Assoc. Prof. Ts Dr Adnan Zainorabidin
Assoc. Prof. Ts Dr Adnan Zainorabidin, was previously Director, Centre of Advancement and Alumni Relations (CARE), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Deputy Dean (Research, Development and Publication) and Head of Department at UTHM’s Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
He has been very active and well known in both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and research supervision for more than 19 years. His research and consultancy has focused on his specialist of engineering and construction on challenging peat and soft soil ground conditions. Since obtaining his Certificate of Civil Engineering in 1994 from Polytechnic Port Dickson, where he excelled in his academic studies at the polytechnic, and was awarded a Ministry of Education scholarship to continue his tertiary education under a collaboration program between Malaysia government and World Bank. In 1997, he graduated with a BSc. (Hons) Civil Engineering and obtained his Masters Degree by Research (Geotechnics), majoring in “Geotechnical properties of peat soil in Johor”.
He furthered his enthusiastic interest in peat soil research and successfully obtained his PhD from the University of East London, United Kingdom acquiring an expertise in the static and dynamic behaviour of peat soils obtained from both United Kingdom and Malaysia. In the year 2004, he was the First Head of the Research Centre for Soft Soil Malaysia (RECESS) modelled similar to the UK Bothkennar soft clay site. Under his dedicated management, RECESS rapidly established and became well known as a pioneering research centre both at national and international level. One of his prized achievements was when RECESS got their own building completed with advanced geotechnical laboratory and field instrumentation equipment. His area of expertise includes advanced laboratory and in-situ testing, soil properties, ground improvement and soil stabilisation majoring on peat.
His research focus areas at the present are on innovative ground improvement methods for peat ground, development of new testing methods of field testing on peat and establishing geotechnical properties of peat. He has supervised and continues to supervise many research students reading for their PhD and Master’s level qualifications, focussing on peat soil in Malaysia. He has over 80 publications in journal, conference proceedings, symposiums and consultative committees where his enthusiastic research on peat has been shared and disseminated in the public domain. His contributions and expertise in the geotechnology of peat ground has been duly acknowledged in the contributions to major consultative documents such as Lewis Wind Power EIS a Critical Review (Richard Lindsay’s Report, 2008).
Currently his experience and knowledge is utilised, in him being appointed as a committee member to develop Guidelines for Construction on Peat Soil under Construction Research Institute of Malaysia (CREAM).