By Siti Tafzilmeriam Sheikh Abdul Kadir

“Be Patient, and This Will Lead to Success in Your Life.”

“The research itself is a journey – a journey filled with obstacles and challenge. As a father of three young energetic boys, the greatest obstacle in my research is ‘TIME’. Time management is important for me to get a better quality of life, especially when my children always demand for our time together. Besides, research can be challenging when the findings are beyond our expectation. This will pose significant challenge in comprehending the finding of the study.”

A doctorate in coral reef ecology, Mohd Safuan Bin Che Din aspires to become more versatile by exploring new fields and enhancing his skills as a young lecturer at INOS. He was recently involved in several projects, predominantly in the collaborative projects with the Department of Fisheries Malaysia (DOFM) namely marine habitat mapping in Pulau Kapas Marine Park, Marine Park Sustainability Management Plan in Labuan Marine Park, as well as a study on the Malaysian policies and laws on marine biodiversity and ecosystem.

As a young researcher placed under the Centre for Ocean Governance, INOS (INOS-COG), he is also involved in the Malaysian Marine Spatial Planning (MMSP) project, which is an ecosystem-based approach that focuses on allocating ocean space for multiple users to reduce conflict between humans and the environment. This pilot MMSP project is a joint-project with Xiamen University of China and is focusing on Kuala Terengganu-Kuala Nerus districts.

He has alo been actively involved in consultancy works. The most recent project was to survey marine flora and fauna mainly marine megafauna and coral reef communities at Luconia Shoal National Park, an offshore coral reef approximately 180 km from Miri, Sarawak.

According to Safuan, “My family has always been supportive of me and seeing my sons – Muhammad Al Haziq, Muhammad Al Hafiy and Muhammad Al Hakim-  grow happily always inspired me to become more successful and to be a better person.”

Safuan always holds two mottos in life. Firstly, “Be Patient”. He believes that by being patient, it will lead to success in life. He quoted the words of Prophet Muhammad Rasulullah p.b.u.h. “whoever remains patient, Allah will bestow patience upon him, and no one is ever given anything better and more generous than patience.” Her second motto is based on a quote from the most prominent scientist of all time, Sir Albert Einstien – “If we knew what we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”. He believes that research is an action to find something we do not know, and our curiosity will lead to research.