Press kit

Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr. Azil Bahari Alias is Dean of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam. A Professional Engineer with a PhD in combustion engineering from the University of Melbourne, Dr Azil works on turning agricultural and industrial waste into fuels and adsorbents, and on process safety.

Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr. Azil Bahari Alias is Dean of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam, and Head of the INPRES Research Group. He began his career as a process engineer and joined UiTM in 2004, later completing a PhD in combustion engineering at the University of Melbourne.

Dr Azil's research turns palm kernel shell, empty fruit bunch, coconut shell and rice husk into fuels, activated carbons and xerogel adsorbents for gas capture, and into electrode materials for supercapacitors. He has contributed to more than 239 CIMAH safety reports and risk studies for major-hazard installations. His work has received 1,848 Google Scholar citations, and in 2008 he won the Obelisk World Invention Award at the British Invention Show, London.

Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr. Azil Bahari Alias @ Ales is Dean of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam, a faculty of five campuses and around 190 academics. He is a Professional Engineer registered with the Board of Engineers Malaysia and an Associate Member of IChemE.

Dr Azil holds a BEng (Hons) in Chemical Engineering from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, an MSc in Energy and Environment from UiTM and a PhD in combustion engineering from the University of Melbourne, where he studied how rice husk and other biomass burn and release gases. He worked as a process engineer before joining UiTM in 2004.

His research programme on biomass valorisation turns agricultural residues into fuels, activated carbons and xerogel adsorbents that capture SO₂, H₂S, CO₂ and volatile organic compounds, and more recently into electrode materials for flexible supercapacitors. In process safety he has contributed to more than 239 CIMAH safety reports and risk studies, and develops industry training on dust-explosion zoning and CIMAH compliance. He has led 37 research grants worth RM2.00 million and 98 consultancy projects worth RM2.76 million, and has supervised 4 PhD and 11 MSc graduates.

Since 2013 Dr Azil has served as Deputy Dean, Head of the School of Chemical Engineering and Dean of Industry, Community and Alumni Network, before his appointment as Dean in 2025. His awards include the Obelisk World Invention Award (London, 2008) and the MOSTI Excellent Scientist Award (2005).