Member of the Team

Dewi Lestari (Principal Investigator of this expedition)            Dewi Lestari is a junior researcher at Research Centre for Ecology and Ethnobotany BRIN. She was graduated from the Master's program at the IPB University in 2013. She has years of expedition experience on various islands in Indonesia, and since 2012, she has been dedicated to Rafflesia conservation in Indonesia. Her recent research on the new record of Rafflesia zollingeriana in East Java was successfully published in 2022 and another new record paper will publish soon in 2023.

Yayan Wahyu Candra Kusuma is a senior researcher at Research Centre for Ecology and Ethnobotany BRIN. He is a graduate from the Master's program at the University of Goettingen (Germany) in 2015 and earned his Ph.D. from Kyoto University (Japan) in 2019. He has years of expedition experience on various islands in Indonesia, and in recent years, has been dedicated to biology conservation and conservation genetic research. His recent research on the conservation genetics of three Rafflesia in Java was successfully published in 2022. His experience would be highly beneficial for our population's genetic research, including data collection, processing, analysis, and article writing. His field skills over the decades and his collaborations with various parties would also greatly assist the team in planning and executing expeditions and mitigation activities to minimize any potential risks to the team.

Bina Swasta Sitepu is a junior researcher at the Research Centre for Ecology and Ethnobotany BRIN Indonesia who resides in East Kalimantan. He is a master's degree graduate from Ohio University with years of experience exploring the forests of Kalimantan. His expertise in Kalimantan's forest vegetation is highly valuable for collecting ecological and vegetation data. Additionally, his experience in interacting with local communities and tribes in the Kalimantan forests would significantly aid our data collection efforts concerning the local communities.

Febrina Artauli Siahaan is an assistant researcher at the Research Center for Plant Conservation, Botanic Garden, and Forestry BRIN, Indonesia. She is a graduate from Master program at Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Poland in 2021. She is interested in studying the life strategies of the host of Rafflesia, as well as its role in the holoparasite flower life cycle. She has gained field experience through several flora expeditions to various locations on Java Island and Lesser Sunda Island. She has also published her research in several journals and is actively involved in national and international scientific conferences.