Links grow with Indonesia National Agency of Drug & Food Control
Thu, 09 Jan 2014 13:53:00 GMT
Huddersfield is the NA-DFC’s UK ‘University of Choice’ for providing degree-level and postgraduate training
Pictured with the University’s Head of Chemical and Biological Sciences, Dr Roger Jewsbury (front centre), and lecturers Gareth Parkes (centre left) and Paul Elliott (centre right) is Dr Hayatie Amal with members of the NA-DFC delegation.
THE University of Huddersfield’s long-established expertise in analytical chemistry has led to the strengthening of ties with one of the world’s largest food and drugs agencies.
Indonesia’s National Agency of Drug and Food Control (NA-DFC) have 3,500 employees based at 38 sites across the multi-island nation, which has a vast population.
A large proportion of the NA-DFC’s workforce are graduates and Huddersfield is the UK ‘University of Choice’ for providing degree-level and postgraduate training. There are currently five NA-DFC staff studying for MSc degrees and the connection will develop further following the recent visit of a delegation from Indonesia.
It consisted of Dr Hayatie Amal, who is NA-DFC Permanent Secretary and acting head of the agency; Dra Hardaningsih, head of the NA-DFC International Co-operation Bureau; and Ms Atiek Supardiati, head of Human Resources. The visitors were given a tour of the University’s School of Applied Sciences and met researchers in pharmacy, chemistry, biology, nutrition and health sciences.
A special feature was a tour of the Page Laboratories, which houses the University’s research group Innovative Physical Organic Solutions (IPOS), which is an Agilent Centre of Excellence.
After the tour, discussions were held about future collaborations, including the possibility of more NA-DFC staff studying for PhD and MScs at Huddersfield. Also, technical staff from NA-DFC could come to the University for short courses.
Dr Paul Elliott, a Senior Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry who has been Acting International Lead at the School of Applied Sciences, said: “As an institution we have always had a strength in analytical chemistry. The Indonesians come to us because of that. In the school, we have got teaching and research expertise in food science and chemistry, pharmaceutical sciences and analytical chemistry and this matches the NA-DFC’s needs as a government agency.”
Dr Roger Jewsbury, Head of the Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences within the School added: “It was a very productive and encouraging meeting. We hope that this will lead to a strong and long lasting partnership with the NA-DFC in the coming years”.
