His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam yesterday consented to officially launch Universiti Brunei Darussalam's latest pride in the field of research in an event that was held at the UBD-IBM Research Institute on the sidelines of celebrating the university's silver anniversary.

Under the arrangement first announced by His Majesty in September 2010, researchers from UBD and IBM will be working together in developing climate models based on regional climate data where new hydrological models will be incorporated into weather models that will be able to forecast flood and predict climatic impact on rainforests.

The move is foreseen to become the vehicle that will drive Brunei Darussalam in the direction of realising the nation's Vision 2035 objective of producing well-educated people with high-quality living and a dynamic, sustainable economy, as it will open doors to wider horizons in forming alliances with many world-class researchers, thanks to IBM's global research laboratories on projects that will analyse and assess the current and future impacts of climate change in the Asean region.

Along with this partnership, Brunei also became home to the first-ever Blue Gene supercomputer in the Southeast Asian region, thus subsequently placing the Abode of Peace on the global map in technological advancement.

Apart from providing its students with quality education and commitment to providing experience through the hands-on approach, UBD has always been a strong advocate in the battle against climate change, which is evident in many of its green-related projects that include its involvement with the Heart of Borneo initiatives and environmental-based research at the national park situated in the midst of the country's Green Jewel, Temburong. - Borneo Bulletin (16th Octopber 2011)