Last July, I was fortunate to be one of the five students from Singapore to participate in the prestigious Willi Hennig conference held in Fagernes, Norway.  This annual conference is attended by prominent members of the scientific community, especially within my discipline of evolutionary biology and phylogenetics. Besides hosting talks by acclaimed scientists and well known researchers from this field, the Willi Hennig Society also encourages students to present their own research to an international audience.  I had the opportunity to mingle and meet peers from countries such as France, Argentina, Sweden, Norway, Africa and also the United States.

Nalini Puniamoorthy
Final Year NUS undergraduate pursuing
Honours degree in Life Sciences

This amazing experience would not have been possible were it not for the great assistance and strong support from SIET.  They presented me with an Achievement Award that helped fund my entire trip and enabled me to truly enjoy that unique opportunity. I was not only able to attend the meeting but I also presented some of my undergraduate research to fellow members of the scientific community.  Despite some of my fumbling errors, the Society liked my talk and I received an honorable mention for my presentation. I work in a field of biology that is relatively not well known in this part of the world. Evolutionary biology is filled with conflicting premises, endless theoretical debates and controversies that feed the fuel to push further.  Were it not for SIET’s belief in me, I might not have taken the first scary step into this academic mayhem that has become my passion.

One of the many questions that resound in the minds of most undergraduates in their final year is a very simple one: “So where do I go from here?” Up till last year, I was no different.  However, thanks to my experience in Norway and the opportunities that I have embraced since than I look forward to pursuing my academic and research interests beyond my basic degree.

Thank you SIET.