Norhasnida Zawawi

Dr. Norhasnida Zawawi is an Honorary Senior Fellow at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), University of Queensland, Australia, where she contributed to the discovery of trehalulose, a rare low-GI sugar in stingless bee honey. She is currently Head of the Halal Science Laboratory at the Halal Products Research Institute and Senior Lecturer at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), leading the Halal Healthcare and Wellness Research Programme.

She has played key roles in developing honey standards, including contributions to the FSANZ-approved native bee honey standard (2024), and previously served with the Department of Standards Malaysia and Apimondia Asia. Dr. Zawawi is an Editorial Board Member of the Pertanika Journal of Tropical Agricultural Science and a reviewer for high-impact journals such as Food Chemistry and Journal of Apicultural Research.

With over RM 1 million in research funding, 46 Scopus-indexed publications, and an H-index of 20, her work bridges food science, halal innovation, and bee product research.

Dr. Zawawi’s future research is centred on advancing functional foods and halal-certified bioactive products, with a strong emphasis on native bee honey and plant-based milk alternatives. Her goals include:

• Exploring bioactive compounds and unique compositions of stingless bee honey, plant seed beverages, and other alternative foods to enhance human health.
• Integrating omics technologies to identify molecular markers of efficacy and quality in halal-certified functional foods.
• Promoting sustainable innovation in the halal wellness industry through translational research and commercialisation pathways.
• Expanding global collaborations to support cross-disciplinary research in food science, nutrition, and halal product development.

These goals reflect her commitment to bridging traditional knowledge with cutting-edge science, enhancing public health, and supporting the growth of the native bee honey and halal food industries worldwide.