Dr Song Sze Looi is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Universiti Malaya (UM), specialising in molecular ecology, phylogenomics, environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding, next generation sequencing (NGS), and bioinformatics. She obtained her PhD in Algal Biotechnology in 2013 and subsequently served as a Postdoctoral Researcher on a high-impact research project in molecular phylogenetics and systematics. In 2016, she became a Research Fellow, focusing on the application of NGS and bioinformatics in molecular biodiversity research. In 2019, she joined the China-ASEAN College of Marine Sciences at Xiamen University Malaysia as an Assistant Professor before returning to UM in 2021. She currently serves as the Programme Coordinator for the Master of Advanced Studies and Programme Director for Future Studies. Dr Song’s research integrates high-throughput sequencing, molecular approaches, and bioinformatics to investigate biodiversity, evolutionary relationships, and ecological patterns across marine and terrestrial organisms. Her recent research focuses particularly on applying eDNA-based approaches to biodiversity assessment and ecosystem monitoring in estuarine, coastal, and marine environments. She has published over 60 Web of Science-indexed journal articles and has led or contributed to numerous research projects funded by national, international, and industry bodies.