Closing date for applications: 20 October 2025.

The Palm Oil Processing Special Interest Group (POPSIG) is committed to promoting palm oil-related research. The POPSIG Research Grant offers funding of up to RM 6,000 per project to support original research related to the palm oil sector, on one of these themes:

• responsible production in palm oil-related sectors (sustainability, climate change, environmental protection)
• risk management within palm oil-related sectors
• digitalisation of palm oil-related processing.

Participants must be members of IChemE and registered as undergraduate or postgraduate university students.

Research projects should be carried over up to six months from the date of the award of the grant. Projects may complement existing work: applicant must declare financial support received from other sources. 

Eligible research, includes interdisciplinary activities, laboratory studies, simulation or computational studies, and desktop reviews.

Eligible research costs include travel, maintenance, software subscriptions, material and supplies, professional services and data collection. No personnel costs will be covered.

Application process

• Download the project proposal form
• Prepare your application and append a one-page CV, a copy of your academic transcript, and two referee statements
• Submit the application as a single pdf
• Register with Oxford Abstracts so that you can submit your application by the 20 October 2025 deadline

Evaluation criteria

Reviewers assessing your proposal will consider the:

• project’s contribution to the advancement of the palm oil sector
• degree to which the project is innovative and original
• feasibility of the project within the time frame and the method used is appropriate and comprehensively demonstrated
• evidence of sufficient planning in terms of health and safety, ethical clearance and permissions
• awareness of relevant environmental, social and cultural responsibilities and impacts of the project
• justification of resources and the degree to which the budget is reasonable, appropriate and sufficiently detailed.

Expectations and deliverables

Applicants must confirm their agreement to carry out the following within six months of completion of the research project:

• prepare and submit an article to an appropriate academic journal for publication
• present their research at a POPSIG webinar or other event, as scheduled by POP SIG
• submit a POPSIG newsletter article about their research
• acknowledge POPSIG Research Grant and the sponsor, KL-Kepong Industrial Holdings Sn Bhd, in any publications, presentations or articles about the research project.

The reviewers’ decision is final, and POPSIG committee reserves the right not to award any grants if no suitable proposals are received.

Please email any queries to specialinterestgroups@icheme.org.