Bandung, Unikom — On Wednesday, March 12, 2025, Department of International Relations, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, held a public lecture by inviting Dr. Noël Hanna from the University of New South Wales, who is a volunteer from the collaboration between UNIKOM and Australia Aid. This activity raised the topic of “How to Improve Your Academic Writing Skills,” with the aim of increasing students’ knowledge about scientific writing.
This public lecture was held online via Zoom Meeting and opened with several speeches from the Head of the Department of International Relations, Dr. Dewi Triwahyuni, S.IP., M.Si, followed by the Director of International Program at UNIKOM, Dr. Senny Luckyardi, S.P., M.M, and the Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at UNIKOM, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dewi Kurniasih, S.IP., M.Si.
Dr. Dewi Triwahyuni, S.IP., M.Si, in her speech, expressed her deep gratitude to Dr. Noël Hanna for his willingness to take the time and participate in this event. The event was then opened by Dr. Senny Luckyardi, S.P., M.M., who expressed his enthusiasm for the opportunity to have a public lecture delivered by an international lecturer and hoped to continue developing long-term plans for such activities in the future or even explore new opportunities for international-level events.
The Guest Lecture session began with Moderator Andrias Darmayadi, S.IP, M.Si, Ph.D reading Dr. Noël Hanna’s CV and then focusing on the importance of critical reading as the main foundation in the writing process. Dr. Noël Hanna emphasized that in order to build a strong argument, students must be able to summarize the main points and question various existing perspectives. Additionally, participants were guided in developing clear and debatable thesis statements. Dr. Hanna explained that the success of an academic paper depends on the integration of relevant evidence to strengthen the claims made. Some students also asked questions about the challenges they faced when writing academic papers.
The closing session was led by the Dean of FISIP UNIKOM, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dewi Kurniasih, S.IP., M.Si. She expressed her gratitude and hoped that FISIP UNIKOM students could further improve their writing skills and be productive in producing scientific papers.
The event was attended by UNIKOM’s academic community, with a total of 188 participants, and is expected to provide valuable insights for students in developing their academic writing skills, while also strengthening their critical reading and revision abilities.
