Conference Speakers

Dr. Nor Khaizura Mahmud @ Ab Rashid is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Food Science, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). She holds a Ph.D. in Food Microbiology from Massey University, New Zealand, and a Master of Science in Food Microbiology and Food Safety from UPM. With over 15 years of academic and research experience, Dr. Khaizura specializes in food microbiology, food safety, and shelf-life assessment, with a strong focus on microbial quality and contamination in food systems.

Her research encompasses microbial ecology in traditional and commercial food processing, development of food safety protocols, and the application of predictive microbiology in food quality assurance. She has led and collaborated on numerous nationally funded research projects and has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Khaizura is an active member of several scientific organizations, including the Malaysian Society for Microbiology and the New Zealand Microbiological Society. She has received several academic and service excellence awards, reflecting her dedication to advancing food safety and microbiological research in Malaysia and beyond.

Dr. M. Karthikeyan is an Associate Professor in Plant Pathology and Adjunct Professor, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia,   with a B.Sc. (Hort.) in 1996, M.Sc. (Agri.) in Plant Pathology in 1999, and a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology in 2004 from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. He completed his Post-Doctoral Programme at the University of Turin, Turin, Italy, University of Southern Queensland, Australia and the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA. With over 20 years of research experience in conventional and molecular plant pathology, mycotoxin related issues.  Dr. Karthikeyan has received 30 awards at State and National levels. Notable accolades include the Dr. P.C. Sundarababu Prize for the Best Ph.D. thesis, DST-Young Scientist, Young Indian Researcher by the University of Turin, UGC-Research Award, UGC-Raman Fellow, TNAU–Best Researcher Award, Professor MS Swaminathan Best Scientist Award, and ICAR-LASM Award. His scholarly contributions comprise 90+ research papers, 50 book chapters, and 40 books at national and international levels. Dr. Karthikeyan has secured 15 externally funded projects from institutions such as DST, CSIR, UGC, ICAR, TN Govt., and Shastri India-Canadian Institute. A well-traveled professional, Dr. Karthikeyan has visited Singapore, China, the USA, Sri Lanka, Australia, and Italy, fostering international collaboration in Plant Pathology.

Originally from the UK, Prof. Jenni completed her BSc in Microbiology at the University of Surrey, U.K. then was awarded a Whitbread Scholarship to pursue her PhD in molecular genetics at Cranfield University, U.K. also winning the Chancellors Gold Medal for the most outstanding graduate student. After post-doctoral fellowships at the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF), and in Malaysia, she held positions at TropBio Research Sdn. Bhd., University Putra Malaysia and the Malaysia University of Science and Technology. Prof. Jenni is currently the Director of the Centre for Research in Biotechnology for Agriculture (CEBAR) at the University of Malaya and holds a joint appointment as a Professor in the Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Programme under the Faculty of Science at the University of Malaya. Prof. Jenni also holds a current appointment as an Honorary Visiting Fellow in the Department of Genetics and Genome Biology at the University of Leicester, UK. Prof. Jenni’s current research interests are fundamental research and its application through biotechnology for use in agriculture, including the molecular genetics of tropical plants and the use of microbes to help crops deal with the effects of climate change.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rosazlin Abdullah is a lecturer at the Institute of Biological Sciences (ISB), Universiti Malaya. She has over 15 years of experience in various national and international agricultural-environmental based projects and showing the most excellent research results in the field of sustainable soil management, one of the national challenges, and is leading the recent research trend in the field of biochar. She focused on advocating biochar as a promising material for soil amendment and role of biochar in mitigation of climate change. She currently serving as President of Malaysian Soil Science Society, National Focal Point for the Global Soil Partnership, Exco for Malaysian Professional Centre, Committee Member of Biochar Malaysia Association, Committee of urban neighborhood farm KL under The Kuala Lumpur City Hall, Technical Soil Quality Department of Standard Malaysia, Member of Association of Pacific Rim Universities Sustainable Waste Management (APRU SWM), Technical Committee Members, Center of Excellence for Soil Research in Asia (CESRA), and Members of the International Union of Soil Science. She has published publication in various International Scientific Journal. She has published over 60 peer-reviewed journals. According to Scopus, her h-index is 21 and she has received 2,423 citations. She is experienced in conducting various international conferences, workshops and transfer knowledge programme for students, farmers, industries and professional practitioners. Dr. Rosazlin’s multifaceted contributions showcase her as a dynamic figure in academia, research, and community engagement. She also been involved as a chairman of East-Southeast Asia Federation of Soil Societies conference 2022.