Getting beyond research boundaries: AI impact, innovative services and essentials

As a research-based university, Vietnamese-German University (VGU) needs powerful research support services and professional channels to nurture the learning and research needs in the academic settings.

Having a close corporative partnership with Chulalongkorn University Library in the past years as well as a successful co-workshop with us last year, we continued to organize this co-workshop “Getting beyond research boundaries: AI impact, innovative services and essentials” on 8 May 2024 at Vietnamese-German University and online. The one-day workshop covers the multi-facet sharing from the research landscape and what the VGU Research Management Department (RMD) and Library can support the University to contribute to its missions as a model research university.

Dr. Thomas Aulig, representative of VGU, gave a welcome speech

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Amorn, Director – Office of Academic Resources Chulalongkorn University, sent a message to audiences

Providing effective Research Support Services is one of the indispensable tasks for VGU Library and RMD in advancing and facilitating the university scholarly endeavors. Besides making all procedures at ease for researchers, RMD also undertakes effective research data management to ensure smooth research operation and support for research strategies at VGU. In addition to this, VGU Library provides researchers with rich scholarly information resources, reference assistance, information and citation literacy guidance, scholarly communication support when required. Therefore, through this workshop, we would like to strengthen these services to promoting academic excellence across diverse fields, research impact and academic knowledge dissemination.

Dr. La Vinh Trung, Head of Research Management Department, played a role as a moderator of the Workshop

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vu Anh Tuan, Senior Lecturer – Director of Vietnamese German Transport Research Center (VGTRC), presented “How to write a good proposal for research funding”

There were around 145 on-site and online participants attending the co-workshop toward the three common goals: expanding the understanding of the research world, utilizing artificial intelligence to its full potential, and improving the research support services that are essential to higher education. It is more important than ever to go beyond conventional study limits in an era of swift technology advancement and global interconnectedness. Specifically, we delved into a myriad of incredible topics, from writing powerful proposals for research funding and great articles to convince reviewers and publishers, to the disruptive potential of artificial intelligence to the implementation of research and innovative research support services. We also examined how emerging technologies are reshaping the way we conduct research, disseminate knowledge, and measure impact across diverse fields and disciplines.

Dr. Tran Binh Dai, Lecturer at VGU, gave a speech “Publishing your research in quality journals”

Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Tri, Director of VGU Library, performed “Bibliometrics and research impact”

Our co-workshop additionally stressed the value of cooperation and knowledge sharing in advancing academic success and developing intercultural understanding. Our goal is to create a dynamic learning environment that cuts over national borders and academic disciplines by uniting the most brilliant minds from Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, and New Zealand. The international participants are also emerging from Vietnam to Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines and USA. We got their active participation and discussion contribution to the co-workshop topics as the insights and experience on peer review process of the quality journals, helpful tips to choose the most appropriate journals to submit research papers, how to develop critical thinking, “bibliometrics and almetrics – useful and obvious ways to evaluate the quality of an author or an article, but number of citations always indicate high quality, how do you cross check AI data for web SEO, etc. The participants left us with the motivating and inspiring feedback as “great organization, the workshop was very interesting and useful, appreciate the contents shared by all speakers, they were insightful, and thank you for organizing such a lovely workshop that gives lots of useful information”. They like most workshop topics and look forward to having the similar workshops in the future.

Ms. Piyathida Horpratoom & Ms. Chanchanit Ketnoi, Research Librarians at Chulalongkorn University Library, presented “Research Support Services for university libraries”

The workshop had ended but we see the cooperative intellectual journey, harness the power of collective wisdom to unlock new frontiers of knowledge, drive innovation, and propel academic excellence forward.

Dr. Tran Le Huu Nghia, Lecturer at Australian National University, discussed “Practical experience from research reviewers’ perspectives”

Some highlighted photos captured from our co-workshop:

Morning session

Afternoon session

VGU Library sent gifts to audiences.

By VGU Research Management Department and Library