Unsri Hosts International Microbiology Seminar

The event’s chair, Dr. Mulawarman, said on Tuesday that this international seminar on microbiology was not only the first of its kind at Unsri but also the first of its kind in Indonesia.

“Two professors from abroad are attending: Prof. Ellen E. Stobberingh from Maastricht University in the Netherlands and Prof. Philip Wiedemann from the University of Mannheim in Germany, in addition to Prof. Irfan from UGM, Prof. M. Zainuri from Undip, and Prof. Sharr Azmi Harmin from the University of Selangor in Malaysia," he said.

The seminar, themed “Optimizing Microbe Utilization for Human Welfare,” presented a total of 155 research findings in the field of microbiology.

He noted that this seminar qualifies as an international event because it addresses many important aspects related to the benefits of microbes in human life, such as in the fields of health, food, industry, and others.

"Residents of South Sumatra are already very familiar with the use of these microbes in fermented foods such as bekasam, rusip, and others. It’s possible that even better technologies will be discovered at this event," said the lecturer from the Department of Plant Protection in the Faculty of Agriculture.

He noted that, so far, the results of academic research have not been widely adopted by industry players—or, as he put it, they’ve simply “ended up in a drawer.” This stands in contrast to developed nations around the world, which eagerly await researchers’ discoveries.

“Take the rubber industry, for example. There is actually existing technology that uses microbes to reduce odor, but it hasn’t been implemented yet. The same goes for fertilizers; people are already accustomed to chemical fertilizers rather than using natural microbes,” said the Head of the South Sumatra Wildlife Study Center.

Regarding the holding of this international seminar, one of Unsri’s alumni, Toni Panggarbesi, said that Unsri should hold international-level seminars more often, given that it has a vision to become a world-class university by 2025 and an Asian-class university by 2020.

“It must begin, and of course, it must also receive support from the alumni. Currently, there are 100,000 Unsri alumni spread across various fields of work; if we can unite them, Unsri will surely become as great as other universities,” said the Executive Chair of the 2017 National Congress of the Unsri Alumni Association (IKA-Unsri).