The WildCRU delegation was led by Professor David Macdonald, the Founding Director of WildCRU alongside Dr Andrew J. Hearn and Dr Dawn Burnham. The session was chaired by Professor Ir Dr Siti Noor Linda Taib, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation), UNIMAS.
KOTA SAMARAHAN, 26 May 2026 – A courtesy visit and strategic discussion were held between UNIMAS and representatives of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), University of Oxford, to explore potential collaborations in biodiversity conservation, transdisciplinary research, and future-oriented environmental governance.
The WildCRU delegation was led by Professor David Macdonald, the Founding Director of WildCRUalongside Dr Andrew J. Hearn and Dr Dawn Burnham. The session was chaired by Professor Ir Dr Siti Noor Linda Taib, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation), UNIMAS.
Discussions centred on the growing need for integrated and transdisciplinary approaches in biodiversity conservation, particularly within rapidly developing ecological landscapes such as Borneo. The meeting highlighted shared interests in community-based solutions, futures analysis, ecological connectivity, and conservation intelligence that bridges science, policy, technology, and local realities.
A key area of discussion was the potential collaboration on a Decision Support System (DSS) to integrate biodiversity considerations into development planning and landscape governance.
This direction is especially timely as UNIMAS moves towards the launch of the UNIMAS Nexus Biodiversity Strategic Plan, a university-wide strategic framework that positions biodiversity as a core institutional strength across research, innovation, education, community engagement, policy support and sustainable development.
In this context, the proposed direction further reinforces the aspirations of the UNIMAS Biodiversity Sarawak Network (BoSaN), which serves as a strategic platform to advance biodiversity intelligence, ecological data integration, evidence-based conservation, and sustainable regional development planning across Sarawak and Borneo.
The engagement also reaffirmed the long-standing collaboration between WildCRU and IBEC since 2017, while opening broader pathways for collaboration in biodiversity analytics, landscape planning, postgraduate research, researcher mobility, strategic grants, and international research partnerships.
Also present were Professor Dr Mohd Azlan Jayasilan Abdul Ghulam Azad from theInstitute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation (IBEC), Ts Dr Mohd Zacaery bin Khalik from the Faculty of Resource Science and Technology (FRST), Dr Annisa Jamali from the Centre for Research, Development, Innovation, Commercialisation & Economy (RDICE), Dr Noratikah Mohamad Ashari from UNIMAS Corporate Communication Division and Ms Aisya Laila Shbini from UNIMAS Global.
The visit reflects UNIMAS’s continuing commitment under UNIMAS2030 to strengthen globally connected, locally grounded research ecosystems that support sustainability, innovation, and impactful regional solutions.