Kalimantan has the largest expanse of tropical rainforest in the Indomalayan realm, with 18.6 % of Indonesia forest coverage. The area of Kalimantan Island is three times bigger than the area of the island of Java, which is inhabited by approximately 16 percent of the total population of Indonesia. Kalimantan is inhabited by three main local ethnics, namely Banjar, Kutainese, and Dayak. In its development, many exoduses from various regions in Indonesia mostly came from Java and Sulawesi, considering that Kalimantan has abundant natural resources. Likewise, the exodus of ethnics influences the economic, political, and social behavior in the society. Moreover, East Kalimantan is situated in the vicinity of Makassar Strait which is known as the main path of Indonesian Through Flow (ITF) and connecting water mass from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean. This area is also famous with ALKI II (the 2nd route among the three international north-south sea routes passing through the Indonesian Archipelago).
Since the plan on relocating the new capital of Indonesia to the province of East Kalimantan, thus, it will be following with many social phenomena. This condition will certainly greatly influence the direction of development in the East Kalimantan region, especially when it was announced as the region that became the new capital of Indonesia by President Joko Widodo on August 26, 2019. Many social aspects face, however, it’s not only how the social condition amid covid pandemic but it’s also many aspects in the life of science as well.
The framework of Mulawarman University as a “Center of Excellence for Tropical Studies” is a part of the 4in1 initiative. This initiative is projected to excel in Teaching and Learning, Research and Innovation, and Staff Development as soft programs and Campus Infrastructure as a hard program. With the assistance of this IsDB program, the 4in1 initiative has two prominent umbrella programs of research consortium and curricula development. The initiative outcomes are an increase of competent graduates, publication, increase quality of teaching-learning, excellent services, increased student body, increased academic atmosphere, IPR, prototypes, increased research collaboration, and employability. In short, the 4in1 consortium will have a positive impact on developing nation competitiveness by providing competent graduates, collaboration in research, academic reputation, and excellent services and management.
The International Conference on Tropical Studies and Its Application annual conference on October 5-6th, 2021, is organized by the University of Mulawarman in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia. This is a bilingual conference (Indonesian and English), which means that the full paper will be written in English and the presentation can be delivered in English or Bahasa Indonesia.
The theme of 5th ICTROPS 2021 is “The bridging on the trend of multidisciplinary between social and life science on tropical studies: beyond covid-19 pandemic".
Topic areas consist:
Keynote speaker:
Dr. Awang Azman bin Awang Pawi, University of Malaya, Malaysia
Dr. María-Laura Franco-García, University of Twente, Netherlands
Prof. Yoshisuke Kumano, Shizuoka University, Japan
Dr. Suthirat Kittipongvises, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Invited speaker :
Dr. dr. Ronny Isnuwardhana, University of Mulawarman, Indonesia
Dr. Eli Hendrik Sanjaya, The State University of Malang, Indonesia
Dr. Pramudya Dwi Aristya Putra, Univeristy of Jember, Indonesia
Dr. Tubagus Bahtiar Rusbana, University of Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa, Indonesia
