The 2023 International Conference on CMAS-Asia-Pacific was held on July 19–21, 2023, in Saitama, Japan. The conference is hosted by Nation Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), and organized jointly by State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex in China, Center for Community Modelling and Analyses (CMAS), Northeastern University, and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Atmosphere Watch Programme (GAW) Global Air Quality Forecasting and Information System (GAFIS) Steering Committee, Geneva, Switzerland, with the support from Center for Environmental Science in Saitama, Japan Society of Atmospheric Environment (JSAE), Asia Center for Air Pollution Research (ACAP), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment (KOSAE), Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR), Monitoring, Analysis and Prediction of Air Quality (MAP-AQ), and EX Research Institute Ltd. The 1st CMAS-Asia-Pacific conference was held on May 21–23, 2018, in Beijing, China. The 2023 International Conference is the second meeting of CMAS-Asia-Pacific.

This program focused on the air pollution problem, with the conference’s overall theme being “One atmosphere in the Asia-Pacific region – multi-scales, multi-interactions, and multi-effects –”. The conference aims at providing an excellent opportunity for air quality scientists, model developers, and policymakers to exchange ideas and knowledge on critical issues of air quality model development and applications to address atmospheric environment issues from the perspectives of multi-scales, multi-interactions, and multi-effects. In particular, air quality model development and application in the Asia-Pacific region are focused

Thanks to the sponsorship, I secured a young scientist scholarship to join the program. The program has two days of training on air quality modelling and three days of conferences with expert and vastly experienced trainers and speakers. This program opened my eyes, especially for young researchers like me, to explore and learn how to develop air quality prediction modelling in our country, which is still lacking.

Finally, this event also became one of my unexpected achievements, as my name was announced as one of the best young scientists. This award made me more passionate about continuing my research, especially in air quality modelling for Malaysia. Thank you to my supervisor (Dr Maggie Ooi Chel Gee) and my co-supervisors (Prof. Talib, PM. Dr. Liew Juneng and Prof Andy), who always guided and supported me.