Preface

Abstract

The 14th International UMT Annual Symposium (UMTAS) was held on the 23rd to 25th of July 2019, hosted by Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT). This symposium succeeded in bringing together leading academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results in all aspects of science and technologies.With the theme “Sustainable Development through Science, Technology and Innovation”, UMTAS2019 aspired to explore the initiative, advanced knowledge, and potential of scientific and technological innovation in improving human livelihood as well as sustaining environmental equilibrium.We had the honour of officiating this conference with an opening plenary lecture from Prof Dr. Pat Hutchings, a Senior Fellow of the Australian Museum Research Institute. Her inspiring talk was entitled “Towards conserving and managing biodiversity in marine and freshwater ecosystem, and the tools needed for implementation”.The conference was also graced by three other prominent scholars in the field of expertise to present their plenary lectures. On management, science and policy, we invited Prof Dr Chou Loke Ming, who is an Adjunct Research Professor at the Tropical Marine Science Institute of the National University of Singapore, to present his topic on “Integrated coastal management and sustainable development of the coastal environment”. Prof Dr Lee Hian Kee (Professor at the Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore) presented “Green analytical chemistry begins with sample preparation”, and last but not least, Prof Dr Soottawat Benjakul from Department of Food Technology, Prince of Songkla University presented his subject matter on “Effective utilization and valorization of fish skin, a leftover from fish processing”.Many people contributed towards the success of the conference, and UMT would especially like to thank the committee from the Faculty of Science and Marine Environment (FSME) that helped organize this conference lead by the honourable Associate Prof. Dr. Marinah Mohd Ariffin. Their impeccable hard-work, patience, endurance and team work support greatly deserves due credit.Last but not least, we wish to thank all the participants who contributed to the success of the conference and made the event a memorable one!