KUALA LUMPUR: Dr Kong Xin Ying has become the only Malaysian female recipient of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 (TR35) Asia Pacific Award for 2024.
The award recognises 35 exceptional young innovators from across the Asia Pacific region who have made significant breakthroughs, highlighting their innovative contributions and entrepreneurial acuity in fields such as biotechnology, materials, computer hardware, energy, transportation, communications and the internet.
The accolade celebrates Kong’s groundbreaking contributions to sustainable energy harvesting and environmental remediation by upcycling plastics.
Her research delves into converting plastic waste into fuels and versatile chemicals using catalysts at ambient conditions.
With the method, non-biodegradable plastics that naturally require a hundred to a thousand years to decompose, can be shortened to just one day.
Apart from potentially addressing plastic pollution, the technology can also produce valuable chemicals that serve as solvents, antiseptics, food additives, fragrances and liquid organic hydrogen carriers that efficiently store and release hydrogen.
By mining carbon resources from plastic waste instead of extracting them from fossil fuels, early laboratory tests have shown promising results – with the dual benefit of reducing plastic pollution and creating sustainable energy sources.
“Receiving this award is an incredible honour, which acknowledges the significance of my work in mitigating plastic pollution with sustainable solutions, and it encourages me to work harder,” Kong said after receiving the award in Shanghai last month.
She is the fourth Malaysian to receive the award in the past 10 years.
Past Malaysian recipients include University of Malaya researcher Wei Ru Wong (2020), Artificial Intelligence in Medical Epidemiology cofounder and chief scientist Dhesi Raja (2017) and Piktochart co-founder Goh Ai Ching (2014).
Kong, who is currently a research fellow at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, also recently made the list of the World’s Top 2% Scientists 2023 determined by Stanford University, making her one of the youngest to be recognised, at 32 years old.
She is also one of five recipients of the 2023 Merdeka Award Grant for International Attachment who has been lauded for her pioneering research in photocatalytic upcycling of plastics.
Kong will begin a three-month stint at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California in the United States at the end of the month.
“The Merdeka Award Grant will provide a platform for me to connect and collaborate with leading researchers at renowned institutions worldwide, significantly advancing my work on photocatalytic upcycling of plastics. The exposure and resources from this will allow me to refine my research and its impact for sustainable energy solutions,” said Kong.
Merdeka Award Trust secretary Kerina Fauzi said Kong’s achievements exemplify the spirit of innovation and excellence that the Merdeka Award seeks to recognise.
“Kong’s work highlights the potential of scientific research to solve real-world problems, offering transformative solutions to address environmental issues, and inspires future generations of innovators to strive for greatness,” said Kerina.
Since its introduction in 2012, the Merdeka Award Grant for international attachment has supported 29 recipients in the fields of education, health, science, technology, environment, arts and humanities with the opportunity to enhance their expertise and contribute to various fields by collaborating with top-ranked institutions worldwide.
Malaysians between the age of 22 and 35 are encouraged to apply via the Merdeka Award Grant application website, as the next cycle will open on Jan 1, 2025.
Selected recipients will stand to benefit from full tuition fee, accommodation and travel during the short-term attachment period of up to three months, upon acceptance at the recipient’s institution of choice.
