SEAMEO BIOTROP added four experts in its roster of affiliate scientists this year. They are Prof Arief Sabdo Yuwono and Dr. Awang Maharijaya from the Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB), Dr. Dewi Wulandari from the Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII) and Dr. Sutomo from Bali Botanical Garden of the Indonesian Institute of Life Sciences.

Prof Arief Sabdo Yuwono was the previous BIOTROP’s Deputy Director for Resources Management before he fully served as a professor at the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering of IPB. He has also worked as the head of environmental engineering division of IPB’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering since 2009. Prof Arief obtained his PhD degree in Agricultural Engineering from Institut für Landtechnik, University of Bonn, Germany, in 2003. His fields of expertise include environmental sanitation engineering, environmental science, air quality and noise management, and waste management technology, which led him to conduct many research and present the results in various national and international seminars. He has authored and co-authored several books published by IPB Press and many articles in local and international journals as well in proceedings and technical publications since 1998. BIOTROP also published his book titled “Treatment and Utilization of Agricultural Waste, in bahasa” in 2016, with Mr. Yoga Armando as co-author.

Dr Awang Maharijaya is a lecturer at the Faculty of Agriculture of IPB with specialization in plant biotechnology. He earned his PhD degree in Plant Breeding from the Wageningen University and Research Center in 2013. His research interests include all aspect of biotic stress and insect resistance influencing the breeding of vegetables, potatoes and other solanaceae. Since 2008, he has been actively conducting research, and publishing several papers in refereed national and international journals as well as presenting them in seminars and conferences. Various seminars, both in-country and abroad, were also attended by him to present his team’s works. Dr Awang also acts as the head office of the Centre for Tropical Horticulture Studies (PKHT) of IPB which creates a collaboration with BIOTROP to support the Non-Seasonal Fruit Production Development Program for Revitalization of Vocational Schools (SMK) in Indonesia.  He also engages himself in community development activities to contribute to national development.

Dr Dewi Wulandari is currently a lecturer at the Department of Environmental Engineering of UII.  She had previously worked for BIOTROP as the coordinator of environmental integrity program for three years. She obtained her PhD degree in 2014 with the topic on utilization of mycorrhizal fungi for remediation of coal mining area from Iwate University, Japan with the funding support from Monbukagakusho fellowship. Her resesarch interests cover the interface between soil and plant particularly in mycorrhiza, bioremediation of degraded land, soil science and plant nutrition, and soil microbiology and biotechnology. When she was working for the Centre, Dr Dewi was involved in many projects related to bioremediation effort of mining area in Kalimantan province, Indonesia. She had also published and presented several papers in national and international journals and conference proceedings.

Dr Sutomo is a scientist at Bali Botanical Garden of LIPI specializing in ecological restoration, landscape ecology,  remote sensing in ecology, plant community, forest and fire ecology,  invasive species management, and plant and biodiversity conservation. He graduated from Edith Cowan University, Australia, for his PhD degree in 2017 with “Ecology of the Savanna Ecosystems Indonesia” as his dissertation topic. Dr Sutomo is also a member of Masyarakat Biodiversitas Indonesia, Ecological Society of Australia, Australasian Plant Conservation, Association for Tropical Biology Conservation and Persatuan Sarjana Kehutanan Indonesia. Together with his supervisor, Dr Eddie van Etten, he published several papers in national and international journals as well as in the proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Tropical Biology published by BIOTROP in 2015. The Centre had also published his book titled “Ecological Succession on Volcanic Ecosystem of Mount Merapi Indonesia and Its Implication for Restoration” in 2013.