Wins female science and technology student award with blockchain research

Hoang Thi Quynh Nga is currently a third-year student majoring in management information systems at the University of Commerce. At the end of October, Nga was one of 20 faces awarded the Vietnam Female Science and Technology Student Award. This award is chaired by the Central Youth Union, in coordination with the Ministry of Science and Technology, and is presented to female students with outstanding academic and research achievements in a number of specific fields of science and technology.

Russia's most outstanding achievement in this award is the article, scientific research related to the application of blockchain technology in supply chain management on e-commerce platforms. This work was published in the Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference (SR-ICYREB), winning the encouragement prize of the 2023 Olympiad in Econometrics and Applications.

Nga is a former student of Nguyen Du High School, Thai Binh Province. During high school, the female student felt self-conscious because she was overwhelmed by the many smart students in her class.

The turning point came to Nga in her first year of university. The dynamic environment and being assigned to be the class secretary gave Nga the opportunity to interact more with teachers and friends and participate in many group activities.

"I feel like I've found myself again, I'm more open and happy. These things have become the motivation for me to try to learn and improve myself," Nga said.

For general subjects, Nga often notes the main points of each lesson, which are emphasized by the teacher during the lecture. After each subject, she will do it right away to outline it, not waiting until the exam to study, and at the same time, she will read and buy more materials to review.

Nga passed her major subjects more easily because she was interested in the practicality of these subjects. She also had strengths in computing, synthesizing and analyzing data, so she often got high scores in her major. At the end of her first year, she was in the top 4 of her class, won a scholarship and was awarded the title of excellent student.

At the end of August 2022, when she was just entering her second year of university, Nga registered for scientific research. After being suggested by the lecturer, she and three other friends chose the topic of Enhancing the efficiency of supply chain management using blockchain technology on the Shopee e-commerce platform.

According to Nga, this topic involves three factors: logistics and supply chain management, blockchain, and e-commerce. These are all areas that have been growing strongly and have received attention in recent years. Nga sees that blockchain can help increase efficiency in supply chain management, so this research will have practical significance for businesses, helping them trace the origin of products, increase security and reliability for contracts.

As the team leader, Nga is responsible for organizing, building and planning, and assigning tasks to members. In addition, she also runs data and writes the article framework for the research. Nga said the topic helps her apply the knowledge and software related to data analysis learned in class, while blockchain, supply chain management, and e-commerce are all new knowledge. Therefore, the whole team has to read domestic and foreign research related to the topic, ask for documents, and regularly communicate with the lecturer.

Russia said the most difficult part of the research was the business survey. To get the research data, the team needed to ask supply chain managers for feedback, but often received no response.

"Some people read the messages but did not reply, some thought it was a scam and did not click on the online survey link, and some questioned us," Nga said, adding that the response rate was only 20% of what was expected. To overcome this, the group took advantage of their relationships and asked for help connecting. Nga said this method was difficult and time-consuming, but in return, the response rate would be higher.

After more than half a year, Nga and her friends completed their research and entered the Econometrics and Applications Olympiad in June 2023. This competition was jointly organized by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Student Association, the Academy of Finance and the Institute of Mathematics. The work of the four female Commerce students won the consolation prize, then continued to win second prize in the Defense Trial competition of the University of Economics, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, and had a paper in the International Scientific Conference.

Dr. Nguyen Thi Hoi, Deputy Head of the Faculty of Economic Information Systems and E-Commerce, University of Commerce, is the instructor of Nga's group. Ms. Hoi believes that the value of the research lies in its urgency and suitability to the current development of the mentioned elements.

As for Nga, she assessed the female student as neat and hard-working. Nga is often the one who comes up with new and creative ideas.

"I think Russia will be suitable for jobs that require certainty and meticulousness such as software testing and quality management," said Ms. Hoi.

Nga said she is aiming for a position as a Business Analyst upon graduation. Her achievements both inside and outside of school have helped Nga receive a lot of encouragement from friends and family, which has also helped her become more confident.

"The achievements help me gradually assert myself. I am learning more English to increase my chances of finding a good position after graduation," Nga said.