Sharifah Rafidah wins ASEAN award

Sharifah Rafidah has been awarded a prestigious ASEAN Science and Technology Award.

Sharifah – an IChemE member and director of the Process Systems Engineering Centre at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) – won the ASEAN Young Scientist and Technologist Award at the triennial event hosted this year in Indonesia.

The award includes a US$10,000 prize and recognises those who show considerable promise or make substantial contributions to research, development and innovation in the ASEAN region. The wider awards programme, aims to encourage and promote excellence among scientists and technologists in the region, and strengthen R&D links among member states.

“To me, this award is a call for young scientists, especially women, to break boundaries by working together and be engaged with colleagues and students, communities and governments, industries and other scientists as well as technologists throughout the world,” Sharifah tells tce.

Sharifah’s work focuses on resource conservation; she has worked for industry and government agencies on projects to minimise the use of energy and water. She earned her undergraduate degree at the UK’s University of Manchester, and her PhD at UTM. Within IChemE, she serves as deputy chair for the Malaysia Young Engineers Group.

Malaysian prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, issued a press statement congratulating Rafidah’s achievement.

Malaysia’s science minister Datuk Ewon Ebin spoke at the awards ceremony, telling Malaysia’s Bernama news agency that the success signals that state investment in R&D delivers positive results.

“I hope this award will help inspire other Malaysian scientists and researchers to reach their fullest potential in their pursuit of scientific and technological excellence,” he added.