Let’s meet Adhelia Intan Sabhira, undergraduate student in Faculty of Biology Universitas Gadjah Mada year 2020. In 2022, she had the opportunity to join Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA) to Radboud University, the Netherlands. It’s a scholarship program by Indonesia government for college students to study abroad for a semester.

For Adhelia, being selected for the IISMA program still feels like a dream, up until now. She believes that IISMA is fantastic and life-changing as it allows them to not only experience college life and a brand new and international setting, but also does it expand their worldview and networking with people from different cultures. “IISMA program provides us with more than useful benefits to pave our future.”

Studying abroad means get out-of-comfort zone for Adhelia. She hopes that by studying abroad, she become more independent, as well as being able to obtain all the knowledge and experience she couldn’t get in Indonesia and explore deeper into where her true passion lies. Furthermore, she is looking forward to share her own insight on Indonesians culture as well as exchanging perspective on various prompts with people from diverse background.

Adhelia enjoys her time in Radboud University, where she has been able to meet and converse with distinguished experts from different fields. Radboud University has the learning environment that extremely significant in shaping the way of studying, where students being assertive and proactive in conveying their opinions, disagreements, and agreements regarding certain topics in academia which is a pivotal point to strengthen students’ understanding on lessons.

In class, she found new learning and teaching system which is very interactive and objected on the analytical and critical-thinking. Adhelia realized that studying in class is not about reading textbooks, listening to lectures, and doing presentations, but it is also about trying to solve different real-life cases and thinking beyond what the students already know.  She is definitely honing skills of importance for her endeavors in Radboud University.

Why Radboud University?

It is a fun fact that Adhelia has spent her childhood in the Netherlands. She recalls the heartwarming memories until now. The sparked experiencing college life in the Netherlands as one of her dreams. Besides, she has the interest on biomedicine. Radboud University offered medical courses that support her interest in biomedicine among universities around the world. Currently, Adhelia is taking 3 courses: Global Health and Infectious Diseases, Globalising Worlds, and Intercultural Communication.

The reasons behind her selected courses are very inspiring. As a tropical country, Indonesia has high prevalence in infectious diseases hence Adhelia learn it from Global Health and Infectious Diseases which will help her with learning the sufficient knowledge on how to reduce the infectious disease cases. Globalising Worlds also closely associated with real-life situations in Indonesia as it studies issues related to urbanization, livelihood, climate change adaptation and mitigations, waste management, etc. in the Global South. Lastly, Intercultural Communications help her to obtain practical insights regarding how to communicate and connect with people from diverse cultural backgrounds in the proper way (AIS/AS).

In the National Scientific Writing Competition, undergraduate Biology students once again made achievement by taking home, not only one, but three awards, including first place, best presentation, and best poster. The team consists of Umi Salamah, Maria Bening Wohingati Yarlantri Tamidiyono, and Wulan Usfi Mafiroh from Biology 2018 under the supervision of Dr. Ardaning Nuriliani, S.Si., M.Kes. This competition was held by Himpunan Mahasiswa Kimia Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB), with the theme “Finding Untapped Potential of Indonesia Natural Resources for a Better Quality Life With Chemistry”. This event aims to express students’ innovations, inventions, and ideas in order to improve their capacity for scientific thinking.

This event was held in October 15, 2022 via online at Institut Pertanian Bandung (IPB) and was attended by students from universities throughout Indonesia. This competition was divided into four stages: abstract submission, paper evaluation, announcement of the top ten, and presentation of the work in front of the judges.

The team brought a scientific paper entitled “Optimizing the Potential of Krokot (Portulaca oleracea) Leaf Callus Extract with the Addition of Elicitors as an Alternative to T47D Breast Anticancer Agent”. According to the team. the idea was inspired by the high prevalence of breast cancer cases both globally and in Indonesia. There are treatments to heal breast cancer. However, those treatments have many sides effect that reduce patient’s quality of life. The team therefore tried to explore natural sources that can be used to treat cancer. One of the natural sources that has anticancer potential is Krokot or Purslane (Portulaca oleracea).

The team prepared presentation materials a week before the online presentation. They practiced routinely so they are able to explain the papers clearly. The team was able to clearly deliver their ideas and respond to the jury’s inquiries. “This was clearly the result of our hard work and everyone’s support” they said.

From this competition, they really hope to provide enthusiasm and support other students who has interested in scientific skills. Other than that, they hope they can bring Faculty Biology’s name on the national scene. [US]

On July 17^th, 2022, undergraduate students from the Faculty of Biology won 1^st place in the National Scientific Writing Competition organized by Universitas Brawijaya, out of eighty teams from universities across Indonesia that participated in this competition. The team consists of Umi Salamah, Maria Bening Wohingati, and Wulan Usfi Mafiroh from Biology 2018 under the supervision of Dr. Ardaning Nuriliani, S.Si., M.Kes. This competition was part of the annual KATULISTIWA 14 event, with the theme “Innovative Mindset: Let’s Build Society 5.0 for Indonesia” that aims to express students’ innovations and ideas in order to improve their scientific thinking skills.

This competition was divided into five stages: abstract submission, paper evaluation, announcement of the top ten, video and poster evaluation, and the climax was the presentation of the work in front of the judges. Our team proposed “Decolorization of Textile Dye Waste Based on Enzyme Mediator System by Microalgae” for this competition. This idea was motivated by the fact that many textile industries dispose their waste without proper management, resulting in the environmental pollution and the death of organisms. We proposed the combining ability of microalgae to synthesize enzymes that play a role in decolorization of textile dye waste with biofuel production. We would like to thank everyone who helped us won the 1^st PLACE at the KATULISTIWA 14 event. [US]

Sunday, April 22, 2018. The Green Coalition (Faculty of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, Faculty of Agriculture, Instiper Jogja, IKAHIMBI) commemorates it by doing long march. The theme of the Green Coalition for the 2018 Earth Day commemoration is trash, because the problem of waste is still a scourge for the environment even until now. The Student Family of the Faculty of Biology is enthusiastic about the event. During the long march, students of the faculty of biology invite the community to dispose of the garbage in its place and distribute the tote bag to the surrounding community. Arriving at Tugu, the event is a speech from faculty representatives, signing petitions, voicing and inviting people to care about the environment by not littering the place, as well as entertainment from representatives of each faculty joined in the Green Coalition. From the faculty of biology, the speech was represented by the chairman of BEM, Lalu Gunawan Fadliansyah (2015), the entertainment was a reading of a poem by Nafi’atul Ummah (2017). The Earth Day event was closed with mannequin challenges.

On April 24, 2018, the Student Family of the Faculty of Biology commemorated the 13th anniversary of KMFB. The event was held in BAB “(Biology Dasar Atas Barat)” Faculty of Biology. the event started at 16.50-18.30. All the biology students who joined the KMFB follow the anniversary of KMFB with great enthusiasm. In KMFB Anniversary ceremony there was a tumpeng cutting represented by Ibu Rina Sri Kasiamdari and symbolically given to the representatives of Study Groups / Institutions to be more “erat dan solid”. The KMFB Anniversary was “dimeriahkan” by Biology Award 2018 nomination readings counted by voting. In the series of KMFB Anniversary event, Department of Medkominfo BEM Biology presents Bioskop (Biology in Telescope) as a video to commemorate the anniversary of KMFB. The event was then closed with taking photos together.

BULAKSUMUR —MATALABIOGAMA celebrates its 43 years old on October 5. In the celebration, the organization that focuses on the support the natural life of the community and the nature sustainability of this nature organizes seminar entitled “Biology and Conservation-Based Management of Natural Resources in Tropics”, in the Auditorium of the Faculty of Biology, last Monday (9/10).