Prof. Saurabh Sinha

Executive Dean, Faculty of Engineering
University of Canterbury
Saurabh Sinha obtained his B.Eng, M.Eng, and Ph.D. degrees in Electronic Engineering from the University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa (ZA). Prof Sinha is also a graduate of Wharton’s Advanced Management Program, University of Pennsylvania, USA (alum status). As an established researcher rated by the National Research Foundation, ZA, he has authored or co-authored over 140 publications in peer-reviewed journals, books and proceedings of international conferences. Prof Sinha served UP and the University of Johannesburg (UJ), ZA, for over 22 years – initially as an academic (at various tiers), and then as institute director, executive dean and deputy vice-chancellor. Prof Sinha moved to New Zealand in mid-2023, retaining visiting affiliations at both UJ (Business School and Engineering) and Princeton University (Engineering), USA. At the University of Canterbury, NZ, reporting directly to the vice-chancellor and principal, Prof Sinha leads the Faculty of Engineering as Executive Dean. Among his many achievements, Prof Sinha is a Fellow of the IEEE, recipient of a prestigious U.S. Fulbright grant, and has formerly served as IEEE Board of Director and Vice-President. He is registered as a Chartered Professional Engineer with Engineering New Zealand | Te Ao Rangahau.

Programmes

From Research Excellence to Impact: What Must Universities Enable Together?
COE
This panel is the institutional response to De Kai. It asks how universities can continue building strong research excellence individually while recognising that increasingly complex research and translation pathways require capabilities distributed across institutions. 

DAY 1

From Earth to Orbit: Building the Next-Generation Connectivity Ecosystem for a Borderless Sarawak
The Future
Sarawak’s digital ambitions depend on connectivity that reaches everyone, everywhere, from Kuching’s city centre to longhouses deep in the interior, and outwards to the rest of ASEAN and the world. This session looks at how that connectivity ecosystem is being built across every layer: fibre and tower networks on the ground, subsea links to the wider region, and satellite capacity in orbit. Bringing together a leading infrastructure provider, a national satellite operator and an academic perspective on next-generation networks, the panel explores how these layers can work as one seamless system, what emerging technologies such as low-earth-orbit satellites and 6G mean for the state, and how a “borderless” Sarawak, where geography no longer limits opportunity, can be made a reality.

DAY 2