support from over 180 organisations. According to the Vice-Chancellor, YBhg. Prof. Dato’ Seri Ir. Dr. Noor Azuan Abu Osman, the festival serves as a platform for students to publicly exhibit their Final Year Projects (FYPs).

“This festival is more than just a showcase of outcomes. It is a bridge between academia and industry — an effort to close the gap between theory and practice. This is the face of the future university: educating with knowledge, guiding with values, and moving forward together with society.”

UM UG iFEST 2025 also aimed to foster academia-industry collaboration towards a sustainable innovation ecosystem, enhance graduate employability through presentations and pitching sessions, and build professional and strategic networks between students, researchers, and industry.

In his officiating speech, Deputy Minister of Higher Education, YB Datuk Ts. Mustapha Sakmud, said this digital festival is not merely an exhibition of ideas, but a platform to shape the future, cultivate talent, and provide solid proof that undergraduates have immense potential to drive meaningful and sustainable change.

“The students’ research does not end here — all ideas and findings from the presentation sessions will be taken up by industry to help solve pressing national and global issues.”

“With the theme Unleashing Ideas, Igniting Change, the festival reflects Universiti Malaya’s commitment to nurturing a culture of innovation among students — not merely as learners, but as solution designers, strategic thinkers, and national change agents,” he added.

The highlight of the festival was the announcement of the Best FYP Competition Winners (Three Main Categories):

Social Sciences: Ezrie Ezmier Bin Amiruddin from the Faculty of Law with the project The Final Cut: Exploring Censorship Disparity, Artistic Freedom, and the Rule of Law in the Malaysian Creative Industries.

Science and Technology: Janting Anak Tingom from the Faculty of Engineering with Performance Evaluation Of Palm Oil Clinker (POC) Powder As An Additive In Warm Mix Asphalt Design.

Health Sciences: Tang Jiun Yoong from the Faculty of Pharmacy with Synthesis Of Sulphonamide Chalcones As New Potential Anti-Dengue Inhibitors.

Among the programme’s key initiatives was Industry Pay It Forward (iPIF), implemented in collaboration with the Graduate Employability and Career Centre (GECC), Student Affairs Department, and Talentbank. This initiative supported holistic career development through mentoring, interview simulations, and career talks involving 170 industry players. The effort supports the Ministry’s aspirations to enhance graduate employability and job placement rates in line with current market demands.

Additionally, a forum on Commercialising Academic Research and an Industry–Research Nexus exhibition were also held, serving as crucial platforms to transform research outcomes into commercially viable products. The forum, involving undergraduate students, nurtures young talent in alignment with the Ministry’s agenda to strengthen the national innovation ecosystem through active university-industry engagement.

View the iFEST 2025 Abstract book HERE

View the iFEST 2025 Guidebook HERE

View the iFEST 2025 Photo Gallery HERE

UMRIIS and INTRAC 2025