Adhitya Latif Prahesta, a Public Sector Accounting student, served as Indonesia’s representative at the 2021 Global Youth for Sustainable Palm Oil Summit held annually by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

The international youth summit aims to appreciate the participation of young people from all over the world in social and environmental sustainability issues such as biodiversity and climate change, deforestation, and the impact of consumer behavior.

More than 8,000 young people from 20 countries gathered this year to voice environmental issues in their respective countries. On this occasion, Adhitya teamed up with his fellows from India, China, and Malaysia to discuss and produce commitments for further sustainability measures.

He viewed that the awareness and contribution of Indonesian youth to environmental sustainability is growing from year to year. People are now aware of the gravity of environmentally friendly materials for daily use.

“Indonesian youth is ready to encourage and educate people in the country to use sustainable materials through activities and collaborations at Youth in Sustainability (YIS Indonesia),” he explained.

Furthermore, Adhitya highlighted the importance of unity among young people for a better and more sustainable environment in the future. The sustainability of the world is in the hands of the youth.

“As a young generation, we can create a better world by participating in the implementation of a sustainable environment. There is no Planet B, so it’s our responsibility to protect and preserve the earth,” he said.

Source: https://ugm.ac.id/id/berita/22151-mahasiswa-ugm-jadi-pembicara-di-global-youth-for-sustainable-palm-oil-summit

The UGM Center for Human Health and Nutrition initiated the Indonesia Nutrition University Network (NATURE), a collaborative platform among universities and academic institutions in Indonesia that focuses on eradicating anemia and stunting.

Since its inception in November 2021, this Network has had representatives from 27 institutions, 25 of which are universities from 21 provinces, and the rest are the Eijkman Institute and the Indonesian Stunting Prevention Acceleration team.

As is known, anemia and stunting remain two big problems in Indonesia today. Various interventions have been made to suppress these two but are still progressing slowly. Several Indonesian experts have recommended measures for anemia and stunting prevention and eradication.

Professor Hardinsyah of IPB University opined that the knowledge about stunting must be transferred to the community early, starting from pre-marriage to the infant reaching two years of age, depending on each individual’s unique growth and development.

“Prospective parents must understand how to obtain optimal nutrition since they are about to get married. If it’s only for the first 1,000 days of the child’s life, it won’t be enough. The second recommendation is to strengthen stunting reduction policies. Convergence-wise, the existing policies are still weak, especially in regencies/cities, villages, and RWs (community units),” said Hardinsyah.

Furthermore, Professor Mohammad Juffrie (UGM), Professor Indrawati Liputo (UNAND), Dr. Agussalim Bukhari (UNHAS), Dr. Idrus Jus’at (UEU), and Dr. Safarina G Malik (Eijkman Institute) explained the results of various studies on nutritional and non-nutritional anemia in Indonesia.

Anemia is not only caused by iron deficiency but also due to genetic factors and infectious diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the causes of each case in each area. Physician nutrition specialist Dr. Widjaja Lukito added that collaboration and an eco-nutrition approach, namely observing how the environment, health, and nutritional status are interrelated, were crucial in handling anemia and stunted growth.

The National Population and Family Planning Agency appreciated the establishment of NATURE. The Network is expected to strengthen the capacity of its members as academics, researchers, and assistants for regions to carry out education, research, and community service activities, apart from tackling nutrition problems in Indonesia.

Source: https://ugm.ac.id/id/berita/22150-nature-kolaborasi-untuk-tuntaskan-persoalan-gizi-di-indonesia

Aquaculture is the maintenance of various animals that live in water. Contrary to the trend of fishing, aquaculture is projected to continue to increase as an effort to meet the needs of animal protein for the community. For this reason, a sustainable aquaculture ecosystem is needed, one of which is in terms of food.

“The production in fishery cultivation or aquaculture has the opportunity to be increased,” said Dr. Alim Isnansetyo during the UGM Apps Village Webinar.

He said brown seaweed can be a good and sustainable food alternative in aquaculture. Brown seaweed has nanoparticles, bioactive substance, biodegradable polymer and drug delivery system.

Currently in Indonesia there are 555 types of seaweed and only 21 types are used as food, as a trading commodity, and have economic value. One of the most abundant seaweeds, especially in Yogyakarta, is brown seaweed.

“Brown grass has a lot of cellulose and alginate,” he said.

Extraction of this brown seaweed can produce a large amount of feed. The average extraction process can yield up to 30% of the initial amount before extraction. Before entering the extraction process, brown seaweed must be dried and chopped. The cost of extraction is also quite affordable because it is enough to use NaOH or NaHCO3 base mixed with water until it reaches PH 11.

“Alginate from brown seaweed is very easy to extract using only alkaline compounds and can be mixed into fish feed. Fish that are given alginate will have a higher immune system,” said Alim.

This functional feed can be given to various fish variants such as catfish, tilapia and shrimp, and overall brown seaweed feed contains peptides, amino acids, polysaccharides, bioactive substances, pigments, PUF, phenols, and minerals.

Seeing the potential, Alim explained that the use of applicative products from brown algae that can provide immunity to fish will reduce the use of chemical sharing which has a major impact on the sustainability of aquaculture.

Source: https://www.ugm.ac.id/id/berita/21880-potensi-rumput-laut-sebagai-pakan-fungsional-akuakultur

Three UGM researchers, Professor Abdul Rohman (Pharmacy), Professor Muh Aris Marfai (Geography), and Professor Ahmad Maryudi (Forestry), have been listed as the world’s most influential scientists, according to a study conducted by Stanford University.

In the study published on 20 October 2021, Stanford researchers, Professor John Ioannidis, Jeroen Baas, and Kevin Boyack, present a list of the top 100,000 scientists whose work has been widely cited by other researchers around the world.

“Featuring in the Top 2% Scientists Worldwide proves that UGM researchers are internationally recognized, and their publications are widely cited,” said Professor Mustofa, UGM Research Director, on Thursday (28/10).

According to him, the list is made based on several parameters, namely the total number of papers until 2019, publication requirement of 5 at a minimum by 2019, the number of citations, h-index, co-authorship adjusted hm-index, citations to papers in different authorship positions, and a composite indicator.

He added that UGM had taken various efforts to encourage researchers to escalate their international publications and improve their overall research quality over the years. Some measures include but are not limited to increased research programs, writing workshops, language editing assistance, incentives, awards, and international seminar opportunities.

“UGM customizes support for researchers based on basic, applied, and development research. Support for basic research is, for instance, facilitating researchers who focus on having publication outputs,” he explained.

He hopes this Top Scientists recognition will inspire other academics at UGM to excel and thrive in research in their respective fields. Also, the findings of UGM researchers will have a significant impact on the community.

“We encourage research results to be downstreamed so that they can benefit the community,” said Mustofa.

About the Researchers

Professor Abdul Rohman of the Faculty of Pharmacy is an expert in pharmaceutical chemistry and halal product analysis. Driven by his interest in Halal studies and authentication of food products, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, he serves as Chair of the Center for Excellence in Science and Technology at the UGM Institute for Halal Industry and System. He has achieved an h-index of 28, a total of 80 scientific works, and has been cited 1,836 times since 2009.

The first runner-up of the 2014 ProSPER.Net-Scopus Young Scientist Award found that research on Halal products is still lacking and considered less attractive despite its intriguing potentials. As reported by the State of Global Islamic Economy in 2019, 1.9 billion people in the world belonging to the Muslim community has recorded a total expenditure on halal products of USD 2.02 trillion.

“Research on halal products has to be encouraged for the potential is quite huge. In addition, such research is important for Indonesia given our status as the largest Muslim population in the world,” said the Editor in Chief of the Indonesian Journal of Pharmacy.

Professor Muh Aris Marfai is a researcher on coastal geomorphology and geospatial information, who currently serves as Head of the Geospatial Information Agency. His interest grew because of the archipelagic characteristics of Indonesia. He believes that research exploring these fields can provide benefits to the people.

Professor Aris earned his doctorate in Geography and Natural Disasters at Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany, in 2008. He has an h-index of 16 and 33 scientific papers and has recorded 752 citations since 2007.

“With two-thirds of Indonesia’s territory being the ocean, the dynamics of potential and coastal resources are worthy of studies,” he explained.

Professor Ahmad Maryudi has conducted research and publications related to forestry policies, forest governance, and land use, including community forestry and social forestry policies, since 2005. He has an h-index of 23 and 24 scientific papers and has received 609 citations since 2012.

Currently, he serves as Head of the Center for Forest Policy Research and Historical Studies and Deputy Coordinator of Division 9 Forest Policy and Economics at the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO). He is also an editor at Forest Policy and Economics, a highly reputable scientific journal published by Elsevier and indexed by Scopus (Q1) and Thomson Reuters (Q1).

Source: https://ugm.ac.id/id/berita/21876-tiga-peneliti-ugm-masuk-top-2-world-rangking-scientist-2021

The Bantul Regency government officially runs a program implementing Wolbachia-carrying mosquitoes to fight against dengue fever. The program called WoW MANTUL!! Wolbachia wis Masuk Bantul collaborates with the UGM Faculty of Medicine, World Mosquito Program (WMP) Yogyakarta, and the Tahija Foundation.

Head of Bantul Health Office Agus Budi Raharja said the initiative aims to improve the quality of public health aside from reducing dengue cases in Bantul Regency. Over the years, scientists have been working on breeding Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that carry the natural bacteria Wolbachia.

Research has proven that these bacteria can suppress the replication of viruses such as dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever inside the mosquitoes, thereby reducing their ability to transmit viruses to humans. In research conducted in Yogyakarta City, Wolbachia technology was proven effective in reducing dengue cases by 77% and reducing dengue hospitalization rates by 86%.

Agus explained that 11 sub-districts and 18 health centers in Bantul would participate in this program. The mosquito eggs will be deployed in several public facilities and parent homes (some residents who volunteer to foster the eggs during the 6-month program), with a radius of 50-75 sqm between each release point.

“This program runs in conjunction with other dengue control programs. Hopefully, dengue cases in Bantul will decrease significantly. Extensive collaborations is the key to ensuring this success,” said Agus.

Chair of the Tahija Foundation Trihadi Saptoadi said 400 million people contract dengue every year, which leads to an economic burden for the community. He hopes this program will provide examples for other cities to implement the technology. In addition, Deputy Regent of Bantul Joko Purnomo hopes the Wolbachia technology will help eradicate fatalities caused by mosquito-borne diseases.

“The Bantul Regency government would like to thank UGM and WMP Yogyakarta for all the efforts to develop the Wolbachia technology,” said Joko.

Assistant researcher to WMP Yogyakarta Dr. Riris Andono Ahmad highlighted the security aspect of this technology. According to him, the Wolbachia technology is safe because Wolbachia are natural bacteria that can be found in 60% of insects and can only live inside insect cells. They do not cause disease in humans.

Source: https://www.ugm.ac.id/id/berita/21866-bantul-resmi-implementasikan-teknologi-wolbachia

As part of the empowerment program for fostered villages, the Student Energy Council of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM DEM) has developed an energy village in Cageran Hamlet, Tamanmartani Village, Kalasan District, Sleman Regency, Special Region of Yogyakarta.

Head of UGM DEM, Melchior Raka Daksattama, said that the empowerment of Energy Village has the vision to create a pilot village for energy resilience in Indonesia by optimizing existing potentials. The village empowerment team, consisting of students from various departments and faculties at UGM, in collaboration with the UGM Department of Sociology, UGM Center for Energy Studies, and Andromeda, seeks to build sustainable agriculture based on new and renewable energy together with the village community.

“This village empowerment project is mainly focused on using new renewable energy hybrid technology to improve the quality of animal feed and quality local fertilizer production. This program is an effort to realize sustainable agriculture through the use of cow dung in Tamanmartani Village based on biomass energy and solar energy,” he explained on Tuesday (27/10).

The biomass energy comes from livestock manure in the cage with Dusun Cageran. Meanwhile, solar energy is obtained by using solar panels on the roof of the shared cage. This livestock manure will be stored in a biodigester to produce methane gas and liquid fertilizer. Then, methane gas will be processed simultaneously with energy from the sun to turn on the water heater and produce hot water for temporary animal feed. On the other hand, the liquid fertilizer will be used as residents’ income resource.

Melchior said Dusun Cageran was chosen to be the focus in implementing the Energy Village Empowerment Program (PDE) of UGM DEM because it has much energy potential, ranging from livestock and agriculture to equipment. Livestock in Dusun Cageran is integrated into one common cage containing 77 cows. In this shared cage, a biodigester was installed, a device that can convert cow dung into biogas and bio-slurry.

“In the past, residents used biogas to heat water as a mixture of animal feed, while bio-slurry had not been used optimally. Unfortunately, the management of the biodigester stopped two years ago, so residents stopped getting benefits,” he said.

In addition, he continued, Cageran has another potential in the form of solar panels and micro-hydro. However, these tools should be improved because they have not been used for a long time.

The social conditions of the community also have potential because the community is very supportive, communicative, and cooperative. This hamlet has an institution that manages the common cage, but it has become less effective due to managerial problems.

Furthermore, Melchior conveyed that the superior programs developed were divided into three focuses, social, technical, and publication. Several programs run by the community social team include program socialization, education, managerial system development, and the collective cage group organization. On 29 August 2021, the outreach team has successfully implemented the first socialization and education program. The next program is a discussion with the shared cage group for group managerial discussions.

The technical team has succeeded in optimizing the existing biodigester generator. On 2 October 2021, a symbol of the inclusion of animal manure in the biodigester was carried out for the first time together with livestock community groups. Next, they will carry out the reinstallation of solar panels.

Meanwhile, to disseminate the programs that have been implemented, the publication team has carried out publications to social media from the UGM DEM Energy Village on Instagram with the username @desaenergi and LinkedIn Desa Energi. They will also create a video podcast which will also be published on the Instagram account. So far, the publication team has published after-report programs, after-movies, infographics about villages, and made short reports of activities from August to October.

Melchior explained that the sustainability plan of the Assisted Village program is the formation of the Srawung Energi Community aiming to continue the program carried out in the common cage. This is manifested in a managerial mechanism between the people involved in the community, and thus there is a clear division of tasks.

They also plan to make Dusun Cageran an educational park tourism village for the following years. The concept of a tourist village is a place to support energy learning facilities for the village community itself and outsiders. Therefore, later it can improve the image of Dusun Cageran as an energy village.

Source: https://www.ugm.ac.id/id/berita/21867-mahasiswa-ugm-inisiasi-desa-energi

UGM Rector Professor Panut Mulyono inaugurated 20 Health Promoting University (HPU) Ambassadors and 20 Mental Health First Aiders at the Opening Ceremony of the 72nd Anniversary of Universitas Gadjah Mada, Tuesday (26/10).

The HPU program, which was launched in 2019, is an approach to creating a learning environment and organizational culture that improves the health and well-being of all academics in a sustainable manner and encourages academics to optimize their potential.

“At the meeting of the Rector’s Council, the President said that universities must generate excellent graduates who master knowledge as well as possible, are physically and mentally fit, and possess good character,” said the Rector.

HPU covers activities that promote health literacy, physical activity, healthy eating, mental health, zero tolerance for drugs, tobacco, and alcohol, zero tolerance for violence, bullying, and harassment, and a healthy, safe, and friendly environment for people with disabilities.

HPU Ambassadors play a role in encouraging healthy lifestyle behaviors and a healthy campus environment, and Mental Health First Aiders is expected to help UGM students who need support throughout college.

“They are the ones who will receive complaints if any of the students experience unpleasant things or have learning difficulties. Their presence is expected to help find solutions to various issues faced by students,” said Panut.

Chair of the 72nd Anniversary Committee Gugup Kismono said realizing a healthy Indonesia and strengthening the university’s identity were two major focuses for this year’s anniversary. UGM is committed to producing innovations in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and creating a healthy nation.

“The theme is very relevant since we are still facing a pandemic. We need to strengthen UGM’s contribution to various national problems through education, research, and community service,” said Gugup.

Sources: https://ugm.ac.id/id/berita/21859-rektor-ugm-kukuhkan-duta-hpu-ugm-dan-mental-health-first-aider

Incidence and mortality due to colon cancer in Indonesia are still relatively high. However, early screening and treatment can reduce mortality. A team of UGM students developed a colon (colorectal) cancer screening method using the modified Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) probiotic bacteria. The team consists of Nayaka Bagus Wahyu Agung Hertanto, Sovann Amadeus, Ofadhani Afwan, and Yohannes Edward GP from the UGM Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing (FKKMK), and Maria Indra Ardriyanto from the UGM Faculty of Pharmacy. They confirmed that the research with these bacteria could detect (screen) colorectal cancer cells.

Nayaka, as the head of the student team, said that they got the idea for this research during a seminar at the UGM Faculty of Biology. The seminar explained that organisms such as bacteria can be modified to secrete proteins. In addition, based on the results of other studies, the probiotic bacteria Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) has increased in colon cancer patients. “Finally, we wondered if it was possible to modify the bacteria and then develop it to detect cancer. From there, this research started,” said Nayaka, Monday (25/10).

The research process took four months and started from a literature study. Based on the results, the team concluded that if the modified bacteria were treated in both normal and cancerous colons, it would show increased colons with colorectal cancer. “We developed the spelling for easy detection by modifying this spelling to emit a fluorescent protein that fluoresces under UV light. In this case, we do not need a complicated method to test spelling. We only need a UV lamp. The modified spelling can glow when exposed to UV light so that it can be observed directly in the feces,” Nayaka explained.

In general, the team hopes that the research can be taken to the next stage, and this screening tool will help detect colorectal cancer early. “I think this is a problem that we must face together as medical workers,” said Sovann Amadeus.

The research entitled “Potential for Provision of Modified Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) Probiotic Bacteria as a Screening Tool for Colorectal Cancer” has succeeded in bringing the UGM Student Team to the 34th PIMNAS competition on 26-30 October 2021.

Source: https://www.ugm.ac.id/id/berita/21857-mahasiswa-ugm-kembangkan-metode-baru-skrining-kanker-usus-besar

A team of UGM students created an educational game as a learning media of the Javanese culture. This educational game, named Lingkar Bregada, was initiated by Fitriana Aulia from FKKMK, Andreas Ryan Cahyo K., Arlen Pramudya A., and Wahyu Setyaningsih from the Faculty of Engineering, and RR Natasya Nurputri A., from the Faculty of Law. With this game, they managed to get a Student Creativity Program (PKM) grant from the Ministry of Education and Culture and made it to the 2021 National Student Scientific Week (PIMNAS) at the end of this October.

Fitriana revealed that this educational game started from their concern regarding the lack of Javanese language learning methods when they were in school. They feel a lack of varied learning experience in Javanese. In addition, there are also limited resources for learning Javanese.

“The lack of teaching materials and the desire to attract children’s interest in learning Javanese with innovative learning media made us interested in developing this idea,” she explained, Monday (25/10).

This game is a monopoly game with general knowledge of the Javanese language. Monopoly uses 10 team pieces in a game set. However, it can only be played by up to 4 players.

Fitriana explained that the first step is to complete the mission card first. Mission cards are used as opening cards that contain a story.

“In this game, we raised the theme of the history of Tanah Mangir, where there were Panembahan Senopati, Pembayun, and Ki Ageng Mangir who were in conflict,” she explained.

Andreas stated that they added Javanese script writing on the front of the card accompanied by questions containing the local Javanese curriculum. The game also features a small box containing the answer key which is on the back at the bottom of the question. That way, players cannot immediately find out the answer key to the question above. Interestingly, the back of the card also contains translations in three languages, namely Javanese in Roman alphabet, Indonesian, and also English.

“Hopefully, this product can be developed in the future in the form of product diversification that elevates other archipelago cultures so that they can be marketed more widely. In addition, cooperation with relevant agencies is also important so that this product does not stop at the PIMNAS level,” he said.

Source: https://www.ugm.ac.id/id/berita/21855-mahasiswa-ugm-kembangkan-permainan-edukatif-bahasa-jawa