Dato' Sr Dr. Azhari Bin Mohamed
Ketua Pengarah Ukur Dan Pemetaan Malaysia
Jabatan Ukur dan Pemetaan Malaysia (JUPEM), Malaysia
From the start, Dr Azhari's path was a clear one: Graduating with an Honours B.Sc. in Surveying and Mapping Sciences from the University of East London in 1984, he continued with an M.Phil in GPS Geodesy from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1995. And in 2003, he obtained a PhD in Geomatic Engineering from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Since then, he's worked as a District Surveyor in Kelantan, Kedah and Perlis, as well as served in the Geodetic Survey Division and Boundary Affairs Division.
Having chased solar and lunar eclipses for more than 30 years and a former Secretary of the National Eclipse Trackers Team, Dr Azhari's current research interests include the study of the dynamics of the Earth as observed by space geodetic techniques, GPS time series for crustal deformation, sea level variation, Islamic astronomy, and young moon observation.
This has led to him assuming the role of Vice President of the Royal Institution of Surveyors Malaysia (RISM), Deputy President of the Malaysian Islamic Astronomical Society, and a committee member of the Falak Expert Panel of JAKIM. He is also a Fellow of RISM, an Honorary Fellow of the International Institute of Utility Specialists (IIUS) in Hong Kong, a registered land surveyor and an Adjunct Professor at UTM. And in 2017, he was elected as Vice-Chair of Working Group 1 of Geodetic Reference Framework for Sustainable Development, United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management Asia Pacific (UN-GGIM-AP).
Dr Azhari's experience has featured prominently in the public domain, having authored and co-authored over 50 technical papers and seven books on myriad topics, notably in geodesy and Islamic astronomy. He has also appeared on several TV programmes, including RTM1 Inovasi, Buletin Utama TV3, RTM1 Panorama, Journal Islam and Forum Perdana Hal Ehwal Islam as well as TV3 Selamat Pagi Malaysia and TV9 Nasi Lemak Kopi ‘O’.
In recognition of his accomplishments, Dr Azhari was presented with the national Tokoh Maulidur Rasul Award in 2018 by Deputy Yang DiPertuan Agong, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah.