Biomedical Science student builds confidence and community through inflation event
A GCU student has hosted an event aimed at supporting Glasgow-based Malaysians with the rising cost of living.
Final year BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science student Nurin Johar teamed up with University of Strathclyde PHD student Hidhir Mohamed and Malaysian Community of Glasgow (KMG) to deliver; Inflation: How Does It Affect Us?
The event was held on the 27th of August in the University of Strathclyde’s St Paul’s Building. Around 15 people attended in-person with many more tuning in online to learn how they can adapt to the changing world around them.
Nurin said: “Our expert speaker was University of Glasgow’s Dr Ramona Blanes. She explained to our audience why some countries are affected by inflation, with a particular focus on Scotland and Malaysia. Dr Blanes also discussed the impact of the war in Ukraine and the impact it has had on goods being imported around the globe.
“The second part of the event featured the President of Strathclyde’s Malaysian Society, who focused on helping students save money in their day-to-day lives.”
Nurin has first-hand experience of how difficult it can be adapting to a new country. She moved to Scotland in 2019 and quickly found herself facing a number of challenges brought to life by the global pandemic.
She said: “I only had a few months of normality and then everything went crazy. It was a difficult time because lectures moved online and I was unable to make new friends.
“I eventually began to search for a Malaysian Community and found out about KMG, whose main purpose is to take care of Malaysians in Glasgow. The objectives were interesting to me and something I wanted to get involved with.
“I attended their New Year event on Zoom and we were able to talk about our experience with Covid - that was when I was officially invited be part of the group. I was really keen to get involved and support other Malaysians who were struggling to make new friends.”
Nurin added: “Inflation: How Does It Affect Us?,was a collaborative effort between all of the city’s Universities and fitted into KMG’s aim of supporting the wellbeing of our community.
“The event was part of our project called KMG Talk. We’ve hosted one other event so far which focused on prostate cancer and we’re going to look at developing it further in future.”
As well as helping reassure Malaysians across Glasgow, the event in August also benefitted Nurin on a personal level.
She explained: “It was quite a challenge to host an event after Covid – it had been a long time since we’d seen people face to face, but I knew I had to step out my comfort zone. My only previous experience had been presenting some podcasts with GCU Students’ Association’s CISA Society (Caledonian Islamic Students Association).
“I was hugely nervous at the beginning of the event but I quickly calmed down and maintained my composure. It has definitely helped my personal skills in terms of confidence, communication and engaging an audience.”
Nurin is also taking part in GCU’s Common Good Award, which aims to encourage and support students to develop the skills and attributes needed to make a positive difference across society.
She said: “What interested me was the four attributes (Integrity, Creativity, Responsibility and Confidence). I liked the idea of accumulating experience from first year through to my final year because I wanted to improve my CV for the future. My experience presenting at this event fits perfectly into the Confidence section of the award.”
Nurin added: “You obviously need practical knowledge to go into the world of work but it’s also important to perform as part of a team – that’s one of the reasons I’m so proud to be part of KMG and offer my support.”
By Ross Clark
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