UniMAP CEGeoGTech Awarded European Union Research Grant Worth RM2.5 Million

Kangar, March 25 – Researchers from the  Centre of Excellence for Geopolymer and Green Technology (CEGeoGTech) Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), have made trumendous strides in the research arena when they are able to obtain research grants under the European Union worth more than RM2.5 million.

The grant will be dedicated to research on geopolymer concrete under the theme of "Horizon 2020" Innovation and Research Program and will witness the strategic cooperation between UniMAP CEGeoGTech with several other universities from United Kingdom, Thailand, China and Greece.

UniMAP CEGeoGTech manager, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohd. Mustafa al-Bakri Abdullah said that according to the research colaboration agreement led by the University of Plymouth (UoP), United Kingdom, the research will last for a period of four years with a research topic of Partnership for Research in Geopolymer Concrete (PRIGeoC).

He said that the cooperation is also an opportunity for all participating universities namely Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) United Kingdom, National Technolgy University of Athens (NTUA) Greece, University of Phayao, Thailand and China's Tsinghua University to successfully  organize student exchange programs.

"In addition, the students of all the universities involved in the program can also undergo attachment or post-doctoral during the four years duration of the agreement.

"CEGeoGTech UniMAP is very fortunate to be selected as a member in this research collaboration for which the selection was made based on the number of publications and recognitions received by CEGeoGTech researchers since a few years ago," he said in a statement here today.

According to the Elsevier Research Intelligence report, CEGeoGTech UniMAP emerged as the world's best research institutions in the field of Geopolymer with 59 publications and an impact factor of 222 while Curtin University of Technology is in second place with 35 publications.

UniMAP Geopolymer researchers also received the highest Field Weight Citation Index of 3.71, which means that UniMAP publication in Geopolymer field has become the reference for researchers from around the world.

According to Dr. Mohd. Mustafa, PRIGeoC is a research consortium that focuses on the areas of geopolymer materials with a variety of activities including post-doctorates, publications, workshops and conferences.

"Besides me, others involved are  Assoc. Prof. Dr. Che Mohd. Ruzaidi Ghazali, theDean of the Faculty of Engineering Technology and the former Vice Chancellor of UniMAP, Brig. Gen Datuk Prof Emeritus Dr. Kamarudin Hussin while Prof. Dr. Long Yuan Li from UoP will act as the lead researcher.

"Hopefully, this award will open up opportunities for UniMAP researchers to continue to create a network of cooperation with universities in the European Union," he added.