Prof. Abdul Hamid Zakri
Prof. Zakri was born on 23 June 1948 in Pahang, Malaysia. He is married and
has five children.
He obtained a Dip. Agric. From the College of Agriculture in Malaya,
Malaysia (1969), a BS in Crop Science from Louisiana State University, USA
(1972), and an MS (1974) and a PhD (1976), both in Crop Science (Plant
Breeding) from Michigan State University, USA.
He started his career as a Lecturer in the Department of Biology at
University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) (1976-1979), and became Associate
Professor (1980-1986) and then Professor (1986-2000) in the Department of
Genetics at UKM. He was a Fulbright-Hays Visiting Scientist in the
Department of Biology at the University of Maryland, USA (1981-1982). On the
administrative side, he was Head of the Department of Genetics (1978-1981),
Deputy Dean (1983-1987) and Dean (1987-1992) in the Faculty of Life
Sciences, Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Research) (1989),
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development Affairs) (1992-1995), Acting
Vice-Chancellor (1998) and finally Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Affairs)
(1995-2000), all at UKM. He is currently the Director of the Institute of
Advanced Studies at the United Nations University in Tokyo, Japan
(2001-present).
He has been Assistant Secretary-General (1980-1981) and Secretary-General
(1981-1989) of the Society for the Advancement of Breeding Research in Asia
and Oceania (SABRAO), a member of the Executive Committee of the Malaysian
Society of Applied Biology (1986-1987), President of the Genetics Society of
Malaysia (1994-present). He was inducted as one of 50 Foundation Fellows of
the Malaysian Academy of Sciences (1995) and has been a member of its
Executive Committee (1998-present). He is also a member of a number of
national and international professional bodies in his field.
His areas of research interest have been the Breeding of Rice and Soybean
for Malaysian Conditions (1976-1997), Genetic variation of Indigenous
Malaysian Timber Species (1996-present), and Biodiversity and Biotechnology
Policies for Developing Countries (1990-present). He has written or
contributed to more than 70 scientific papers on plant breeding and genetics
and approx. 30 papers on related topics, and authored, edited or contributed
to approx. 20 books. He has participated in a large number of national and
international committees and conferences on agricultural issues. He has
supervised 25 MSc and PhD theses, and been an External Examiner on a number
of occasions for MSc and PhD candidates at Universiti Malaya, Universiti
Pertanian Malaysia and the University of Delhi, India.
He has been awarded the following honours and distinctions: the
Fulbright-Hays Malaysian Lecturer Award by the Malaysian-America Commission
on Educational Exchange (1981), the title “Dato” by the Sultan of Pahang
(1991), the Kestria Mangku Negara (KMN) by the Malaysian King (1993), the
Excellent Service Award from the Academic Association of UKM (1997), the
Langkawi Award for outstanding contribution in the field of the environment
(1998), and the Rotary Research Foundation Gold Medal (Agricultural and
Biological Sciences) (1999).
Prof. Zakri was elected as a Fellow of the IAS in 2006.
