ABOUT THE FORUM

The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has stated that Climate Change is unequivocal i.e. there is no longer any doubt. Engineers and related stakeholders involved in water related development need to know if the current codes are sufficient to cope with the future predicted phenomenon in terms of design and operations requirements.

In view of this, IEM Disaster Risk Reduction Advisory Board (DRRAB) together with the IEM Water Resources Technical Division (WRTD) is organizing a 1-day forum in conjunction with National Disaster Preparedness month, inviting all engineers and related stakeholders to pool together their input and feedback on possible impact of climate change with regards to water related disasters.


SPEAKERS BACKGROUND

Dato’ Dr. Yap Kok Seng
Was the Director-General of the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MMD) from December 2005 till September 2012 and its deputy from January 2001 till mid December 2005. He was also the Permanent Representative of Malaysia with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and a Member of the WMO Executive Council from 2006 till September 2012. He is also a fellow of the Academy of Science since 2014. Dr Yap retired from the civil service on 21st Sept 2012 after serving the Malaysian Meteorological Department for over 33 years. Dr Yap was employed by UNDP for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment from June 2014 to April 2018 as the National Project Manager for the Third National Communication and Biennial Update Report to the UNFCCC.

Dato’ Ir. Nor Hisham Bin Mohd Ghazali
Holds a B. Sc. in Civil Engineering from California State University (Chico) and a Masters in Coastal and Maritime Engineering from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. He joined the Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia (DID) in 1987 starting as a geotechnical engineer and later joining the Coastal Engineering Division in 1991. His subsequent appointments include a 4 year secondment to NAHRIM as a coastal researcher, Deputy Director of Selangor State Department of Irrigation and Drainage, Director of Operations at the Stormwater Control Center of the Kuala Lumpur Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART) and Director of Johor State Department of Irrigation. In March 2016, he was appointed to the directorate as Senior Director (Management Sector) to oversee ICT and human capital development. In January 2017, Hisham was appointed the Director of Division for Water Resources and Hydrology.

Ir. Hj. Wan Mohd Zamri bin W. Ismail
Graduated in B.Sc. Civil Engineering from University of Iowa USA in 1983 and later obtained Masters of Science (Hydrogeology) from University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. Ir Wan Mohd Zamri is a Professional Engineer, a Fellow of The Institution of Engineers Malaysia, a member of the Malaysian Water Association and the International Water Association (IWA). He is also an Interviewer of BEM and Registered Engineer with CIDB.

Ir. Zakiyyah binti Muhammad
Holds a degree in Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) Civil graduated in 1997 from UiTM.  She obtained her M.Sc. in Water Engineering in 2009. She has over 19 years of experience in Water Engineering.  Ir. Zakiyyah is a Senior Chief Assistant Director Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia (DAM Division) and been serving since 1999. She is also a member of The Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM).

Ir. Hj. Mohd Fauzi bin Mohamad
Holds a B. Civil Engineering from University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom in 1983 and a M.Sc. Eng. in Hydrology and Water Resource from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in 2008. He is currently The Deputy Director General and Acting DG of National Hydraulics Research Institute of Malaysia (NAHRIM). The Water Resource and Climate Change Research Centre of NAHRIM has carried out research on the effects on climate change and water resource for Malaysia.

En. Mohamad Hafiz bin Hassan
Mohamad Hafiz Bin Hassan graduated from the University Technology of Malaysia in 2003 with a degree in Civil Engineering. He started his career as Design Engineer in consultant firm at Johor Bahru since 2003 before he joined the Department of Irrigation and Drainage, Malaysia in August 2006. In 2013, he has completed his Master’s Degree in Water Science and Engineering (Specialization in Hydraulics Engineering and River Basin Management) from IHE Delft, The Netherlands. His major research and work interests include hydrodynamic river modeling, river morph dynamics, flood forecasting, disaster risk reduction (DRR), Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing.

Ir. Bibi Zarina binti Che Omar
is a Director of Mitigation Department, Sector of Policy and Planning, National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) Malaysia, Prime Minister’s Department of Malaysia. She is an expert in both structural and non-structural approach in mitigating flood damage. She is a leading author from Malaysia in the publication on “Science Technology Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction: Asian Perspective” published in March 2017. This publication is supported by Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) International programme Office (IPO), International Council for Science (ICSU) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP), IRDR International Centre of Excellence (ICoE)-Taipei and National Council of Thailand (NRCT). She has recommended flood-proofing new homes as the best way to protect people from damage, given that the method can be adopted as we can no longer afford to widen and deepen rivers. With a long-served technical expert in the Department of Irrigation Drainage Malaysia, and also known as a women leader in the National Disaster Management Agency recognized by Global Water Partnership Southeast Asia made this exciting session worth.

Prof. Dr. Ali Selamat
Ali Selamat is currently a Dean at Malaysia Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. He was a Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and a Director of Center of Communication and Information Technology, UTM. He is also a professor at Faculty of Computing, UTM and Chairing the IEEE Computer Society Malaysia Section for Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), USA and a deputy chair of the taskforce of UTM 4IR initiatives 2017. Prof. Ali Selamat has received a B.Sc. (Hons.) in IT from Teesside University, U.K. and M.Sc. in Distributed Multimedia Interactive Systems from Lancaster University, U.K. in 1997 and 1998, respectively. He has received a Dr. Eng. degree from Osaka Prefecture University, Japan in 2003.


Note:
- This Forum is held in conjunction with 'Bulan Kesiapsiagaan Kebangsaan' or National Disaster Preparedness month