Congratulations to our Vice Chair – Vijay S Paul for being appointed to IEEE HAC (Humanitarian Activities Committee) to work with them on their Global Membership Engagement Team.

HAC focuses on raising awareness of how technically trained people can contribute, provide training for engagement in humanitarian technology and sustainable development activities, support and evaluate projects, and cultivate relationships to advance technology for the benefit of humanity.

The committee reports to the IEEE Board of Directors.

Vijay has been involved with HAC’s SIGHT (Special Interest Group in Humanitarian Technology) initiatives for almost a decade, focused on leveraging technology for education. He joins the team with a strong history of such initiatives, including:

  • IEEE E-Scientia: a hands-on scientific space centre exhibit where students take the role of engineers and solve simulated space flight challenges. This exhibit in Kerala, India was the 6th in the world and 1st indigenously built one. The team went on to win the 2015 IEEE MGA Achievement Award.
  • Shastra Vismaya (The magic of science): an educational initiative for children, in collaboration with the State Government of Kerala (India) for victims of abuse and trafficking staying in government shelter homes, to inculcate interest towards STEM and its applications.
  • Eyes Free Science Camp: A series of STEM camps for visually challenged school students to impart them the confidence in pursuing a career in science. This initiative eventually resulted in the State Government of Kerala (India) lifting the unwritten ban for admission of visually challenged students in STEM courses for higher studies.
  • Early Career Faculty Development Program (ECFDP): Vijay was part of the team that developed the program, and handled workshops for early career academicians from engineering colleges to boost their technological awareness and how to better use technology for classroom teaching.
  • Teacher In Service Program (IEEE TISP):  professional development workshop aimed at helping school teachers bring exciting hands-on engineering lessons into their classrooms.

Vijay has been working with IEEE for 14+ years in various leadership roles with Young Professionals, TEMS, Subsections, Sections, Region 10 (Asia-Pacific) and IEEE MGA.

Along with his present role as Vice Chair of IEEE Victorian Section, he is also the Chair for IEEE Victorian Young Professionals and serves on the Region 10 Information Management Committee.

Vijay has been recognized multiple times by IEEE for his various contributions to the science and engineering education sector, including the 2021 Victorian Section Outstanding Volunteer Award, 2020 MGA (Global) Young Professionals Achievement Award, 2015 Region 10 (Asia-Pacific) Outstanding Young Professional Award and 2013 IEEE President’s Certificate of Appreciation, to name a few.

As further recognition of his contributions, he was elevated to IEEE Senior Member in 2022.

Professionally, he is currently the Senior Communications Coordinator at Monash Data Futures Institute (Monash University) focused on supporting initiatives using AI for social good.