UTHM Expert: Professor Ts. Dr. Aeslina Abdul Kadir

Aeslina Abdul Kadir is a Professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built Environment (FKAAB), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM). She obtained her B.Sc. (Hons) in Environmental Science from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in 2002 followed by M.Eng. in Civil Engineering (Environmental Management) from University Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in 2004 and PhD in Civil Engineering from RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia (2010).

Her initial industrial experience was at Sime Sembawang Engineering Sdn. Bhd. before she migrated to start her career at UTHM in 2003. Her management experience in this university includes being appointed as the Head of Postgraduate Programs, Head of Panel (Environment), Deputy Dean of Student Affairs and Alumni between 2014-2019. Currently, Prof. Aeslina is the Director of Sustainable Campus Office (SCO) 2021-2023. She teaches most of the environmental-related subjects at postgraduate as well as undergraduate level under the Environment Cluster of the faculty. Her specialisation is in the field of sustainable waste recycling/management and wastewater treatment.

Prof. Aeslina has published more than 150 publications including proceedings, journals, books and modules as the main author and co-author. To date, she has secured and led almost RM 2 million worth of grants as a principal researcher (FRGS, PRGS, PRGS 2.0, PPRN, KTP, Industry Grant, UCTC, The Sumitomo Foundation, MTUN, MRUN-MTUN-MCUN, MDR, GPP, ICI, IGSP) and more than RM 300 thousand worth of consultation at national and international level. Notably, she and her research team have also won up to 50 medals during innovative product competitions which led them to obtain approved patents, industrial design and copyrights. She is also active as keynote speaker and invited speaker in more than 40 international conferences, forums and seminars.

Her most significant research contribution started when she recycled cigarette butts in construction materials during her PhD years in Australia. The impactful research was featured in The American Society of Civil Engineering Magazine. Thinking that even the smallest volume of waste in the form of cigarette butts could contribute to millions of tons of harmful contaminants to the world, her enthusiasm for pursuing solid waste management in Malaysia continues to gain importance. Incisive research has also driven her efforts towards the development of tools, offering comprehensive alternatives and viable solutions to efficiently manage waste, while embodying all environmental effects towards the cultivation of a sustainable economy.

Her research also focus on different types of waste and due to her expertise, she has been hired as a consultant to solve waste issues by local industries such as Malaysia Mosaics, Taiko Premier Bleach, Bina Kuari, Hap Seng Clay Products and others. Furthermore, Prof. Aeslina also involved as one of the panel of experts in the Enactment Environmental Quality Act-Schedule Waste 2005 amendment in 2015 which has assisted the establishment of specific guidelines for waste recycling. In addition, the Ministry of Housing and Local Government Malaysia has also appointed her as the expert speaker in solid waste courses for all related authorities in waste management in Malaysia since 2014.

Not limited to that, realising her responsibility towards educating the communities, Prof. Aeslina has also played a significant role in food waste composting knowledge transfer program since 2013. Consequently, she was two awarded KTP grant (2013 and 2019). She was also roped in for a collaboration with Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Japan in a project that involved almost 50 schools. For her great effort, she was awarded the International Sumitomo Foundation Grant in Japan. To add icing to the cake, this project was given a 4-star ranking by the University to Society (U4S) in 2019 and 2020.

In 2019 to 2020, Prof. Aeslina was appointed by the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) and Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting (MURC) Japan as the project leader for Policy Dialogue and Network Building of Multi-stakeholders on Integrated Decentralized Domestic Wastewater Management (PoDIWM). She was given the task to represent Malaysia at Asean level. Through this project, she was given the opportunity to be trained in Japan for the Capacity Building Training and attended Policy Dialogue and Network Building of Multi-stakeholders in ASEAN countries in Indonesia (January and September, 2020). For this project, she also managed to establish network and work closely with DID, JPP, PLAN, SPAN and IWK towards a better policy on wastewater management in Malaysia. As a continuity of this project, Prof. Aeslina was awarded another International Sumitomo Foundation Grant by Japan on the subject matter. As she wants to play more vital role in the university, she initiated the application for FKAAB to become the Third Party Evaluator appointed by SPAN and comply with the requirements needed to evaluate on related products and projects on water and wastewater.

Prof. Aeslina is also an active Principal Researcher of Micropollutant Research Centre (MPRC), an Associate Researcher of Research Centre for Soft Soils (RECESS) and a Research Fellow for Centre of Excellence Geopolymer and Green Technology (CEGeoTech), UniMAP. In addition, she is a Professional Technologist (Ts) and a panel member for the Technology and Technical Accreditation Council (TTAC) of Malaysia Board of Technologist (MBOT), a member of Young Scientists Network-Akademi Sains Malaysia (YSN-ASM), International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), International Water Association (IWA), Malaysian Society for Engineering and Technology (mySET), Concrete Society of Malaysia (CSM) and Malaysian Research and Innovation Society (MyRIS). She has also obtained the Erosion and Sediment in Stormwater Inspector (CESSWI) certificate endorsed by the Envirocert International US and due to the recognition, she has become part of the steering committee in developing new competency certificate with the other experts in the US.

It also worth to mention that in the year 2020, she was recognised as one of the Top Research Scientists Malaysia (TRSM) by YSN-ASM for her outstanding achievement in research and development in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI). She was also appointed as a task force member by YSN-ASM and Ministry of Environment and Water (KASA) to lead waste management report on the Study on Strengthening the Environmental Governance (SEG) in Malaysia.

According to Prof. Aeslina, all the research works conducted, and her professional contributions are her humble efforts to help the society by connecting the dots to pursue solutions for pollutants for the betterment of societal well-being.