Swinburne researcher honoured for pioneering AI in biodiversity conservation

KUCHING (Dec 4): Celebrating women breaking barriers and inspiring future generations, Dr Lee Sue Han has been named the 2025 Inspiring Women in Science Award winner in the Scientific Achievement Category by Nature Awards.

She is among the few researchers from Malaysia to receive this prestigious international recognition in partnership with The Estee Lauder Companies.

The award honours Lee’s groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI)-driven research in plant biodiversity and sustainable agriculture, demonstrating how cutting-edge technology can address global sustainability challenges.

“Being recognised as a winner is deeply meaningful to me, as it affirms the global relevance of AI-driven research in biodiversity conservation and underscores the importance of interdisciplinary approaches connecting technology, ecology and sustainability.

“This recognition also provides a powerful platform to inspire more women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and to demonstrate how science and innovation together can drive meaningful environmental change,” she said.

Lee’s contributions extend to the Pl@ntNet project, an international collaboration supporting citizen science and large-scale plant biodiversity documentation.

“Within this framework, the Malaysia Flora Project was launched on the Pl@ntNet platform, steadily growing with an increasing number of identified species and public contributions.

“The project now serves as a key national reference for plant recognition, empowering communities, students and researchers to participate in biodiversity documentation through technology,” she said.

As the head of Information and Communication Technologies Discipline and lead AI researcher at Swinburne Sarawak, Lee currently leads the campus participation as one of the partners in the consortium for the Pl@ntAgroEco project in collaboration with Pl@ntNet.

In addition, she also leads the research and development collaboration with the Sarawak Forestry Corporation to develop an advanced AI model for plant identification, forming the foundation of an AI-driven park guiding system.

“As a woman in science, I hope this recognition encourages more young women to explore how technology and research can make a lasting difference.

“Innovation grows when diverse voices come together to solve real-world challenges,” she said.