IDMAC2016: A SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATION WITH ISLAMIC RELIEF ACADEMY, UK

One for the Album - Some of the participants in IDMAC 2016.

ISDEV recently organized the 11th ISDEV International Islamic Development Management Conference (IDMAC 2016) at the Auditorium of the Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine (INFORMM) of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Pulau Pinang. Although this is the eleventh in a series of initiative to encourage related research in Islamic social sciences perspective, however for this year's IDMAC, it was the first time that ISDEV collaborated with an organisation overseas, Islamic Relief Academy, United Kingdom to organize IDMAC2016 with the theme on Islamic Sustainable Development. 

The ambiance at the registration counter prior to the start of IDMAC 2016

The two days conference was held from the 6 till 7 December 2016 with the focus to provide a platform and opportunities for practitioners, managers, scholars, researchers, academicians, graduate students and others from all over the world to engage on an intellectual discourse on Islamic Sustainable Development and to explore new ideas and issues that is able to lead to the maximization of benefits for the Ummah.

ISDEV Director launch three books at IDMAC2016

Three books were officially launched on the opening day of IDMAC2016 by ISDEV Director, Professor Dr Muhammad Syukri Salleh. The three books are Islamic Perspectives on Sustainable Development; Pembangunan Lestari Islam: Konsep & Aplikasi; and Politik Pembangunan: Paradoks, Teori, Aktor, dan Ideologi by Warjio, an ISDEV Alumni.

The covers of the three books launched

The first two books are an editorial where 31 papers from IDMAC2016 were published. For Islamic Perspectives on Sustainable Development edited by Shereeza Mohamed Saniff and Raudha Md Ramli the book is co-published by ISDEV and Islamic Relief Academy, UK. In the meantime, the book on Pembangunan Lestari Islam: Konsep & Aplikasi edited by Wan Norhaniza Wan Hasan and Nurul Suhada Ismail published by ISDEV contains 20 chapters.

ISDEV Honorary Lecturer,  Dr. Shereeza addressing the audience with her Keynote Address on the first day of IDMAC2016

The first Keynote Address was delivered by ISDEV Honorary Lecturer, Dr. Shereeza Mohamed Saniff. She talked on The Islamic-based Development Actor Approach to Sustainable Development in Islam. In her speech, Dr Shereeza mentioned that sustainable development in Islam begins at its roots, that is, the actors. According to her, as there are varying actors whose background and development objectives differ, the path to sustainable development whether in Islam or conventionally are tough indeed. So going back to the core by starting at the actors will be tackling the issue of sustainable development in Islam to be based on the right footing. Taking the spirit of baldatun tayyibatun wa rabb al-ghafuur and relying on several exegeses, al-Qur'an has spelled what the actors need to do in order to qualify for such a status which, according to her, is an exact and precise depiction of what sustainable development in Islam ought to stand for.

Keynote Address II - Prof. Dato' Dr. Omar Osman touched on Sustainability Journey of USM: Solution Oriented Campus Ecosphere  for Vitalizing Higher Education on GAP

The participants then had the opportunity to listen to the 2nd Keynote Address by Prof. Dato' Dr. Omar Osman, Chairman of Toray-USM Knowledge Transfer Centre. He shared with all those present about the initiatives taken by USM on sustainable development. He was impressed with the spirit of volunteerism found within the students of USM as a number of sustainable development driven tasks were undertaken by students themselves. He also shared some gems of nature within USM that could be enjoyed by all as it was intended to represent the epitome of sustainability in which USM can be proud to be among the institutions of higher learning who are futurists in this field.

A group photo on the last day of IDMAC 2016