IOES_bulletin - 6th issue

6th Issue (July – Dec 2021)

IOES Bulletin

Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences,
Universiti Malaya

1. Reskilling and Upskilling Course during Total Lockdown

2. Gotong Royong Perdana

3. IOES Marine Expert Seminar Series: Bioelectricity
Generation from Algal Biophotovoltaic (BPV) Platforms

4. Visit by Malaysian Nature Society, Kelantan

5. GlobalSeaweedSTAR Sharing Best Practices for Seaweed
Aquaculture Industry in Malaysia

6. Workshop II Transcriptomic Analysis of Polar Fungi :
Applications of NGS and Methods of RNA-Seq Analytics for
Climate Change Studies

7. Farewell Party

8. APEC Sustainable Coastal Cities Symposium

9. Online Training Environmental Management System and Life
Cycle Assessment

10. Lawatan Kelab Pencinta Alam Kelantan

11. Project PULIH@KLEFF

12. Awards

13. Media coverages

14. (SAMUDERA-Journal of Maritime and Coastal Studies
SAMUDERA-JMCS)

15. IOES Festive wishes

https://ioes.um.edu.my Issue 6

Directors’ corner:

Welcome on board the sixth issue
of IOES bulletin

The COVID-19 pandemic has gripped many countries
across the globe and has resulted in massive lockdown.
Academia was among the first few sectors that faced rapid shut
down of all its activities. Thousands of schools and higher
education institutions including UM and millions of students are
affected by lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic as the first
response from the educational sector was to completely halt its
operations. The pandemic has triggered significant change,
imposing many challenges in the higher education community
globally. Nevertheless despite the limitations faced, IOES manage
to organize and conduct various activities, virtually and physically.
Throughout this bulletin, we are happy to share and highlight our
activities conducted comprising of training, workshop and
webinars which involves various stakeholders including
government agencies, research institutions, industries, schools and
communities. We really appreciate the overwhelming responses
from the participants although all activities need to be conducted
virtually, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are also very proud of our academic staff and postgraduate
students achievements where they were awarded various
prestigious award and prize such as Top Research Scientist
Malaysia, Japan International Award 2021 for Young Agricultural
Researchers, ITEX 2021 Gold Medal, Special Merit Award for 14th
Kuala Lumpur Eco Film Festival and Best Posters/Oral (Climate
Change E-Colloquium 2021, Ministry of Water and Environment
and 9th Malaysian International Seminar on Antarctica). Hopefully
the awards will inspire others to also excel in their research.

Stay Safe,

Professor Dr. Sumiani Yusoff

IOES Director

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Reskilling and Upskilling Course
during Total Lockdown

University Management Accordingly, as a value-added initiative to
has made it mandatory current staff during this 'total lockdown'
for all staff except for period, the University Management had
the essential services to agreed that all Executive staff and
Work From Home Operations Staff covering all Service
(WFH) in line with the schemes and post grades to attend
Government's training/courses for fifteen (15) to twenty
announcement (20) hours a week online.
regarding the
implementation of full Therefore, IOES proposed several
closure of the social and training and capacity building courses
economic sectors or which would enhance the staff's
'total lockdown' Phase knowledge and awareness. These training
One throughout the includes collaboration with industry and
country. from IOES staff itself.

Absolute Quantitation of the red-tide dinoflagellate with Droplet Digital PCR,
6 July 2021, 10 am - 12 pm
Speaker: Dr. Ching Xiao Teng (Canvio Sdn Bhd)
Objective: Presented latest technology (ddPCR) available for molecular research, i.e.
application in analysis of red-tide dinoflagellate

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Care & Maintenance of Essential Equipment in Laboratory - Microscope, pH
Meter & Centrifuge, 1 July 2021, 10 am - 12 pm
Speaker: Dr Poong Sze Wan (IOES Senior Lecturer)
Objective: This course exposed participants to the theory and basic applications
for microscope, pH meter and centrifuge. The maintenance and troubleshooting of
these equipments were also taught in this course.

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Gotong Royong Perdana

The Gotong Royong Perdana Universiti Malaya
was held on 6 October 2021 with the consent of
the university management. IOES supported the
initiative from the Vice Chancellor of Universiti
Malaya to clean and beautify the campus area to
welcome the students physically in mid October
for the new academic session. The gotong royong
program began at 8.30 am with all staff including
academic and non-academic staff. The drain,
sidewalks and landscape were cleaned and the
signboards were repainted.

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IOES MARINE EXPERT SEMINAR
SERIES OCT 2021

Bioelectricity Generation from Algal
Biophotovoltaic (BPV) Platforms

IOES Marine Expert Seminar
Series officially started with Dr

Ng Fong Lee (IOES Research
Fellow) with a presentation
titled "Bioelectricity
Generation from Algal
Biophotovoltaic (BPV)

Platforms". This IOES Seminar
Series aims to introduce and
promote research activities
and the output from the
research to postgraduate
students, researchers and
public.

We would like to thank
all participants who
attended the seminar
for their overwhelming
response. More
interesting topics on
IOES Marine Expert
Seminar Series are
planned. Stay tuned!

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Visit by Malaysian Nature
Society, Kelantan

Five representatives from Malaysian Nature
Society (MNS), Kelantan visited Bachok
Marine Research Station (BMRS) on 20
October 2021. The delegation led by the
coordinator, Mr Azman was given a warm
welcome by BMRS station head, Dr Hii
Kieng Soon and all BMRS staffs. The visit
started with a discussion about future
collaboration plans and followed by BMRS
laboratory tour visit to share more about the
research activities in BMRS, such as
Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs), atmospheric
and seaweed research.

During the visit, the visitors were given an
opportunity to experience all the scientific
oceanography sampling instruments such
as plankton net, van-dorn water sampler,
core sampler, Ekman grab, YSI multi-
parameter and scuba diving equipment.
They also had the chance to understand
more about scientific instruments such as
Thermal cycler, flow-cytometer,
microscope, CHN Elementar Analyzer,
Real-Time PCR System, TOC-TN analyzer,
CO Analyzer and Optical Particle Counter,
Ozone(O3) Analyzer.

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GlobalSeaweedSTAR Sharing Best

Practices for Seaweed Aquaculture

Industry in Malaysia

The webinar titled ‘GlobalSeaweedSTAR Sharing Best Practices for
Seaweed Aquaculture Industry in Malaysia’ was organised as part of
the project deliverables between Universiti Malaya and
GlobalSeaweedSTAR consortium. The webinar consisted of research
results presentations which covered various aspects of seaweed
aquaculture such as diseases and pests, biosecurity issues, genetic
diversity and also socioeconomics. Speakers included
GlobalSeaweedSTAR researchers from Malaysia and the United
Kingdom, as well as representatives from the Department of
Fisheries Sabah.

Objective: Research Collaborators:
This webinar is organised to • Scottish Association for Marine
disseminate the research output from
our 3-years multidisciplinary project Science (SAMS)
on Safeguarding the Future of • Natural History Museum, London
Aquaculture Industry in Developing
Countries funded by the UKRI-GCRF (NHM)
GlobalSeaweedSTAR program. • Overseas Development Institute

(ODI)
• Centre for the Environment,

Fisheries and Aquaculture Sciences

(CEFAS)
• Institute on Comparative Regional

Integration Studies-United Nations

University (UNU-CRIS)
• University of The Philippines Visayas
• University of Dar es Salaam
• Southeast Asian Fisheries

Development Center (SEAFDEC)
• Department of Fisheries Sabah

(DOFS)

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GlobalSeaweedSTAR Sharing Best

Practices for Seaweed Aquaculture

Industry in Malaysia

The GlobalSeaweedSTAR program is a multi-disciplinary, 4-year, challenge-led,
strategic programme in collaboration, primarily with the Philippines, Malaysia and
Tanzania. The vision of GlobalSeaweedSTAR is to grow the research and innovation
capability of DAC-list countries engaged in seaweed farming.

Welcoming speech from the co-organizer of the Global
SeaweedSTAR Sharing Best Practices, Mr. Godfery Kissey Director

of Fisheries Sabah (DOF) during the opening ceremony.

Global SeaweedSTAR officially launched two books; 1)A
Practical Guide To The Aquaculture of Kappaphycus and
Eucheuma in Malaysia 2)Standard Operating Procedure of
Eucheumatoid Cultivation Using Biosecurity-Based Approach

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GlobalSeaweedSTAR Sharing Best

Practices for Seaweed Aquaculture

Industry in Malaysia

Professor Lim Phaik Eem, the Organizer and Developing Country
Partner Leader for GSSTAR Malaysia (IOES, UM) moderating the

Q&A session

Group photo of the speakers at the end of GSS Sharing Best
Practices Webinar

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Workshop II Transcriptomic Analysis

of Polar Fungi : Applications of NGS

and Methods of RNA-Seq Analytics

for Climate Change Studies

This 1 Day Online workshop on Next Generation Sequencing
(NGS) and RNA Sequencing Data Analysis was attended by
61 participants (Appendix II) via Webex platform.
Participants were mostly affiliated to research institutions
from Malaysia, Ukraine and Chile. This workshop was
designed for bioinformaticians, biologists, biomedical
researchers and postgraduate students. The workshop began
with introductory lectures by Dr. Mohammed Rizman Idid
that included the experimental design of transcriptomics in
polar fungi and climate change studies, while Assoc. Prof. Dr
Teoh Teow Chong addressed the application of Next
Generation Sequencing (NGS) on fungi.

Objectives:

1. Learn to design a transcriptomic
experiment on climate change

2. Learn the methods of de novo and
reference genome analysis

3. Provide key points and tips for
getting the best results

4. Interpretation of the results

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Workshop II Transcriptomic Analysis

of Polar Fungi : Applications of NGS

and Methods of RNA-Seq Analytics

for Climate Change Studies

The second part of the workshop focused on de novo and
reference genome analysis pipelines. The demonstration
showed how to analyse step by step the raw data, conduct
data filtering, check for Quality Control (QC), assemble
the transcripts, annotate the identified unigene and to
analyse differential gene expression. The online
demonstration used command lines via a virtual Linux
that runs on Windows apps. The on-screen demonstration
was facilitated with a 60-page pdf manual (Appendix IV)
containing step-by-step basic command lines for the
benefit of participants.

Summary of Outcomes:

01 With the advancement of high throughput and
algorithm computing experiments, transcriptomic
data will be one of the multi-omics data in the near
future. This workshop promoted such expertise of
IOES members in this field, thus attracting potential
postgraduate students and research collaborators

02 Publication of workshop instruction manual

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Workshop II Transcriptomic Analysis

of Polar Fungi : Applications of NGS

and Methods of RNA-Seq Analytics

for Climate Change Studies

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Siti Aisyah
Alias welcoming the

workshop participants.

Dr. Mohammed Rizman Idid
presented the introductory

lecture

Assoc Prof. Dr. Teoh Teow Chong
delivering his presentation

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Workshop II Transcriptomic Analysis

of Polar Fungi : Applications of NGS

and Methods of RNA-Seq Analytics

for Climate Change Studies

Online demonstration of
transcriptomic data analysis
by Assoc Prof. Dr. Teoh Teow

Chong

Dr. Nuradilla Mohamad
Fauzi as moderator for the
online demonstration and

Q&A session

Some of the participants
of the transcriptomics
workshop

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Farewell Party

The farewell party and retirement
ceremony was held as appreciation
to Professor Dr Noorsaadah Abd
Rahman (former Deputy Vice-
Chancellor (Research and
Innovation), Professor Dato’ Dr
Azizan Abu Samah (IOES Head
Unit) and Dr Ng Chee Guan (IOES
Postdoctoral Research Fellow).

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APEC Sustainable Coastal
Cities Symposium

IOES has been selected as one of the strategic partners for APEC
Sustainable Coastal Cities Symposium which has been held from 24 - 26
November 2021. This symposium is organized by UCSI University and
sponsored by Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. The symposium
engaged public officials, CSO, NGO and SME from multiple APEC
economics, especially those from the East Asia and Southeast Asia region
to participate in dialogues on policy, practices and cooperation to form a
truly international consortium to address plastic waste and marine debris.

3 main activities during the symposium included:

1. A public officials forum (24 November 2021), where governmental
representatives from APEC member economies shared about current
policies and practices with regards to marine debris
2. A stakeholder meeting (25 November 2021), where representatives from
non-governmental agencies and private companies discussed their roles in
addressing marine debris
3. Inauguration of the APEC Sustainable Coastal Cities Research
Consortium (26 November 2021) where academics shared about current
research and technologies related to managing marine debris. This
technology presentation was held in conjunction with the launching of an
APEC Sustainable Coastal Cities Research Consortium

Opening Ceremony of the APEC Dr Mohammed Rizman Idid (Senior
Sustainable Coastal Cities was Lecturer, IOES) was a moderator for
launched by YB Dato' Sri Dr. Adham one of the session "Best Practices in
bin Baba (Ministry of Science, Addressing Marine Debris"
Technology and Innovation)
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Online Training Environmental
Management System and Life

Cycle Assessment

The 2-days training course was carried out online
via google meet platform from 7th to 8th
December 2021 (9am-5.30pm). The training course
had attracted a total of 15 participants internally
and externally. The course generated a total of RM
5,450 as income for IOES. First day of training was
completed by Prof Sumiani where she shared the
insights of Environmental Management System
and the importance of Life Cycle Assessment as
well as the ISO 14000 family series. Whereas 2nd
day training was carried out by Dr. Ng Chee Guan
where step-by-step modelling of LCA was
presented using an open access LCA software
(openLCA). Two case studies were later presented
for better understanding of the participants. Both
sessions were completed at 5.30pm. The ppt slides,
recorded videos and certificate of participation
were later disseminated to all participants via
email.

Learning Outcomes:
1) Understand Environmental

Management System (ISO 14000
Series of Standard) and its
applications.
2) Understand the principles of LCA
and its applications in various
environmental sustainability
strategies.
3) Initiate an LCA study in
accordance to ISO 14040
standard.
4) Appraise LCA results and
communicate the information
objectively.

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Online Training Environmental

Management System and Life

Cycle Assessment

An Environmental Management System (EMS) is a set of processes and practices that
enable an organization to reduce its environmental impacts and increase its operating
efficiency. ISO 14001 is an most widely used international standard that specifies
requirements for EMS. The standard assists organizations to manage ecological risks
effectively and improve environmental performance. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is
used as a tool to assess the environmental impacts of a product, process or activity
throughout its life cycle; from the extraction of raw materials through to processing,
transport, use and disposal. It can take many forms, from simple matrix approaches
through to the use of complex and data-intensive models. There are now international
standards for carrying out and reporting an LCA study, hence the ISO 14040 series of
standards encompasses the fundamental and application of the LCA methodology.
The course is designed to provide an overview of the EMS application and challenges
as well as simplified step-by-step approach which allows the beginners to start
executing an LCA without delay.

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Project PULIH

(1) "Gardener of the Sea" by our GRA,
Ms Mok Man Ying, was a finalist in
Four of Project PULIH's short documentaries the Best Public Service
Announcement award category.
were selected for screening for the 14th Kuala
There were 10 Special Merit Awards
Lumpur Eco Film Festival (24th - 30th to acknowledge and recognize the
efforts of Malaysian filmmakers and
October 2021). There were 136 entries from (2) local environmental content. All
around the world, vying for 94 available four of our short documentaries won
a Special Merit Award each.
spots.

Two of the project’s GRAs, Ms Mok Man Ying
and Ms Chew Kok Lynn are IOES MPhil
students.

Project PULIH’s 10-minute documentary, Chew KL’s 1-minute
written by Affendi Yang Amri, HonYuen Leong, documentary about SP 1

Nuradilla Mohamad Fauzi and Jillian Ooi

Jihad Wajdi Mohd Erfino’s 1- Mok Man Ying’s 1-minute
minute documentary about SP 2 documentary about SP 3

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Award
Climate Change E-Colloquium 2021,

Ministry of Water and Environment

Ministry of Environment and Water (KASA) organized a Climate Change E-
Colloquium 2021 on 3 August 2021 as a virtual platform for all the budding
young researchers, young investigators, post-graduate/Master students, PhD.
students and trainees to showcase their research and innovation to
policymakers.

IOES postdoctoral research fellow, Dr Mohd Fadzil Firdzaus Mohd Nor won Best
E-Poster (category Climate and Atmospheric Science) via poster titled "Polar to

Tropic Teleconnection"

IOES PhD student, Miss Goh Pei Tian won Best E-Poster (category Ocean and
Earth Science) with her poster titled "Will Gracilaria salicornia thrive under

ocean acidification conditions?"

*from Kementerian Alam Sekitar dan Air’s official facebook

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Award
Top Research Scientist Malaysia

Prof Dr Lim Phaik Eem (Deputy Director, Institute of Ocean
& Earth Sciences) and Assoc. Prof Dr Lim Po Teen (Associate
Professor, Institute of Ocean & Earth Sciences) were
conferred Top Research Scientists Malaysia (TRSM) Award
each from Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) for their
outstanding contribution and achievements in Science,
Technology, Innovation and Economy (STIE).

The award was presented by Minister of Science, Technology
and Innovation, YB Dato' Sri Dr Adham bin Baba during the
announcement ceremony.

The Top Research Scientists Malaysia (TRSM)
is an ASM initiative in line with its focus on
fostering a culture of excellence in science,
technology and innovation (STI)

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Award
Japan International
Award 2021 for Young
Agricultural Researchers

Dr Sahadev Sharma (IOES Senior Lecturer) has been selected as one of
the three recipients of the Japan International Award 2021 for Young
Agricultural Researchers (Japan Award). This award was conferred in
recognition of his exemplary performance and innovative research
achievements in the study on "Mangrove forest blue carbon research for
effective nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change in Asia Pacific
region".

The awarding ceremony was broadcasted through Youtube on 16
November 2021. The awardees were given an opportunity to introduce
their research achievements at the online ceremony. Dr Sahadev also
received MOTAI-JIRCAS Award worth USD5,000 from Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries Research Council (AFFRC), MAFF, Japan.

*from JIRCAS Youtube channel

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Award

ITEX 2021 Gold Medal

Prof Dr Shaliza Ibrahim and Emeritus
Professor Dr Phang Siew Moi. together
with their team won ITEX 2021 Gold
Medal for the invention of "Enunciation of
Sustainable Low-Carbon Footprint
Construction Materials Through
Demonstration Projects and Application
of Biocement in Crack Healing" at the
32nd International Invention, Innovation
& Technology Exhibition 2021, 13-14 Dec
2021, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Young Oceanographer Prize

IOES PhD student, Mr Li Lee Keat has been Young Oceanographer
announced as one of the winners of the Award
Young Oceanographer Prize during the First
Institute of Oceanography (FIO) Training to encourage young
course on Marine Scientific Research in scientists to carry out
Southeast Asia, 13-17 Dec 2021.
He presented project titled "Diversity of marine scientific
Symbiodiniaceae in Scleractinian Coral from research in the South
East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia: Possible China Sea and promote
Sign of Post-bleaching Thermotolerance". marine cooperation
between China and
He received up to six months of funding to
carry out collaborative research at the First ASEAN countries
Institute of Oceanography (FIO), Ministry of
Natural Resources of China. The funding 22
covers all the necessary research expenses,
international travel, board and lodging, etc.

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Award

9th Malaysian International Seminar
on Antarctica (MISA9)

Three IOES Postgraduate students won Best Oral Presentation and Best Poster
Award during the 9th Malaysian International Seminar on Antarctica (MISA9):
Polar Regions Matter in Our Climate Species.

The 9th Malaysian International Seminar on Antarctica (MISA9) was jointly
organized by Ministry of Environment and Water (KASA), Universiti Teknologi
MARA (UiTM), Yayasan Penyelidikan Antartika Sultan Mizan (YPASM) and
National Antarctic Research Centre (NARC), Malaysia.

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Media coverages

IOES Research Officer, Mr Affendi Yang Amri was interviewed by The Star
newspaper regarding dugongs in Johor.

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Media coverages

Meteorologist Prof Dato' Dr Azizan Abu Samah (IOES Senior Research
Fellow) has been interviewed by various media regarding recent flood
incident at Klang Valley on December 2021.

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SAMUDERA-Journal of Maritime and

Coastal Studies (SAMUDERA-JMCS)

SAMUDERA-Journal of Maritime and Coastal Studies (SAMUDERA-JMCS) is an online
journal covering research activities in the broad area of maritime and coastal studies.
The journal provides authors with a more convenient and efficient process to
communicate research findings and discussions to the global maritime and coastal
research community. The journal aims to promote and amplify the voices and ideas of
the research community, SAMUDERA-Journal of Maritime and Coastal Studies will put
your work at the heart of the conversations taking place in the social science, humanities
and scientific research community today.
A streamlined double-blind peer-review process, overseen by a panel of experts, ensures
a fair and regular publication experience. All published articles enable research results to
be freely communicated between authors and readers where the copyright of the
original work remains with the author.
The large Editorial Board of SAMUDERA-Journal of Maritime and Coastal Studies is
interdisciplinary and multinational which the journal will serve. This journal is a fully
open access format and enables the manuscripts to be easily accessed by other
researchers. The journal is free of charge, which the authors will only be responsible for
managing their manuscript copy editing with the suggested professional editor(s).
We welcome your submissions via the journal's submission and peer review website at
https://samudera.um.edu.my/ . Please visit the Journal’s website to learn more about
this journal at https://samudera.um.edu.my/about .
Editor-in-chief: Assoc Prof Dr Hanafi Hussin

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