PENANG, 9 April 2013 - Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Sari University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (SANRU), Iran, is expected to establish research collaboration in the field of food security and natural resources in the future.

USM Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dato’ Omar Osman, said that specific objectives need to be drawn to ensure that a comprehensive and impactful research can be carried out through the expertise possessed by institutions of both countries.

He said that SANRU and USM have distinguished academics who are experts in their respective fields and they are seen to be the catalyst to a stronger cooperation towards increasing achievements in the field of global knowledge.

“We hope that USM and SANRU are also able to focus on the management of food safety for the enhancement of research skills and technology to benefit communities around the world,” he said.

Omar said this in a press conference after opening the 2nd Seminar on Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources, a platform for discussion on the challenges and current issues related to food security and the preservation of natural resources here today.

Also present were SANRU Vice-Chancellor representative, Dr. Sayedali Jafarpour Khozaghi and the Dean of the School of Biological Sciences, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmad Sofiman Othman.

Omar added that USM does not only focus on collaborations with leading institutions of higher education alone but also look for strategic partners who may be new in their establishment but have specific expertise that can be leveraged.

In SANRU’s context, although it is newly established, it has special expertise in niche areas that included agricultural science and natural resources; moreover SANRU originally was a faculty now raised into a university.

“The expertise that they possess are very useful to institutions such as USM in the long-term because such collaboration has the potential to produce holistic, high-impact research,” he said.

Meanwhile, the one-day seminar, which was organised by USM after the first being hosted in Iran last year, brought together hundreds of participants with more than 70 papers presented covering various topics in the field.

The seminar, themed “Strategies For Food Security Through Innovative Development”, also aims to be a platform for discussion of strategies for food security through innovative development.

Participants held relevant scientific discussions of the current situation of world food production which is a rising concern and came up with innovations and ideas that can help the world solve these global problems. - Text: Marziana Mohamed Alias/Photo: Mohd Fairus Md. Isa/Translation: Yong Check Yoon