Speakers
Keynote speakers
Prof. Dr. Samih Abubaker
Former Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology,
Al-Balqa Applied University,
Jordan.
Title: “Global food security vulnerable and solutions.“
Professor Samih Abubaker is a farming systems and sustainability specialist. He was the Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology at Al-Balqa` Applied University in Jordan from September 9, 2012 to September 7, 2016. He has over 30 years of experience in vegetable production, farming systems, sustainability, resources management, food security and poverty reduction. He received several short visits to universities around the world as a visiting fellow on teaching and development issues. Example universities include Rutgers, Washington State, Rostock, Technical Munich, Humboldt Berlin, and Bologna. He is an editorial board member and reviewer in several scientific journals, evaluator of mega research proposals for several national and international donors. Samih was a member of the Management Committee of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action FA 1105. He is serving as the chairman of the agro-environmental committee of the Jordan Society for Scientific Research (JSSR), a member of several national committees including organic farming, the national committee to oversee the school curriculum and others. He participated in more than forty international conferences and chaired the 11th Arab plant protection congress held in Amman, 2014. He has over sixty scientific publications and was awarded many prestigious medals and distinct shields for his outstanding contributions. Finally, Prof. Abubaker is always pleased to share knowledge and cultural integration to bring science and practice of sustainable agriculture a step forward.
Assoc. Prof. Siva K. Balasundram
Head of Department of Agriculture Technology
Faculty of Agriculture
Universiti Putra Malaysia
Malaysia.
Title: “The Precision-Smart-Digital Agriculture Nexus for Enhancing Food Security“
Assoc Prof Dr Siva K Balasundram currently heads the Department of Agriculture Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). He also serves as Country Representative of the International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA) and Executive Committee Member of the Asian Conference on Precision Agriculture (ACPA)
Siva earned his BS (Agronomy) and MS (Soil Chemistry) degrees from UPM in 1994 and 1997, respectively. In 1999, he was awarded a UPM scholarship to pursue a doctorate in Precision Agriculture at the University of Minnesota under the guidance of Prof Dr Pierre C Robert, who pioneered the development of Precision Agriculture in the USA and many other parts of the world. In September of 2003, he earned his PhD and began working as a Lecturer at the Department of Agriculture Technology, UPM. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2007 and to Associate Professor in 2012.
Siva is a passionate teacher and researcher. His work quality is reflected in his teaching and research engagements and outputs. He has received encouraging scores in teaching evaluation by students (3-year average of 4.83 out of 5.00). He has brought in research grants in the amount of RM1,068,202 from nine (9) different projects over the past 18 years. He has authored/co-authored a total of seventy three (73) journal articles, forty five (45) proceeding papers, seven (7) book chapters and five (5) articles in professional magazines. He currently registers an Google Scholar h-index of 21. Additionally, he has two (2) copyrights and one (1) patent to his credit. He has also led twelve (15) consultancies and built several industry linkages as a scientific advisor/resource person.
Siva specializes in Precision Agriculture and has expanded his research interests into Digital Agriculture and Smart Farming.
Dr. Ir. Gede Sedana, M.sc, M.ma
Rector of Dwijendra University,
Indonesia
Title: “Cultivating Food Security: Harnessing Agribusiness to Combat Crop Losses and Ensure Global Food Security“
Dr. Ir. Gede Sedana is the rekotor univeritas of Dwijendra Universitya, Indonesia. He is a highly accomplished professional with a wide range of experiences in agriculture and rural development. He earned his Doctorate in Agribusiness from Udayana University, Denpasar, in 2013, and holds two additional Master’s degrees. Throughout his career, Dr. Sedana has been a committed advocate for farmers’ rights and has served in various leadership roles. He has been the Chairman of the Indonesian Farmers Union in Buleleng Regency since 2006 and the Vice Chairman of the Indonesia Farmers’ Union in Bali Province from 2011 to 2016. Dr. Sedana is also a member of the Water Resources Coordination Forum in Bali-Penida, under the Decree of the Director General of Water Resources Development, since 2011. Additionally, he served as the Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Indonesia Economic Agriculture Association in Bali Province from 2014 to 2020. Currently, Dr. Sedana holds the position of Rector of Dwijendra University, a prestigious institution in Bali, since 2019. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing the academic and administrative affairs of the university. Dr. Sedana has an impressive employment record, having worked for various organizations both in Indonesia and internationally. He served as a Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant on VECO’s program in Belgium, a Program Manager on Coffee Sector in the Project of Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Promoting Rural Income through Support Marketing in Agriculture (AIP-Prisma), an Agriculture Specialist with DAI-AMARTA-WINROCK INTERNATIONAL-USAID, a Sociologist with PT. Warta Bakti Mandala in Bali Province, a Rural Institutions Development Specialist with ARCADIS Euroconsult for the European Commission, and a Socialization expert with NIPPON KOEI AND ASSOCIATES for the Bali Beach Conservation Project, Loan of JBIC. Additionally, Dr. Sedana served as an Agro Economist with CV. Kencana Adhi Karya for the Water Users Associations (Subaks) and Federation of Subaks (Subak-gedes) Strengthening Project in Bali Province, a Community Organizer with ELC (ITALY) for the Integrated Irrigation Sector Project II, Loan of ADB, and as an Agro Economist and Institutional and Socioagroeconomics Specialist at Udayana University. Dr. Sedana has a wealth of experience in surveying, identifying needs assessment for project beneficiaries, and providing skills training to Water User Associations (subaks) on rice fields and dry land farmers organizations (subak-abian). He has presented papers at national and international levels, highlighting his expertise in agriculture and rural development. Dr. Sedana is a respected figure in the agricultural community, and his tireless dedication to improving the lives of farmers has been recognized and appreciated by many.
Professor. Dr. Victor B. Ella
Professor in Land and Water Resources Engineering Division
Institute of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
University of the Philippines Los Banos,
Philippines
Title: “Balancing Food Security and Environmental Sustainability: The Role of Land and Water Resources Engineering”
Dr. Victor B. Ella is a professor of land and water resources engineering at the Land and Water Resources Engineering Division of the Institute of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology (CEAT), University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). He is a former Dean of CEAT, UPLB. Dr. Ella earned his PhD in Agricultural Engineering and Civil (Environmental) Engineering (double major) from Iowa State University as a Fulbright scholar, MS in Irrigation Engineering from KU Leuven, Belgium and BS Agricultural Engineering at UPLB. To date, he has had more than 40 years of extensive teaching, research and extension experience.
Dr. Ella has completed various research projects and published more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, monographs and book chapters on hydrologic modelling, irrigation, soil erosion, water quality, contaminant transport, conservation agriculture among others. He has worked on USAID-funded SANREM research projects in collaboration with international scientists. He has recently completed his CHED-PCARI project on wireless sensor network-based water information system for efficient irrigation water management in collaboration with UC Berkeley.
He has served as consultant, lecturer or coordinator in international and local training programs and development projects on irrigation, hydrology and water management. Recently, he led a team of experts that crafted the National Irrigation Master Plan (2020-2030) for the Philippines.
He has been serving as Associate Editor of the International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and Member of Editorial Board of Elsevier’s Information Processing in Agriculture and the Philippine Journal of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.
Plenary speakers
Professor Dr. Muhammad Ovais Omer
The Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, UVAS
Pakistan
Title: “From Farm to Fork: Ensuring Food Safety through Pharmacological Assessments”
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ovais Omer, is currently serving the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, UVAS, as Chairman for 2nd tenure of further three years and having a basic degree of DVM. In Postgraduate degrees, he has earned M.Sc. (Hons.) degree in Veterinary Pharmacology from former College of Veterinary Sciences, Lahore affiliated with University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan and Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan. He has over 26 years of teaching, research and administration experience. He was member of the committee who was notified for up gradation of College of Veterinary Sciences, Lahore and developed first PC-I of UVAS. He has supervised over 50 post graduate students and served as member of supervisory committees for more than 70 students and published more than 45 research papers in International or National refereed scientific journals. Dr. Ovais, presented papers in many national conferences. He has attended many International and National Conferences, Symposia and Seminars. He is member of Faculty Board of Study of Faculty of Bio-Sciences and Ex-member of Faculty of Animal Product and Technology, and Ex-Chairman, Departmental (Pharmacology and Toxicology) Board of Study, UVAS, Lahore. Life Member of Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council, Society of Pharmacology (UVAS), Society of Physiology and Society of Parasitology (UVAS).Ex-Joint Secretary, Academic Staff Association (UVAS). He served the Lahore Zoo as member of Zoo Health Committee of UVAS. He has attended scientific trainings from South Korea, NIBGE, HEC and Makkah Mukarramah etc., and has several certificates in his credit. He was the first Associate Senior Tutor and the General Secretary, Alumni Association of UVAS. He is also the life member of Alumni Association of the university. Now a days he is working as Director Students’ Affairs, member Sports Board of the University and member/secretary of Discipline Committee of the University. He served Umm Al-Qura University as Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, Makkah Mukarramah, Saudi Arabia. He is having throughout First divisions in his career. He has certificate of Merit and Star Laureate Award 2009 in his credit. He served the university as a member of several technical bodies such as advance study and research board, academic council and student advisory committees of the university. He is the member of selection board of other universities. He is the external examiner of many renowned universities and serving the private universities as member faculty board of studies. He upgraded the undergraduate and postgraduate laboratories in the department during his first tenure as Chairman of the department and his main focus was to facilitate the scholars or researchers of UVAS or other institutes in their activities. He renovated the lecture room and the seminar room of the university in his first tenure of chairmanship. He also developed a new postgraduate laboratory in the department with latest equipment/instruments and facilities.
Working as Chairman, Departmental Board of Studies, Departmental Postgraduate Admission Committee and Faculty Scrutiny Committee (FSC) for PhD synopses of FBS.
Dr. Ovais is effectively providing his technical services as supervisor and member of a large number of M. Phil and PhD scholars and playing his role in nation building and is also involved to teach undergraduate students and administration as well.
Area of Interest
- Pharmacology, Toxicology, Angiogenesis, Ethnomedicine, Phytotherapy.
Assoc Prof. Dr. Seri Intan Mokhtar
Dean of Faculty of Agro Based Industry
Universiti Malaysia Kelantan
Malaysia
Title: “Natural Fruit Vinegar: Lessen the fruit dumping and create income for the Small scale orchards farmers in Malaysia“
Dr Seri Intan Mokhtar is currently an Associate Professor in Faculty of Agro Based Industry, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK). She completed her PhD & BSc in Microbiology, University of Manchester, UK. Her field of expertise are Applied Microbiology, Phylogenetic studies, Product Development and Intellectual Property Management with 22 years working experience.
Her main research achievement is production of vinegar from local fruit such as Rambutan and Dokong via natural microbial fermentation receiving several awards in Malaysia, Korea and Germany.
She teaches Microbiology, Bioproduct Processing, Methodology in Product Development, Product Quality and Safety, Product Development Ethic and Regulations, Intellectual property Management, Fruit based Product Development and Issue in Product development amounting to more than 80 credit hours.
She held several administration posts such as Head of Research and Postgraduate Unit, Deputy Dean of Centre of Post Graduate Studies (CPS), Deputy Dean of Research and Innovation at Faculty of Agro-Based Industry (FIAT), UMK and Director of Institute of Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture (IFSSA) and currently the Dean of Faculty of Agro-Based Industry (FIAT), UMK.
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