KUALA LUMPUR – Universiti Malaya (UM) has filed a police report following accusations that one of its lecturers stole the research work of an international doctoral student whose experience recently caused an outcry on social media.
In a statement today, the university denied the student’s complaints and said that it is reviewing the appropriate legal action that can be taken.
UM also said that its policy was that research undertaken using its facilities remained the property of the university.
It added that the PhD candidate – Yemen-national Abbod Ali Mohammed Saeed, 34 – had been unable to complete his studies despite being sponsored for an extra three semesters beyond the maximum of 12 semesters.
“The university held several counselling sessions and appointed additional supervisors to assist him,” it asserted. However, it said that Abbod was still unable to complete his studies within the extended period.
In a video which has since made the rounds on social media platforms, Abbod told news portal Media Variasi that data from his PhD research had been misused by two of his supervisors for their own “personal commercial interests.”
Wow. Universiti Malaya what is this behaviour.. pic.twitter.com/tbUP7PjL5G
— ᶠᵃᵗ cat ˢᵃʸs ᴴeyy! (@JulesJulietta) August 28, 2022
He explained that in 2015, one of the supervisors had offered to use the project findings on the use of scanning technology in advanced intelligent transportation systems in a UM research company, with the patent rights being shared according to UM regulations.
However, after spending two years on his proposed topic, he had abruptly been unable to access his research files.
“The username and password had suddenly been changed and my supervisor told me that the system is now part of his company that has nothing to do with UM,” he was quoted as saying.
He claimed that he had reported the matter to university management and was later assured that they would solve the matter by extending his study period by three semesters and providing the necessary equipment to continue his research.
Instead, he was issued a PhD candidature termination letter by UM on April 7 this year.
Subsequently, Abbod filed a police report on August 14 and signed a statutory declaration affirming that he has evidence and documents which confirm that the ideas, proposals, papers and research data are his. – The Vibes, August 29, 2022
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