UBD/RSCH/1.0/FICBF/2026/001 entitled “Transforming Patent Information into Research Direction: Developing a Framework for Patent Landscape Review and Whitespace Identification”
This project aims to develop a structured Patent Landscape Review (PLR) Framework to support research planning, innovation development and intellectual property (IP) generation at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD). The framework will provide a systematic approach for searching, analysing and interpreting global patent information to identify technology trends, research gaps, and whitespace opportunities. These insights will be used to inform new research directions, design opportunities and potential invention development. The framework will be tested, refined and validated through a series of PLR case studies in technology areas relevant to UBD’s research strengths and Brunei’s national development priorities.
The Role of RAs
A research assistant with a Master’s degree in a relevant science, technology or engineering discipline will be appointed to carry out the main research activities of the project under the guidance of the project team. The RA will be responsible for conducting patent database searches, retrieving and organizing patent records, screening relevant patents, extracting and analyzing patent data, applying patent classifications, and preparing technology maps, data visualizations and case-study summaries.
The RA will also contribute to the development and refinement of the PLR framework by documenting search strategies, screening criteria, analysis procedures, challenges encountered and lessons learned from the selected case studies. As the project involves framework development rather than routine patent searching alone, the RA will be expected to work independently, explore unfamiliar technology areas, exercise critical thinking and creativity, and contribute ideas to improve the methodology and presentation of the project outputs.
The RA will be guided by a project team with experience in patent searching, patent analysis, intellectual property management and patent landscape review. The project team will provide supervision on research direction, analytical interpretation, whitespace identification, framework development and preparation of publications.
Minimum requirements:
- Master’s by research in science, technology, engineering or related discipline is preferred, particularly in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Energy or related areas. Candidates with other relevant Master’s qualifications may also be considered if they demonstrate strong research ability, technical writing skills and relevant experience.
- Able to speak and write in the English language.
- Demonstrated ability to conduct structured database searches and organise, manage and analyse large datasets.
- Demonstrated ability to write research reports, literature reviews and/or scholarly articles.
- Strong analytical and organisational skills, with attention to detail and the ability to work systematically.
- Ability to work independently, explore unfamiliar technical areas, exercise critical thinking and contribute ideas to improve the project methodology.
- Prior exposure to intellectual property rights, particularly patents, patent searching, patent databases, data visualisation tools, digital research tools, technology scouting and/or systematic literature review would be an advantage.
Documents:
Interested candidates should submit soft copies of the following documents to the Innovation Office (ip.oavcris@ubd.edu.bn) by Monday, 20th July 2026.
- Cover letter
- Curriculum vitae, including publication list where applicable
- Academic transcripts, including Bachelor’s degree transcript and Master’s degree transcript where applicable.
- Copy of National ID.
Writing sample, such as a published paper, manuscript, thesis chapter, literature review, systematic literature review, technical report or final year project report, where available