Winner of the UK-Malaysia Education Institutional Partnership Award 2023

Prof Vimal Karani S (far left) with Faculty of Science academic Dr Anto Cordelia (middle) and UTAR President Ir Prof Dato’ Dr Ewe Hong Tat (third from right) during the award ceremony

University of Reading in partnership with UTAR emerged as the winner of the UK-Malaysia Education Institutional Partnership Award 2023 for their collaboration in establishing the project “Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics Research and Training Unit (N²RTU)”, the first of its kind in Malaysia with a focus on knowledge and technology transfer in the emerging field of nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics via research and training. The award was presented on 8 June 2023 at St. Regis Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.

N²RTU was set up under UTAR Centre for Biomedical and Nutrition Research (CBNR) in collaboration with the University of Reading, and the Ministry of Health and Nutrition Society of Malaysia as associate partners. The N²RTU is led by UTAR Dr Anto Cordelia Tanislaus Antony Dhanapal and the UK-PI and Deputy Director of the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health (IFNH) at the University of Reading Prof Vimal Karani. Joining them from Malaysia are co-investigators, CBNR Chairperson Dr Eddy Cheah Seong Guan, Faculty of Science (FSc) Deputy Dean for R&D and Postgraduate Programmes Dr Phoon Lee Quen, and FSc academic Dr L. Annaletchumy, with associate partners, namely Head of Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Research Centre (NMCRC) of IMR, NIH, MoH Dr Mohd Fairulnizal Md Noh and Nutrition Society of Malaysia (NSM) Vice President Dr Mahenderan Appukutty.

The team was awarded for their partnership in establishing the project N²RTU. The project has contributed exceptional results and shown significant value creation while capitalising the best of UK and Malaysia expertise. Besides providing high impact contribution to society, the project also helped to bridge the gap between industry, academia, government and society.

The project also aims to investigate the use of personalised nutrition plans to combat prevalent health risks like obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease in Malaysia, recognising that different individuals often have different responses to the same nutrients due to their genes and lifestyle.

“The main objective of the N²RTU is to strengthen partnerships and capital building with the transfer of technology and knowledge on nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics research. I look forward to expanding the unit and exploring collaboration with partner countries. With the support of all collaborative partners, we can take this to the next level and succeed to move toward precision nutrition,” said Dr Anto Cordelia.

University of Reading in partnership with UTAR was chosen among the other shortlisted finalists, namely The Cambridge Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore in partnership with University of Malaya; University of Glasgow in partnership with Universiti Sains Malaysia; The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in partnership with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, and University of Surrey in partnership with Malaysian Primatological Society.

The UK-Malaysia Educational Institutional Partnership Award 2023 is an award category by the British Council in partnership with the British Malaysia Chamber of Commerce as part of the prestigious Business Excellence Awards.

From left: Dr Anto Cordelia, Prof Dato’ Ewe and Prof Vimal Karani S at the award ceremony

The first N²RTU workshop was conducted in August 2022 and the virtual dialogue forum was organised in December 2022 as well as the dissemination meeting was held on February 2023.