Siti Aisyah Alias

Siti Aisyah Alias
Siti Aisyah Alias at South Pole
Born	(1966-03-25)March 25, 1966
Nationality	Malaysian
Alma mater	University of somewhere
Scientific career
Fields	Polar mycology
Institutions	National Antarctic Research Centre, University of Malaya

Siti Aisyah Alias is an Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the National Antarctic Research Centre in the Malaysian Antarctic Research Programme (MARP), at the University of Malaya. Her work focuses on the physiology of polar microbes and fungi.

Early life and education

Associate Prof. Dr. Siti Aisyah Alias was born on March 25, 1966 in Malaysia. She studied at Tunku Ampuan Durah from 1981 – 1983. She graduated from University of Malaya, Malaysia with BSc in Ecology in 1991. After that she completed her PhD at the University of Portsmouth in 2006, in Marine Mycology.

Career and impact

Assoc. Prof. Alias is currently the Deputy Director of the National Antarctic Research Centre (NARC) and Malaysian Antarctic Research Programme (MARP), performing these roles since 2001. She is a National Delegate member for the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) representing Malaysia, Committeee Member for the Asian Forum on Polar Science (AFOPS) and a Task Force Member, Academy of Science Malaysia for the Malaysian Antarctic Program.

As a principle investigator for MARP, her scientific research fields include fungal biodiversity and phylobiogeography, antimicrobial activity and cold-adapted enzymes and biochemistry of of Antarctic microbes. Her strong commitment to the development of the Malaysian national Antarctic research community, and Malaysia’s standing within both SCAR and the Antarctic Treaty System, is illustrated by her establishment of important international collaborations with several national Antarctic Institutes and research communities, including those of Equador, Australia, Chile, Poland and the United Kingdom.

She also has significant field experience in the Antarctic and Arctic, participating in several polar research expeditions (2000-2008). Her scientific contributions have been presented in various international conferences including SCAR (OSC and Biology Symposium), Latin America Congress on Antarctic Research, International Botanical Congress, Asia Mycology Congress, Asia Pacific Biotechnology Conference and Malaysian Antarctic Seminar on Antarctica.

She has helped lead the organisation of all six Malaysian International Seminars on Antarctica organised to date, encouraging the international participation in these meetings which reflects the country’s commitment towards both the development of Antarctic research capacity and the experience and linkages of the national research community in Malaysia, and the conservation of Antarctica.

She regularly participates in MARP’s outreach programmes to promote awareness of Antarctica undergraduate students secondary school pupils in Malaysia. Currently she is assisting the development of Malaysia’s Antarctic policies and practices following the country’s recent accession to the Antarctic Treaty, under a grant from Ministry of Higher Education for the development of Science and Policy in Antarctica (2011-2016). She will lead awarded a Higher Institute of Centre of Excellence on “Latitudinal Differences in Response and Adaptation of Microbes to Atmospheric Changes”, at the Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences (IOES), University of Malaya.

Awards and honours

Siti Aisyah Alias was awarded the National Young Scientist Award, Ministry of Science, Technology and Environmental, Malaysia (2001), a Science and Technology Research Grant from the Toray Science Foundation (2005), and a Fellowship from the United Nations University, Tokyo, Japan, UNESCO, Paris (2008).

External links

• Siti Aisyah Alias's webpage
• Siti Aisyah Alias on Google scholar