Holiday Workshop on Agricultural and Microbiological Science

Venue: Faculty of Science, UTAR

Dates: 28 and 29 December 2021

UTAR Faculty of Science (FSc) and Centre for Agriculture and Food Research (CAFR) jointly organised a community project named “EduFun AgriMicrob Science Holiday Workshop” on 28 and 29 December 2021 at UTAR Kampar Campus. It was a two-day physical workshop organised by a team of academics from the Department of Agricultural and Food Science (DAFS) as well as Department of Biological Science (DBS) of Faculty of Science (FSc). This workshop was sponsored by Nature’s Best Sdn Bhd, Zugar Sdn Bhd and Humibox Sdn Bhd. For more info, please click the following link:  https://news.utar.edu.my/news/2022/Jan/17/01/01.html


A webinar on herbs that are beneficial for respiratory health


A webinar titled “Herbs Webinar 2021: Herbs for Respiratory Health” was jointly organised by Malaysia Holistic and Herbal Organisation (MHHO), UTAR Centre for Biomedical and Nutrition Research (CBNR) and UTAR Centre for Agriculture and Food Research (CAFR) on 20 December 2021 via Zoom and Facebook Live. Sponsored by Isolab Sdn Bhd, the event saw 140 participants in attendance.

Speaking at the webinar were MHHO Medical Doctor Dr Inthirani Sivarajah KMN, MHHO Medical Doctor and TCM practitioner Dr Lu Zhi Gang, UTAR Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) Centre for Research in Traditional Chinese Medicine Chairperson Assoc Prof Dr Te Kian Keong and Sunway Healthcare Group Sunway TCM Centre Senior Manager-cum-Registered Pharmacist (special interest in Herbal Medicine) Chan Si Yan. There were two moderators at the webinar, namely CBNR member-cum-Faculty of Science (FSc) Department of Allied Health Sciences lecturer Dr Ho Lai Yee and MHHO Director-cum-Wellness Medical Qigong (WMQ) Founder Master Tan Soo Kong. For more details, please click the following link: https://news.utar.edu.my/news/2022/Jan/05/01/01.html


AGRICULTURE TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR SERIES XX

Advanced Technologies for Sustainable Aquaculture

Platform: ZOOM

Date: 4 December 2021


The Agriculture Technology Seminar Series XX: Advanced Technologies for Sustainable Aquaculture was successfully held on 4 Dec 2021 via Zoom. It was jointly organised by the Centre for Agriculture and Food Research (CAFR), Faculty of Science (FSc), and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), and sponsored by Cargill Feed Sdn Bhd and Sunzen Feedtech Sdn Bhd. For further information, please click the link here: https://news.utar.edu.my/news/2021/Dec/13/02/02.html


Webinar on Food Packaging – The Way to Win Consumers

Our Tagline: Pack What We Sell, Sell What We Pack

Platform: ZOOM

Dates: 26, 28 Oct 2021 and 2 Nov 2021

With speakers’ sharings on food packaging, food traceability and sustainable food packaging, the “Food Packaging: The Way to Win Consumers” webinar, jointly organised by the Centre for Agriculture and Food Research (CAFR) and the Faculty of Science (FSc) on 26 and 28 October 2021, and 2 November 2021 via Zoom became an insightful platform for participants to learn about food science and food industries.

The webinar also facilitated discussion to promote food innovation of local agricultural products for wider marketing and business opportunity, and provided a ground for establishing relationships and connections with potential food industries for future research collaboration. The webinar was organised in collaboration with food industry consultants Lam Ah Chye and Lai Mun Lee.

Adorning the screens with their presence were speakers Senior Assistant Director of Food Safety and Quality Division Nur Liyana binti Mohamad Nizar, Ministry of Health Malaysia; Freelance certified consultants Tan Chee Seang and Chong Siew Teck; Top Fruits Sdn Bhd Director Dr Tan Sue Sian; Pusat Penyelidikan Sains & Teknologi Makanan (MARDI) Dr Nurzam Ezdiani Che Hussin@Zakaria; Ishida Systems Director Hiroshi Sunada; Taisei Lamick Malaysia Sales Assistant Manager Saiful Azzam Khairummuzammil; Daibochi Bhd General Manager for Product Development and Technical Mohammad bin Hashim and Heng Hiap Industries Sdn Bhd CEO Seah Kian Hoe.



Eggcited Virtual Workshop in conjunction with World Egg Day 

Platform: ZOOM
Date and Time: 9 October 2021, 10am to 12pm

As part of the fundraising for UTAR Hospital project and to celebrate the nutritional power of poultry egg, UTAR Faculty of Science (FSc), Centre for Agriculture and Food Research (CAFR) and the Agriculture and Food Society co-organised an online event titled “Eggcited Virtual workshop: In conjunction with World Egg Day 2021” on 9 October 2021 via Zoom. This event is sponsored by QL Resources Bhd. Nature’s Best Sdn. Bhd. and Hobby Hop In Enterprise. The participants who registered for the workshop also got a DIY Kit Box consisting of materials for eggshell potted planting and dry ingredients for making Dorayaki. All participants have a chance to participate in contest by submitting the photos of their Dorayaki and eggshell potted plant. There was one first-prize winner who won RM100 and five runner-ups who took home RM50 each for both Dorayaki and eggshell planting contest respectively.   The online event began with a welcome speech, presented by Chairperson of the Centre for Agriculture and Food Research Assoc Prof Dr Wong Wey Lim. He said, “This Eggcited workshop is held in conjunction with the World Egg Day which fell on 8 October 2021. Most of us use eggs to make fantastic and delicious meals; however, I doubt many know about World Egg Day. Through this event, children will be able to explore more about eggs and their nutrition.” There are a total of 88 participants, from four children homes, namely Rumah Hope, Good Samaritan Home, The Salvation Army and Shelter Home as well as the public.

Agriculture Technology Seminar Series XIX: Precision Agriculture

Platform: ZOOM
Date and Time: 12 June 2021, 9 am to 12 pm

Our Agriculture Technology Seminar Series XIX comes back online! It was held on 12 June 2021 via Zoom. The theme was Precision Agriculture, aiming to initiate knowledge sharing on precision agriculture in Malaysia from the experts in precision agriculture, to expose the community in UTAR and public regarding precision agriculture, and to discuss the potential and problem faced in precision agriculture. It attracted 113 participants, 57 of whom are the members of the public.

The four speakers in this seminar were:

(1) Dato’ Dr. Mohamad Hashim Ahmad Tajudin (chairman of PKEINPK Sdn Bhd), speaking on the application of precision agriculture in oil palm plantation;

(2) Ts. Dr. Goh Hock Guan (UTAR), speaking on smart agriculture using IoT;

(3) Assoc. Prof. Ts. Dr. Farrah Melissa Muharam (Universiti Putra Malaysia), speaking on precision agriculture as the way forward in sustainable oil palm planation management;

(4) Puan Nordiana Abd Aziz (Malaysian Palm Oil Board), speaking on the current research on precision agriculture.

Overall feedback from the participants is encouraging. Total of 43 attendees responded to feedback form. Analysis of the answers (both qualitative and quantitative) given on the evaluation forms confirms the impression left during the webinar. Overall, the webinar was well rated and regarded as very useful for them. The most appreciated aspects of the webinar were: the usefulness and relevance of the webinar to the areas of interest of participants (100% rating of 4 or above out of 5); the quality of presentations (81% rating of 4 above out of 5) and the opportunity to acquire updated and new information (90% of the respondents). On the content of the webinar, 54% of the participants rated the webinar “very good” and the remaining 46% judged the webinar “excellent”. They look forward the upcoming webinars in the series and also suggested some topics: machinery in agriculture, post-harvesting, animal science and fisheries. 


1st Postgraduate Colloquium on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) 2021

Organisers: Faculty of Science, Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology, Faculty of Information and Communication Technology, Centre for Agriculture and Food Research and Centre for Internet for Things and Big Data

Sponsored by: ViTrox

Platform: Microsoft Teams

Date and Time : 27 May 2021, 8.30 to 6.30pm


Themed ‘Towards Innovative Research in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)’, the colloquium served as an academic platform for researchers to present their research findings in all aspects of STEM to encourage substantive knowledge transfer. It also took into awareness the vital knowledge provided by science, engineering and technology in the advancement of the human race. UTAR undergraduate students who participated also benefitted from the colloquium as they acquired a better understanding of UTAR postgraduate programmes, with the hope they will be inspired to be part of the community of future scientists that will drive the advancement of science.
Webinar: Plant metabolic engineering for production of value-added metabolites 
Organiser : Centre for Agriculture and Food Research; Faculty of Science 
Venue: Online (Zoom Platform) 
Date & Time : 06 April 2021; 10:00-12:15

A webinar entitled "Plant metabolic engineering for production of value-added metabolites" was held on 06 April 2021 via Zoom platform. There was a total of 10 UTAR staff and 41 students registered for the event.

In the 2-hour webinar, we had 2 professors from Japan who are plant scientists to speak to us about their research work on synthetic biology approaches for plant metabolites and plant transporters engineering.

The first speaker presented work on synthetic biology to characterize the biosynthetic pathway of phytochemicals. This provides more opportunity to produce novel (non-natural) compounds.The second speaker gave an introduction on the combination of transport engineering and metabolic engineering as a tool to enhance the productivity of specialized metabolites in microorganisms. Membrane transport of specialized metabolites is a newly developing research area in plant science. In conclusion, synthetic biology approaches show potential for high yield production and a stable supply of useful pharmacologically active compounds.

Feedback from participants (mainly students) were positive and they expressed interest to join similar research seminars in the future.