PSYCDAY ’25: Student Research Symposium Sheds Light on Overlooked Topic in Academia

By, Nurin Ahmad

GOMBAK, 17 December 2025: In conjunction with Psychology Day 2025 (PSYCDAY’25), the Secretariat of Psychology (PSYCSTA) has successfully organised the Student Research Symposium on 21st November, at ADM LT 1, IIUM Gombak.

The Student Research Symposium is a competition-based academic event where Psychology students from IIUM and other universities are invited to showcase their research to expert judges in a 3-Minute Thesis Format (3MT), which challenges them to present their study in an engaging way within a limited time frame.

One of the participants in the symposium, Iffah Mardhiah said that the event was a valuable opportunity for her to identify areas for improvement and noted that the most rewarding part of research is :”Being able to improve my research skills so that future studies I conduct will have far more meaningful contributions than this one.”

Among the participants, three outstanding students were selected for the Judges’ Selection, Best Presenter and Audience Favourite awards. The recipients were Halimatul Saadiah binti Pairit, Aya Alsadig Sidahmed Ali, and Adam Ikhwan bin Muhd Fauzi, respectively.

**Aya Alsadig Sidahmed Ali, the Best Presenter awardee, presenting her study**

In an exclusive interview with IIUMToday, a graduating Asia Pacific University (APU) student, Aya Alsadig Sidahmed Ali, said she joined the event after seeing it advertised on her student channel. Her research on international students impacted by the ongoing conflict in Sudan highlights the inner struggle faced by students from war-torn countries.

Motivated by the lack of awareness surrounding the topic in Malaysia, she stated, “If people are not looking or caring, here is scientific data to show that there is a conflict and there are people affected by it”.

She adds, “Barely any literature has been done to address these kinds of issues for international students and for the Sudanese conflict specifically”.

Seeing her message fully reach the audience was how she knew her research effort had come to fruition. Building on this success, Aya expresses interest in expanding her studies to a larger, more diverse sample of Sudanese international students across various countries. ***