Professor Dr Zakiah Ahmad’s research interest is in timber engineering for tropical hardwood. Her collaboration and networking are commendable, where she has published the first manufacturing guideline in which the data is to be incorporated into ISO standards. She has served as a consultant and advisor to numerous public agencies and timber companies on timber engineering related projects. Her H-index is 10 (SCOPUS) with a citation of 504. Prior to her research, she identified the design data established by British or European standards cannot be directly adopted when designing timber structures using Malaysian tropical timber due to the differences in tropical timber and temperate timber properties. Therefore, she conducted a study on solid timber and engineered timber products, including their strength properties, connections, durability, and fire performance. As a result, she has published the design manual for roof trusses from glulam, and laminated veneer lumber (LVL) based limit state design in accordance with Eurocode 5. The book on the manufacturing guideline for LVL received an appreciation award from MAPIM in 2012, and the strength data has been used in the Malaysian Standard 544 Part 12, which become references and guidelines for engineers. Moreover, new strength classes for glulam have been produced in accordance with EN 14080 with new novel modification factors. The strength classes of glulam have been registered at the European Organisation for Technical Assessment (EOTA), which has facilitated Malaysia's timber industries to apply for CE Marking for export business. Besides studying the properties of solid timber and engineered timber products, she has involved in the design and constructions of glulam buildings, namely Glulam Gallery in Johor Bahru; Crops for the Future (CFFRC), Semenyih, Selangor; TLDM Multipurpose Hall, Lumut, Perak; Ritz Carlton Hotel, Langkawi; and also MITI’s Pavilion Milan in Italy. Professor Dr Zakiah has collaborated with TRADA, UK and SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden to produce new design charring rate values for solid, LVL and glulam from tropical hardwood. It is the first project being done in this field locally and globally. She has produced the first manufacturing guideline for Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) from tropical hardwood through international collaboration with the University of Stuttgart Germany, Eugen Decker Holzindustrie KG, Germany and Rubner Holzbau, Italy. The data from the guideline will be incorporated in ISO and Malaysian Standards. Her effort has spurred timber industry players' interest, such as the new establishment of CLT factory in Sabah and few glulam factories in Peninsular Malaysia such as Woodsfield Glulam Manufacturing Sdn Bhd in Pasir Gudang, Johor. Her work has enriched the value of Malaysian timber as an export market and increases the number of construction using timber structures, thus improving the Malaysian economy.