First letter issued calling for the first meeting of the committee to establish Ibnu Sina Institute for Fundamental Science Studies (IIS) chaired by the Deputy Dean of Faculty of Science, Prof. Dr. Mohamad Rashidi Md. Razali. It really shows that our IIS ‘forefather’ always feels the importance of the element of ‘philosophy of science’ for the institute by inviting staff from Centre for Islamic Studies and Social Development for its first meeting.

Prof. Dr. Mohamad Rashidi Md Razali was appointed as the first Director of Ibnu Sina Institute for Fundamental Science Studies (IIS).

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) received 100-m DL laser interferometer (TENKO-100) for gravitational wave detection which worth RM 16 million from Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences (ISAS), Japan.

The Einstein Laboratory was officially inaugurated at Dewan Sultan Iskandar by Dato’ Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, Minister of Education of Malaysia. In the speech, UTM was challenged by the minister to develop progressive scientific society, the society which not only able to use technology but also to the advancement of scientific culture and advanced technology.

Appointment of Prof. Dr. Nobuki Kawashima from Kinki University as a Visiting Professor at IIS from 7-19 August 1997. Prof. Dr. Kawashima was the first visiting professor at IIS.

Appointment of Prof. Dr. Nobuki Kawashima from Kinki University as a Visiting Professor at IIS from 7-19 August 1997. Prof. Dr. Kawashima was the first visiting professor at IIS.

IIS received scientific instruments purchased worth RM 12 million under Islamic Development Bank loan. These pieces of equipment were located temporally at the Department of Chemistry and Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC) at Technovation Park, UTM. First intake of the undergraduate program for Excellent Scientists Program (ESP) was in the Second Year, Semester 1 for 2002/2003 session. Research project Zeolites and Derivatives as Catalyst in the Synthesis of Specialty Fine Chemicals led by Prof. Dr. Halimaton Hamdan has been selected as one of the projects under Top-Down Intensified Research in Priority Area (IRPA) research grant. The project received an allocation of RM 11.5 million.

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Catalytis Research Centre, Hokkaido University. As part of an effort to bring research under Chemistry Program to the global scale, a Memorandum of Understanding with Catalytis Research Centre (CRC), Hokkaido University was formally signed in August 2003 to establish collaborative research in several areas of catalysis and solid state chemistry. The signing of the MoU followed the successful research visit to Hokkaido University in March 2002. The MoU covers the exchange of staff, researchers and graduate students working in the field of zeolite and derivatives as catalyst. The coordinator for CRC is Prof. Bunsho Ohtani, Head of the Laboratory of Catalytic Reaction Chemistry. 

The transfer of capital analytical instruments of Ibnu Sina Institute for Fundamental Science Studies (IIS), such as solid-state and liquid NMR instruments, from the laboratory at Technovation Park, to the new IIS building in UTM main campus. Other physics and mathematics equipment were also successfully moved to the new IIS building.

IIS successfully conducted two parallel events; the Annual Fundamental Science Seminar 2004 (AFSS 2004) and the first Youth Science Camp 2004 during IIS Science Week on 11-15 June 2004.

Single Electron Transistors’ research program is one of the recent research proposals approved by The Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation under the Intensification Research Program Area (IRPA), 8th Malaysia Plan of strategic research category, with allocation of about RM 11.4 million. Basically the research comprises of a series of 6 projects incorporated into a big program according to an umbrella concept and aimed to produce a typical Single Electron Transistors. This program involves collaborations with Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Malaysia Perlis.

Due to our excellent and efficient work during phase I, IIS was allocated another RM 6 million to purchase more research equipment under the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) loan.

Ibnu Sina Institute for Fundamental Science Studies (IIS), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia conducted the Annual Fundamental Science Seminar 2005 (AFSS 2005), the third in a series of seminars which explore specific areas of fundamental science in chemistry, physics, mathematics, and biosciences. The theme of AFSS 2005, “Nurturing Nanotechnology through fundamental science research” is in line with the current national activities on forming the National Nanotechnology Initiatives. In conjunction with AFSS 2005, IIS is hosting the Malaysian Nanotechnology Forum 2005 (MNF 2005) and the Asian Nano Forum 2005 (ANF 2005) Steering Committee Meeting. (MNF 2005) and the Asian Nano Forum 2005 (ANF 2005) Steering Committee Meeting. The IIS building and all these important events were officiated by YAB Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, The Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. The presence of YAB Dato’ Sri indicates a strong supports of the Malaysian Government towards the development of scientific research in Malaysia.

IIS successfully organized the Youth Science Camp (YSC) 2006.

Prof. Dr. Mohd Marsin Sanagi was appointed as the Director of Ibnu Sina Institute for Fundamental Science Studies, UTM to succeed Prof. Dr. Samsudi Sakrani who was promoted as Dean, Faculty of Science. Prof. Dr. Yussof Wahab, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tahir Ahmad and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmad Radzi Mat Isa were appointed as Deputy Director, Mathematics Program Chairman and Physics Program Chairman, respectively.

IIS successfully organized the 4th Youth Science Camp (YSC) 2007.

Regional Annual Fundamental Science Symposium 2011 (RAFSS 2011) – 20 to 21 December 2011 – is the ninth in a series of interdisciplinary symposia devoted to all aspects of fundamental science research in the field of physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology organized by the Ibnu Sina Institute for Fundamental Science Studies, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Lectures will be given by invited eminent specialists. Prof. Norikazu Nishiyama (Osaka University) and Prof. Andrivo Rusydi (National University of Singapore) were invited to deliver the lectures. Prof. Nishiyama also gave scientific talks at our institute.

IIS successfully organised 4th International Conference and Workshop on Basic and Applied Sciences (4th ICOWOBAS) and Regional Annual Fundamental Science Symposium 2013 (RAFSS 2013). 4th ICOWOBAS and RAFSS 2013 were a series of interdisciplinary conferences and workshops devoted to all aspects of science and mathematics, namely the field of physics, chemistry, mathematics, and biology. It is jointly organized by the Faculty of Science (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia), Ibnu Sina Institute for Fundamental Science Studies (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia), Universitas Airlangga (Surabaya, Indonesia) and Salahaddin University (Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan).

In 2015, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) radically restructured its research centres organisations with the aim of its further development in the response to changing university needs. To facilitate research and operational activities, the Ibnu Sina Institute for Fundamental Science Studies (IIS) was renamed to Ibnu Sina Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research (ISI-SIR). Prof. Dr. Mohd Marsin Sanagi was appointed as the Senior Director of ISI-SIR.

Prof. Dr.  Hadi Nur has been appointed by the university as Director of Centre for Sustainable Nanomaterials, Ibnu Sina Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research.

Ibnu Sina Institute is the secretariat for I’M Research Consortium (Indonesia-Malaysia Research Consortium). I’M Research Consortium is the Indonesia-Malaysia network of research-intensive universities and institution, working together to foster institutional innovation through research-inspired teaching and learning, student mobility, connecting our students and staff, and wider advocacy for internationalisation.

The Malaysian Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences (MJFAS), an official journal of ISI-SIR, is the recipient of Current Research in Malaysia (CREAM 2018) Awards by the Ministry of Education Malaysia. CREAM Awards are accorded to scholarly journals published by Malaysian academic publishers showing high performance on publications based on identified criteria outlined by the Malaysian Citation Centre.

Strategic planning is an organisation’s process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. Based on this definition, ISI-SIR has released 2020 strategic planning based on six founding principles.