Psychology Research Symposium 2021
On an Unchanging Mission: Reaching out to the Turbulent World
6 March 2021
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM MYT
Online via Zoom (TBC)
Abstract Submission Deadline: 15th January 2021
Keynote Speaker
Prof. Dr. Low Wah Yun @ Sarinah Low Binti Abdullah
Deputy Executive Director (Research & Internationalisation), Asia-Europe Institute at the University of Malaya
LOW Wah Yun, PhD, AFBPsS, FBSCH, CPsychol. is a Professor of Psychology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Currently, Prof Low is the Deputy Executive Director (Research and Internationalization) at the Asia-Europe Institute, University of Malaya.
She is actively engaged in teaching, research, service and consultancy. Her research interest revolves around behavioural medicine, health promotion, sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, men’s health and ageing. Currently, she is involved in 4 international research projects on COVID-19. She is also the co-principal investigator of the Erasmus+ multi-partnered joint project on research capacity building in higher education in Laos PDR.
Prof Low is involved in a 6 ASEAN countries research project on Strengthening of Surveillance System for NCDs Prevention and Control and Health Promotion.
Prof Low has published 20 books and book chapters and about 250 publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. She is the Managing Editor of the Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health (www.apjph.sagepub.com) and also the President of the Asia Pacific Academy Consortium for Public Health (APACPH).
Prof Low's Research Abstract
Plenary Talk
Effect of Physical Activity on Attention, Cognitive Flexibility and Working Memory
Tan Cher Yi, Sunway University
Psychological health of older adults: Recent findings in Australia and Malaysia
Yvonne Leung1,2
1 University of Nottingham Malaysia
2 Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, UNSW
PSYCHO-SOCIAL EFFECTS OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Low Wah Yun, PhD
Professor of Psychology
Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur
COVID-19 pandemic and its preventive measures have had devastating effects on people’s everyday lives. Malaysia reported its first three cases of COVID-19 on 25 January 2020 and in 18th March 2020, a national Movement Control Order (MCO) was implemented to prevent its spread. This mandatory MCO resulted in confinement, separation of families and friends, fear of infection, stigma, restriction of personal freedom, losses (job, income, health, etc), uncertainty of the future and all these contribute to psychological distress, parenting practices, spouses’ relationships and interpersonal violence. This lecture will present findings from an international online survey examining the psychological status, parenting practices, relationship, boredom, interpersonal violence, and well-being of 543 participants by comparing their scores before and during the COVID-19 MCO. The results showed that over half the respondents (58.3%) experienced some form of anxiety: mild (25.2%), moderate (13.6%) and severe (19.5%) anxiety. Relationship quality was negatively associated with having children and spousal violence. During MCO, participants’ well-being worsened, more anxious, more bored and lonely. However, relationship, violence, and parenting practices did not show any significant difference before and during MCO. The pandemic has impacted the psycho-social well-being and thus new strategies and interventions are needed to improve resilience and cope with mental health issues during the pandemic.
Theme
On an Unchanging Mission: Reaching out to the Turbulent World
The world has been constantly changing and 2020 has been particularly challenging. Despite so, researchers in different fields of psychology have never stopped working on widening and deepening our knowledge. The objective of this symposium is to bring researchers together to highlight the latest discoveries and development in the fields of psychology.
Subthemes
Covid-19-related topics
The global pandemic has undeniably changed our lives in many ways. Research about this topic explores these changes, as well as methods to cope with them.
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Clinical Psychology  
Research in clinical psychology strives to understand the causes, preventions, and intervention of psychologically related distress and disorders.
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Social, Community, Cross-Cultural Psychology
Research under this topic is interested in behaviours of groups. Cross-cultural psychology in particular examines the difference of behaviours that people from different backgrounds display.
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Cognitive Psychology 
Research in the field of cognitive psychology seeks to broaden the understanding of mental processes such as attention, decision-making, memory, and perception.
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Behavioural Psychology
Research under this topic strives to understand why people do what they do, and if possible, how do we use the knowledge to modify behaviours for the better.
Educational Psychology
Research in the field of educational psychology explores a range of factors that affects the delivery of knowledge and the process of learning.
  
Cyber Psychology  
Cyber psychology is an emerging field that explores human behaviour in relation to the culture of technology, the Internet, and social media.
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Health Psychology 
Health psychology is the field of psychology that explores how psychological factors affect physical health and illnesses.
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Developmental Psychology
Research in this field discovers the development of human mind and behaviour that happens in different stages of life.
 
Personality Psychology  
Personality psychology is a field of psychology that studies the factors that affect the development of personalities, as well as the effect of personalities on different aspects of life.
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Industrial & Organizational Psychology  
Research under this field seeks to understand individual and personal workplace issues that affect the functioning of businesses and organisations, such as recruitment, employee placement, motivation, leadership, productivity, and many more.
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Business/Occupational Psychology
This field of study examines the factors affecting businesses and organisations in a bigger picture, as compared to industrial and organisational psychology, which focuses on individual and personal factors. Examples of topics in the field include operation strategy, stakeholder relationships, market performance, and so on.