Johor Bahru – An international workshop entitled “Transforming Oil Palm Residues into New Income Streams” was successfully held on 15th and 16th April 2019 at Raja Zarith Sofiah Library, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). The workshop was co-organized and led by Dr. Chong Chun Shiong (Environmental Biotechnology Research Group, Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Science, UTM), a Project Leader of the Newton Fund and Prof. Dr. Neil C. Bruce from the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, Department of Biology, University of York, United Kingdom.
The aims of the workshop were to meet existing and new partners to form wider consortium and to build a broad programme of activities that can potentially lead to the use of oil palm residues. The continual collaboration between both UTM and University of York was due to the success of the previous research project sponsored under the Southeast Asia Small Scale Research Partnerships-Newton-Ungku Omar Fund (UK-SEA-NUOF) (previous posts: https://news.utm.my/2018/07/newton-fund-uk-sea-nuof-progress-visit-to-university-of-york-uk/, https://news.utm.my/2018/05/newton-fund-uk-sea-nuof-progress-a-workshop-between-university-of-york-uk-and-utm/).
The delegates included research members of the Newton Fund, local universities and institutions, stakeholders of the oil palm industry and international collaborators:
1. Prof. Dr. Zaharah Ibrahim (Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Science, UTM)
2. Prof. Dr. Zainura Zainon Noor (Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Water Security, UTM)
3. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shafinaz Shahir (Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Science, UTM)
4. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Madihah Md Salleh (Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Science, UTM)
5. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Goh Kian Mau (Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Science, UTM)
6. Dr. Adibah Yahya (Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Science, UTM)
7. Dr. Chong Chun Shiong (Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Science, UTM)
8. Mr. Lam Ming Quan (Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Science, UTM)
9. Ms. Nurshafika Abd Khalid (Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Science, UTM)
10. Ms. Sharvini Siva Raman (School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, UTM)
11. Prof. Dr. Neil C. Bruce (University of York, UK)
12. Dr. Daniel Leadbeater (University of York, UK)
13. Mr. Alexander Stetchfield (University of York, UK)
14. Dr. Rachel Curwen (University of York, UK)
15. Prof. Dr. Lindsay Stringer (University of Leeds, UK)
16. Dr. Elaine Fitches (Durham University, UK)
17. Dr. Adrian Charlton (Fera Science Ltd, UK)
18. Prof. Dr. Suraini Abd Aziz (Universiti Putra Malaysia)
19. Dr. Emilie Devic (Entofood Sdn. Bhd.)
20. Mr. Michael Ng Foo Yuen (Malaysian Palm Oil Council)
21. Prof. Dr. Didiek Goenadi (Indonesian Research Institute for Biotechnology and Bioindustry)
22. Mr. Fajar Wahyudi (Badan Pengelola Dana Perkebunan Kelapa Sawit, Indonesia)
23. Mr. Sulthan Muhammad Yusa (Badan Pengelola Dana Perkebunan Kelapa Sawit, Indonesia)
The discussion during the workshop was fruitful and potentially benefited the Malaysian team in terms of the scientific knowledge gained and the oil palm waste management in the long term. This workshop was sponsored by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC, UK) and also received some contributions from UTM in terms of facilities and technical support. The organiser would like to express their gratitude to all the parties involved for ensuring the successful running of the workshop.