Founder & Executive Director, AFIRMASI
Muhammad Hilal Sudarbi
“Physics education, science communication, and the belief that AI must serve the students it has never been designed for.”
About
Muhammad Hilal Sudarbi built AFIRMASI from a conviction formed in the field: that Indonesia's 3T regions are not a peripheral policy problem — they are the central one.
Born in Kupang and raised in East Nusa Tenggara, Hilal pursued physics education at Universitas Nusa Cendana, graduating Cum Laude with a GPA of 3.70. He was awarded the PPA Dikti scholarship for outstanding academic achievement before completing a Master of Science in Teaching of Physics at one of Indonesia's most competitive science and engineering institutions — on a full LPDP scholarship, with a GPA of 3.60.
His academic trajectory reaches its next stage in June 2026, when he commences a Doctor (PhD) program at the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Institute for Science Education and Communication (ISEC), University of Groningen in the Netherlands — again fully funded by LPDP, for up to 48 months. His doctorate deepens his inquiry into physics education, learning technology, and science communication: the trio of disciplines that underpin AFIRMASI's research wing.
Across his academic career, Hilal has taught physics at every level — from senior high school classrooms in Kupang to university lecture halls, and has managed full physics laboratory operations in resource-constrained contexts, including equipment procurement, safety protocols, and student-facing practical sessions.
He has also led an independent editorial and research facilitation initiative since 2020, through which he has guided over 30 Indonesian researchers to successful publication in Q1 indexed journals — managing collaborative academic projects and mentoring manuscripts across systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and literature reviews. This work reflects a core AFIRMASI principle: research excellence is not the exclusive domain of well-resourced institutions.
He brings to AFIRMASI deep fluency in physics theory and science pedagogy, combined with hands-on expertise in design and media production (Adobe Certified Professional in Visual Effects & Motion Graphics, After Effects, Premiere Pro, Illustrator, Figma), quantitative research tools (SPSS, NVivo), and programming (Python, Arduino). This rare interdisciplinary range — scientist, educator, communicator, and designer — defines his approach to building AI literacy infrastructure for Indonesia's most isolated learners.
Meet the Founder
AFIRMASI began in a PhD proposal — not as an institution, but as a question: what happens to the students in 3T regions when AI reshapes every other classroom?
I grew up in East Nusa Tenggara. I know what a school with two teachers covering six subjects looks like. I know the physics laboratory with equipment that hasn't been calibrated in years. I know the student who is brilliant but has never been told that research is something they could do.
When generative AI began accelerating in 2023, I saw both a threat and a pivot point. Without inclusive design and local research capacity, AI would deepen every gap that already existed. AFIRMASI was founded to flip that: to make AI a tool for frontier communities, not another system designed elsewhere and dropped on them.
The institution is built on the same principle as good science education: inquiry first. We don't tell communities what they need. We ask, measure, analyze, and build with them.
Activity Gallery
Physics education field session at a 3T region school, East Nusa Tenggara
Research team collaboration — AFIRMASI inaugural workshop
Developing offline-first AI learning tools for frontier classrooms
Science education outreach — Kupang, NTT
Vision
An Indonesia where every student — regardless of geography — can understand, critique, and shape AI-driven systems with scientific literacy, ethical grounding, and creative confidence.
Mission
Build physics and science education infrastructure that travels to remote classrooms. Design AI literacy frameworks grounded in inquiry, not passive consumption. Mentor the next generation of Indonesian researchers who come from the same regions AFIRMASI serves.
Why AFIRMASI?
Because the communities I grew up in deserve the same quality of science education — and the same access to AI tools — as any student in Java. And because I've spent enough time in classrooms, labs, and journals to know that the knowledge infrastructure to make that happen can be built. AFIRMASI is how we build it.
Field Impact
Hilal has taught physics from senior high school classrooms in Kupang to university lecture halls, always in contexts where resources arrive late if at all. He has managed full physics laboratory operations in underfunded institutions — procurement, calibration, student facilitation — and turned those constraints into research questions about what learning technology must look like to serve real classrooms. Through independent research editorial work, he has directly mentored over 30 Indonesian researchers to successful Q1 publication, demonstrating that academic output is possible from any region, when someone builds the right scaffold. At AFIRMASI, this is the lived principle: rigorous science education is possible anywhere.