It started with a conversation between a lecturer and local villagers on Borneo about their indigenous fruits… Now Mohd Fadzelly Abu Bakar has received his doctorate from the School of Biomedical Sciences — the first student to graduate from the innovative Malaysia Nottingham Doctoral Programme (MNDP).

The MNDP was launched by the University and the Malaysian Government in July 2006. Fadzelly began his PhD studies in January 2007, researching the anti-cancer properties of the indigenous fruits of Sabah, on Borneo island, Malaysia.

While working as a lecturer at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Fadzelly spoke to villagers about the plants used locally to treat and prevent illness and disease. He decided to research the active elements of these for his PhD, one of the first to receive funding from the MNDP.

Fadzelly’s research has been so successful that it has resulted in three research papers and a book chapter. His work into one fruit in particular — the bambangan, or Mangifera pajang, a relative of the mango — is very promising. He intends to develop his results further as an independent academic and researcher. He returned to Malaysia at the end of July.

“I’ve really enjoyed researching my PhD in both the UK and Malaysia,” Fadzelly said. “New avenues of enquiry were suggested to me as part of the split site process, so it worked very well.

“I lived in Wollaton, Nottingham, from September 2008, and I found it easy to settle into the community. The support networks at the University are excellent, the Malaysian societies and families really welcomed me.”

Currently, there are 25 students conducting research on the programme. They were chosen from existing academic staff at the public universities in Malaysia and are being supported by scholarships awarded by the Malaysian Government.

“Fadzelly was highly motivated to make a success of this joint venture, and this, together with excellent support from his Malaysian supervisors, ensured a relatively straightforward supervisory role for me,” said Dr Jeff Fry, Fadzelly’s UK supervisor. “I was also fortunate in being able to enlist the support of Dr Kang Nee Ting at The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) as my ‘local agent’ to assist Fadzelly in his time in Malaysia. The research fitted nicely with ongoing collaboration with colleagues at UNMC, and I am hopeful that the contacts made during Fadzelly’s PhD will enhance this ongoing research.”

Fadzelly also worked with Dr Fry’s co-supervisors — Dr Steven Burr in the UK and Professor Datin Dr Maryati Mohamed in Malaysia.