By Dr. Hazlee Azil Illias (University of Malaya)

Professor Ir. Dr. Zainal Abidin Ab. Kadir (fourth from left) with IEEE DEIS Malaysia Chapter and MyHVnet members

The Centre of Excellence on Lightning Protection (CELP) and Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia (UPM) have successfully organised an Inaugural Lecture on Lightning: A Bolt from the Blue on 17th February 2017. The lecture was delivered by Profesor Ir. Dr. Mohd Zainal Abidin Ab. Kadir from CELP.

In the lecture, Professor Zainal explained a brief theory on lightning phenomena, general lightning scenario in Malaysia, danger of lightning, safety precaution during lightning and ongoing research activities on lightning in the world. Professor Zainal also mentioned about ongoing projects and collaboration between CELP and local and international institutions in lightning protection research. Finally, the achievements and contributions of CELP in lightning research were highlighted.

IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society (DEIS) Malaysia Chapter and Malaysian High Voltage Network (MyHVnet) were two of the technical support for the event, along with IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) Malaysia Chapter.