Zakri Abdul Hamid

In September 2018, he was installed as the Pro Chancellor of Multimedia University, Malaysia.

Awarded the federal honorific title "Tan Sri" by Malaysia's head of state in 2014, he served until 2016 as the founding Chair at the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), as the Science Advisor to Malaysia's Prime Minister, and was one of 26 members of the UN Secretary-General's Scientific Advisory Board.

October, 2013, one of 26 scientists named to the UN Secretary-General Scientific Advisory Board, which convened for its inaugural meeting in Berlin on January 30, 2014.

On 27 January 2013, at the first plenary meeting of 105 Member States, elected founding Chair of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, a new intergovernmental body dedicated to curbing an accelerating worldwide loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystem services. Often likened to an IPCC-like body for biodiversity, the IPBES will bridge the gap between scientists and policy makers, providing up to date, accurate, impartial data and scientific information to enable the formulation of better policy response in managing biodiversity.

2012: Co-chaired the High-Level International Advisory Committee of the World Conference on Justice, Governance and Law on Environmental Sustainability, held in conjunction with the UN Conference on Environment and Development (Rio+20). Also appointed to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s High-level Panel on Global Assessment of Resources for implementing the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.

2011: Appointed Joint Co-Chair of the Secretariat of Malaysia's Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council (GSIAC), a unique assembly of an all-star international and national experts and leaders created to support sustainable development for Malaysia, chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

2011: Named Joint Chair for the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT). MIGHT is a not-for-profit company under the purview of the Prime Minister of Malaysia building partnerships between industry, government and academia in support of the nation's drive to advance high technology competency.

2010: Appointed Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

2009: Named the Tuanku Chancellor Chair at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) . That same year he founded USM’s Centre for Global Sustainability Studies, a post-graduate think-tank on the challenges of climate change, environmental degradation, urban sprawl and other dimensions of global change.

Earlier positions included Co-Chair of the Board at the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment from July 2000 to 2005, Director of the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) of the United Nations University (UNU) from 2001 to 2008, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the National University of Malaysia (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia) from 1992 to 2000.

2000: Appointed Director of the United Nations University’s Yokohama Japan-based Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), one of the UN’s largest research and training centers. During an eight-year tenure, he transformed UNU-IAS into an internationally respected institution active in a wide range of areas such as genetic bioprospecting, bio-diplomacy, governance, urban management, science policy for sustainable development, the protection of traditional knowledge and education for sustainable development.

2000: Elected Co-Chair of the Board of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), one of the world’s largest-ever scientific collaborations. Over five years, the MA involved the combined efforts of more than 2,000 experts from 95 countries in an integrated scientific assessment of the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being and of actions needed to address these threats. Represented on the multi-stakeholder Board: U.N. bodies, governments, NGOs, academia, business and indigenous peoples. Then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his "Millennium Report" hailed the MA as “an outstanding example of the sort of international scientific and political cooperation that is needed to further the cause of sustainable development.”

1990–1992: Senior Malaysian delegate during negotiation of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), later heading his country’s delegation to treaty’s Conference of the Parties (1993–2000). He also led Malaysia’s delegation in the early days of intergovernmental negotiations (1995–2000) of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

1981–1989: Secretary-General of the Society for the Advancement of Breeding Research in Asia and Oceania, 1994–1998: Chair of a task force to prepare the National Policy on Biological Diversity, 1994-2000: Founding President of the Genetics Society of Malaysia, and 1996-2000: Founding Chair of the National Genetic Modification Advisory Committee.

He began lecturing at the National University of Malaysia (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia) in the late 1970s, rising quickly through the ranks to Head of the Department of Genetics (1978–1981), Associate Professor (1980), full Professor (1986), Dean of the Life Sciences Faculty (1987–1992), and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the university (1992 to 2000), in which capacity he managed 1,500 academic staff across several faculties in one of Malaysia’s largest public universities, with 20,000 undergraduate and post-graduate students.

Zakri earned a diploma from the College of Agriculture, Malaya in Serdang, Malaysia, in 1969, followed by a bachelor's degree in crop science from Louisiana State University, USA (1972), and Master’s (1974) and Doctorate (1976) degrees in plant breeding from Michigan State University.

Tan Sri Zakri bin Abdul Hamid (born 23 June 1948) has had a distinguished career in science as a researcher, educator, administrator and diplomat.

Zakri was born on 23 June 1948 in Pahang, Malaysia. He is married and has five children.