Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS)

Technical Collaboration Program Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS)

Malaysian Government strengthens the technical collaboration with Japanese Government through the implementation of the fourth SATREPS project entitled The Project For Continuous Operation System For Microalgae Production Optimized For Sustainable Tropical Aquaculture (COSMOS).

The Technical Collaboration Program SATREPS is a bilateral research collaboration under the initiative of Official Development Assistance (ODA) provided by Japanese government with developing countries. It aims at promoting research collaboration between the institutions in Japan and the institutions in recipient country towards generating new knowledge that is condusive to resolving global issues and providing capacity building to institutions in recipient country. Record of Discussion (RoD) is signed between the Japanese Government and the Recipient Country’s Government to conclude and strengthen the collaboration formed among the institutions of both countries to ensure the successful implementation of the research project.

The COSMOS project is led by Prof. Dr. Fatimah binti Md. Yusoff, senior professor from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) as the coordinator for Malaysian research team that consists of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) and Universiti Selangor (UNISEL). Meanwhile, the collaborative partner in Japan is led by Prof. Dr. Tatsuki Toda from Soka University who also acts as coordinator to Japanese research team that comprises University of Tokyo, National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) and Tokyo Institute of Technology (TITech).

Project COSMOS will be undertaken for a period of five years. The objective of this project is to develop an energy-efficient mass-culture system of high value microalgae using recycled nutrients from aquaculture pond sludge. The system produced can be applied in domestic aquaculture industry as a method to enhance the revenue generation and promoting the Good Aquaculture Practices that is environmental friendly.

RoD for COSMOS project was signed between the Malaysian Government and the Japanese Government on 25 March 2016 at Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE), Putrajaya. Malaysian government was represented by YBhg. Dato’ Seri Ir. Dr. Zaini bin Ujang, Secretary General of MoHE and Japanese Government was represented by the Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to Malaysia, Mr. Kojiro Matsumoto.