Dr. Nur Afiqah's research examines institutional-related structures associated with engagement in healthcare, including HIV and Hepatitis C care for people who use drugs (PWUD). This epidemiological work is informed by sociological perspectives which frame the research questions within a wider social, economic and policy environment. Additionally, she has received training in Implementation Science at Yale University.  Being an active member of the Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS and Infectious Diseases(CERiA), her current research activities have incorporated a community-based participiatory research (CBPR) component. Using this approach, she engages with local communities of PWUD and NGOs that serve these populations, whose collective views in the design and implementation of health programs are key in developing effective interventions. Additionally, she is actively involved in knowledge-transfer activities, promoting the use of evidence-based practices in real-life settings. She is also interested in drug policies, especially the impact of existing policies on youths and families.  Dr Nur Afiqah is a consultant for WHO, UNDP and International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC). She currently serves as the Vice President at the Malaysian AIDS Council.   

Dr. Md Jasim Uddin obtained his PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Greenwich, UK. Dr. Uddin has more than 12 years of experience in the areas of Pharmaceutics, Drug Delivery and Formulation Science. His research is mainly focused on the development of transdermal microneedle arrays (using 3D printing or moulding) for the transdermal delivery of active substances (e.g., small molecules or macromolecules). Due to his industrial experiences as a Formulation Scientist, at the Department of Drug Product Design, and the Worldwide Research & Development Unit at Pfizer UK, he also has a strong background in formulation, material sciences and characterization. He has established a strong collaborative network with colleagues in several UK-based academic institutions such as the Queen’s University of Belfast, and the Universities of Kent, Strathclyde and Greenwich. Furthermore, Dr. Uddin has received significant recognition through several poster and presentation awards (e.g., CRS Annual Meeting, PharmSci) over the last few years. As a part of his management & leadership experiences, he has contributed to the organization of several international conferences. He won the Young research scholar award (2022) from the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), UNESCO, the Young Promising Researcher Award (2020) in the ICIBLS, Inventor I & Young Inventor Award (2020) in PHARM-IIDEx, Malaysia etc. He is a scientific advisor of the Drug Delivery & Therapeutics (An non-profit organization to promote science for research, innovation & technology transfer) and has actively played his role in the Special Issue, Recent Advances in Vaccine Delivery 2022, Pharmaceutics, MDPI (Guest Editor), Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery, Taylor & Francis Group, Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, Springer Nature Publishers etc.

Dr. Zainal Abidin is a senior lecturer at Pusat Asasi Sains Universiti Malaya (PASUM). His researches focus on the synthesis and characterization of nanoparticles, with a particular emphasis on their antimicrobial, photocatalytic, photonics and morphological properties.