Dr. Purabi Mazumdar is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Research in Biotechnology for Agriculture (CEBAR), Universiti Malaya. She earned her Master’s degree in Botany from Gauhati University and a Doctoral degree in Bioenergy from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG), India. Dr. Mazumdar’s research focuses on urban farming, enhancing crop nutritional quality, and crop protection through customized UV radiation, as well as agronomic, molecular, and biochemical strategies. She leads projects funded by grants from CREST, the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE), and industry partners. Her current work emphasizes advanced crop protection and urban farming systems, including aquaponics, hydroponics, and aeroponics. Driven by the pursuit of sustainable agricultural practices, Dr. Mazumdar aims to answer a critical research question: How can we achieve sustainable, nutrient-dense, and clean food systems that promote health and well-being for all?

I am an anthropologist by training and I am involved in research on community development and engagement. All of my work with the communities have been supporting and creating a structure for them to participate in circular economy by empowering them with skills and knowledge that are relevant for them to establish community-based enterprise or to enhance their knowledge on being an Indigenous entrepreneurs at the rural regions. For this purpose, I adopt participatory community-based action research and ethnographic study, particularly when I conduct social impact assessment before conducting the research and after the implementations of the projects. My primary research focusing on community-driven development project that includes the applications of Indigenous knowledgeas tools for the community livelihood development in the circular economy on community-based cultural and knowledge conservation by engaging the makers, artisans and women to actively participate in the projects. The most successful research and sustainable community engagement has been the development of the Indigenous knowledge of the traditional textile, the Iban pua kumbu that has led to a series of educational polysensory exhibition, the “Textile Tales of the Pua Kumbu since 2015. I am also an art curator, curating cultural exhibitions and based on the HIR (2013-2016), I created a community-based enterprise that promotes the traditional Iban Pua Kumbu internationally.

09/2023 - 12/2024, City University of Hong Kong (HK, CN)Research Associate. Quantum nanophotonics and molecular plasmonics. Ultrafast exciton dynamics in 2D semiconductors. 10/2020 - 09/2023, University of Białystok (PL)Assistant Professor, PI. Laser-driven femtosecond spin currents for non-equilibrium, ultrafast quantum plasmonics. 06/2018 - 10/2020, Radboud University, Nijmegen (NL)Post-doctoral researcher. Nonlinear time-resolved spectroscopy in the mid-IR at the free electron laser facility (FELIX). 12/2014 - 06/2018, Fritz-Haber Institute of Max-Planck Society (DE)Max-Planck-Society fellow. Laser-induced femtosecond spin currents. Spin transfer torque-mediated excitation of high-frequency spin waves. Nonlinear strong coupling of surface phonon-polaritons in the mid-infrared. 12/2010 - 12/2024, Radboud University, Nijmegen (NL)Post-doctoral researcher. Ultrafast laser-induced spin dynamics. Nonlinear magneto-plasmonics.