CONCERN

Centre of Novel Concrete Engineering Research Network (CONCERN) is the first centre of excellence at the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) which is founded to consolidate the various relevant expertise in the institution towards performing impartial research, knowledge dissemination and providing consultation in the niche area of advance construction material design and development.

With its establishment, CONCERN is anticipated to help the government, industry and businesses to meet the current and emerging challenges encountered in meeting the national demand for affordable shelters and homes. Today's need to combat rising cost of construction materials and overall construction cost of structures and infrastructures will be addressed through the various research initiatives in CONCERN covering the design and development of geopolymeric binder for concrete production, engineered cementitious composite (ECC), advanced polymer modified cementitious-composites (PMC) fabrication technology and material design. Besides, the research programes in CONCERN are also oriented towards the reduction of the embodied energy and carbon footprint of the structure and infrastructure construction materials for promoting the sustainability of the construction industry. These are achieved with the development of innovative material design which minimizes the need for the high carbon foot print portland cement binder while at the same time synergizing the renewable energy resources such as solar photovoltaic and biomass energy sources with the concrete production system. In the wake of the rising demand for affordable housing in the country, these research initiatives are gaining the interest of the government. As an evidence, the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation have provided a combined research grant amounted to nearly a million ringgit Malaysia to various researchers who will be the founders of the CONCERNS centre of excellence to fund the research programmes which are in line with the primary objectives of CONCERN.

CONCERN is an independent and impartial research insitution, research-based consultancy, testing and training organisation, offering expertise in every aspect of the development of advanced concrete and cementitious composite material. The centre help clients (whether private organization or government agencies) to create better, safer and more sustainable construction materials for structure and infrastructure construction. It is also a main focus of the centre of excellence to provide training for the enthusiastic personnel towards the development of human capital for ensuring the continuity of the knowledge advancement and subsequent implementation of the materials design and fabrication technology in the built environment industry.

Previous Event

Interaction between HBP,USM,UTAR and University of Kitakyushu, Japan

17 September 2015

The interaction session was held in 17 September 2015. During the session, Prof. Dato Dr Mahyuddin Ramli presenting the trend of current concrete research and application in Malaysia. He also present the future plan of the concrete research.

There was an interesting session when Professor Koji Takasu sharing his current research on modification of fly ash to lower LOI, or higher quality by floatation method. The utilisation of fly ash from the power plant and the used of waste material from the floatation process to generate electricity increase the sustainabiliy of fly ash as construction material.

Left : Professor Koji Takasu Right: Prof Dato Dr mahyuddin Ramli

Photo Session of all lecturers and postgradate students

Concrete lab visiting session leading by Dr Cheah Chee Ban

Concrete Admixture Talk by Derrick Seah, Technical Marketing Manager, Admixture (Singapore & Malaysia), BASF.

5th October 2015

This is a talk concrete admixture which is compulsory to be attended by the Building Technology 2nd year student. Concrete admictures is the chemical that added into concrete to enchance its performance by improving the workability and reducing water to binder ratio. This talk is not only about the mechanism of concrete admixtures, it is at the same time telling the audience about the applications of concrete admixtures by showing the real ongoing projects, various types of products and their market segment.

For any enquiry, you may contact

Mr Derrick Seah

Office: 6860 7391
Mobile: 81399375

Email: derrick.jh.seah@basf.com