Preface

Abstract

Annual International Conference (AIC) is hosted regularly by Institute of Research and CommunityServices (LPPM), Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia since 2011. Unfortunately, in 2020, the 10th AIC was held in virtual format through Zoom platform due to travel restrictions as an implication of global pandemic COVID-19. This conference was held in conjunction with the 12th IMT-GT UNINET Biosciences International Conference on 15-16 October 2020.All papers in this conference were submitted and double-blind reviewed by two independent reviewers through the Open Conference System (OCS) platform. In total, the committee has received 48 full papers, but there were only 38 papers accepted for presentation and publication. All presenters from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Nigeria, and Sri Lanka were enthusiastic in attending the two-days conference so they could share their research findings internationally as well as providing their research output for their research funding.Under the theme of “Connecting the world through innovation and sustainable development”, the keynote speeches were delivered by Prof. Ian Singleton from Edinburgh Napier University, UK and Prof. Dr. Uda Bin Hashim from Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia in the first day. While Prof. Benoit Dayrat from Pennsylvania State University, USA; Assoc. Prof. Hiroshi Miyake from Kitasato University, Japan; Prof. Dato’ Dr. Aileen Tan Shau Hwai from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia; and Assoc. Prof. Anchana Prathep from Prince Songkla University, Thailand gave their talks in the second day. The invited speech was delivered by Prof. Mohammad Basyuni, Ph.D from Universitas Sumatera Utara, Indonesia in the first day. Each keynote/invited speaker was given 30 minutes where the time was adapted with their origin time followed by questions and answers (Q&A) session.The opening ceremony, plenary session of the keynote and invited speakers, and the closing ceremony were held in the main room which was operated by Host. Presentation from the authors was conducted in two parallel sessions in seven breakout rooms where each breakout room had one co-host, one moderator, one oral presenter jury, and one organizing committee staff. Each presenter was allocated 15 minutes for oral presentation and Q&A. All sessions in this virtual conference were presented by Zoom. The links including username and ID meeting as well as breakout room code/name were sent to the corresponding author as soon as the author submitted the camera-ready manuscript. Five rooms in the UPT TIK Building, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia were also prepared for hosts, co-host, and moderators. These rooms were equipped with a set of mobile camera, headset, laptop, and LCD TV Display Monitor.The meeting by Zoom platform was operated by two methods where the host/co-host need to admit theparticipants so they can join either the main room or the breakout room or the participants can freely move in and out between the rooms. This conference implemented the first method in the first day and the second method in the second day. Each participant labelled their name with the breakout room code/name to simplify the work of host/co-host so the conference could run smoothly. Changing of sessions was also announced by MC and moderator as well as posted in the screen announcement.My sincere gratitude goes to Rector, Vice Rector, and Head of LPPM, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Indonesia for financial support and contribution. To all members of the organizing committees, the international scientific committees, the reviewers, the editors, the moderators, the student volunteers, and the collaboration partners (Universiti Sains Malaysia and Prince Songkla University), I would like to thank all of them for their tremendous efforts to organize this virtual conference successfully. I am hoping that the COVID-19 global pandemic will be over as soon as possible so this virtual conference will be the first and the last. Also, the networking among participants can be extended for future collaborations, not only in research but also in developing academic curriculum.Best regards, Dr. Dewi Yunita ChairpersonList of Advisory Board, Organizing Committee, Editorial Boards and this titles are available in this pdf.