Zulkifli M. A. Merican (PhD) is an esteemed researcher and academic within the Fundamental and Applied Sciences Department and an active research member affiliated with the Institute of Contaminant Management at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia. He received his BSc (Hons) degree in Heterogeneous Chemistry from The University of New England (UNE) at New South Wales, Australia (1998) and a PhD degree in Supramolecular Host-guest Chemistry from the same university (2005). After completing several postdoctoral and senior research fellowships abroad, he joined UTP as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, at The Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Perak, Malaysia.

Dr. Merican’s research interests and program lies at the interface of heterogeneous catalysis, metal organic frameworks and carbon dioxide utilization, desulfurization of fuel oils and photocatalysis. He is currently a principal investigator for several funded projects from the Government and Industries. He is also actively teaching Applied Chemistry Courses for Foundation and Undergraduate students at the Department of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, UTP.

Dr. Merican has been recognized for his overall performance being a receiver of several excellent awards: University of New England K.G. Lewis Prize (1997), Australian Research Council (ARC) Funded Postgraduate Scholarship (1998), New Staff Start- Up Research Fund of University of Queensland (2007) and Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO) award (2008-2009) which allowed him to conduct experiments using a Neutron scattering technique at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) at USA (2009), Foundation of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS Grants, and Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education Grants and a few others. He is also an internal reviewer for YUTP and International grant applications, as well as an editor for books and book chapters, and a reviewer for a selection of prestigious International journals.