From janitor to senior lecturer: UM academic turns experience into PhD research

KUALA LUMPUR: Dr Nurul Asmaa Akmal Md Din, a 30-year-old academic at Universiti Malaya, has transformed her life from working as a janitor to becoming a senior lecturer. Her background in waste management has been instrumental in her doctoral research. In 2018, Nurul Asmaa began her career as a janitor, motivated by the need for an immediate source of income, according to Harian Metro.

Despite initially viewing the job as a temporary setback, she recognized its value, as her experience in waste management would later become the foundation of her PhD research. She explained that the research required her to draw upon her practical experience and gather data for her study.

After completing her studies, Nurul Asmaa pursued her passion for education and became a senior lecturer at UM. She attributes her success to her unwavering belief in the rewards of hard work, stating, "Hard work will never betray the results. No matter how difficult what we are working towards may be, all the exhaustion will eventually pay off." Her mother played a significant role in encouraging her to pursue her academic ambitions.