L’Oreal UNESCO for Women in Science is an award given to talented young female scientists who dedicate their lives for the development of scientific innovation and contribute to sustainable development and community’s advancement. The aim is to recognize, encourage and support female scientists in Indonesia.

The event was opened with a remark by Vice Rector of Research, Innovation, and Partnership of ITB, Prof. Dr. Ir. Bambang Riyanto Trilaksono. He said that more women are now bringing astonishing achievement in men-dominated sectors. For this reason, Women in Science greatly support female scientists in Indonesia.

“We (ITB) always encourage and push female scientists to participate in this program. There have been many female scientist in ITB who participated in the program,” said Prof. Bambang.

*Photo by: PR of ITB

One of female scientists in ITB who received the award is Dr. Fenny Martha Dwivany with her research on Ambon banana. This research of hers on botany molecular biology is beneficial to tackle fruit’s postharvest problem. Dr. Fenny and her team have created several innovation to extend banana storing period using molecular biology approach or nanotechnology, two researches of which have been registered as patent of ITB. The technology will help farmers and industry to enhance crop production.

The Head of Industrial System Planning and Optimization Laboratory at Faculty of Industrial Technology of ITB, Dr. Eng. Yosi Agustina Hidayat also attended the event. Yosi won L’Oreal-UNESCO FWIS in 2013 with her research proposal “The Correlation Analysis of Tuberculosis Disease with Diabetes Mellitus Comorbidity Seeking for the Optimal Treatment through the Pharmacology and Management Science Approach”.

The research uses the synergy of engineering tools application and decision science called Markov Chain. On the research, Markov model which is used as an approach to select medicine options for complication of Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM) has been developed. The model can accommodate the chronic and complex development of the illness.

In addition, the dissemination also featured other board of jury, namely Dr. Neni Sintawardani from Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) who emphasized on ethics in research, especially its funding system; and research sharing by Fitri Khoerunnisa, Ph.D from Department of Chemistry of Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia who is also a winner of L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science in 2016. Her concern toward health and environmental issues brought her to be one of L’Oreal-UNESCO FWIS in 2016 with her research “Ultrafiltration Nanocomposite Membranes Based On Chitosan-PEG-MWCNT-Graphene Oxides: Study on Antibacterial and Antifouling Properties”.

Magdalena Rospita, CSR Manager of L’Oreal said that since 2014, the program runs in Indonesia under the cooperation that is supported by KNIU and Kemendikbud. It aims to recognize, encourage, and support women in science. “The programs has run for 15 years in Indonesia. Every year we give 95 million rupiah of research grant to each of four winners,” said Magdalena.