Malaysian woman geologist wins award for her work in safeguarding environments and communities

Dr Joy Jacqueline is recipient of the 2024 Merdeka Award for Environment. Photo: Merdeka Award Trust

Geologist Prof Dr Joy Jacqueline Pereira was recently awarded the 2024 Merdeka Award for Environment for her work and extensive research on climate change, and for spearheading international collaborations to safeguard environments and communities.

At 58, Joy has dedicated nearly three decades of her life to climate change adaptation; disaster prevention and risk reduction (earthquakes, landslides, floods, etc); mineral resource management; science-policy interface; sustainable development; geology; as well as science, technology and innovation; and has been referred to as “the nation’s foremost communications expert on climate change”.

Her significant contributions include conceptualising the Kuala Lumpur Multi-Hazard Platform (KL-MHP), a dynamic, city-level selected weather and climate forecasting tool and leading the Task Force for the Board of Geologists Malaysia Strategic Plan 2023-2040 and the Climate Change Impact and Adaptation for the Water Sector Transformation Plan 2040.

Joy (third from left) receiving the 2024 Merdeka Award for Environment recently. Photo: Merdeka Award Trust

Joy, who is a professor and principal research fellow at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)’s South-East Asia Disaster Prevention Research Initiative (Seadpri-UKM), is also the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group III on Mitigation of Climate Change co-chairperson and the Asian Network on Climate Science and Technology (ANCST) director.

She is editor of the book, Climate Change Adaptation In Southeast Asia, a groundbreaking publication recording the status of climate change adaptation in all 10 Asean member states.

Despite her many achievements, Joy remains down-to-earth and practical.

Joy credits her family's constant support, patience and understanding for helping her soar in her career.“It’s such a pleasure to have my work recognised, and this acknowledgement is important to me to show my family that I’ve been doing something significant with my life, and not simply running away from household chores and family obligations,” she says lightheartedly.

Her tone turns serious as she adds: “I’m really grateful to my family, especially my husband, Dr Ng Tham Fatt, who is the ‘wind beneath my wings’; my parents – L. Kumar and Victoria Miranda – who have helped raise our daughter, Linah, well; as well as my two sisters, Margarete Sebastian and Jennifer Pereira, who constantly help take care of things on the personal front.

“It’s my family’s constant support, patience and understanding that has released me to soar in my career, and manage both my work and personal life.”

Joy (second from left) with her husband Dr Ng Tham Fatt, daughter Linah Ng, and mother, Victoria Miranda (extreme right). Photo: Prof Dr Joy Jacqueline Pereira

Joy built her career on environmental geology, and after obtaining her first degree in Earth Science from UKM, she was granted the British High Commissioners Award (now Chevening Award), to continue her Masters in Mineral Exploration and Mining Geology at University of Leicester. She then did her PhD in Universiti Malaya, working on gold mining and environmental impacts.

Joy joined UKM’s Institute for Environment and Development (Lestari) in 1996 and then moved on to the Seadpri-UKM, where she started leading multi-country international projects.

One of the biggest challenges she has faced is building trust and confidence in scientific findings.

“High levels of trust in the researcher and confidence in the findings make it easier for the uptake of evidence-based information for policy making,” she says, adding that “openness, transparency and communication is critical when conducting research in the science-policy interface”.

“Conceptualising and designing project implementation with the involvement of policy makers and stakeholders, as well as active involvement and communication as the products are generated, do help in the trust-building process.

“We published methodologies and validated our results in peer-reviewed journals as a means of quality assurance.”

Joy presenting at the Asean Disaster Resilience Forum during the Asean Disaster Management Week in Singapore last year. Photo: Merdeka Award Trust

Joy, who enjoys reading and watching television, especially movies on the experiences of real people and actual events, believes that success comes from “constantly striving for continuous improvement in one’s work and personal life”.

Her life mottos are: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts” (Winston Churchill) and “When you encounter setbacks and difficulties, be practical and rational, not sentimental or emotional.” (Anonymous).