DR. MUHAMMAD DANIAL BIN AZMAN

Danial is the Deputy Executive Director of Academic & Student Affairs at the International Institute of Public Policy and Management (INPUMA) at Universiti Malaya (UM). He teaches the Master of Public Policy (MPP) programme and previously worked as an Adjunct Professor at the Asia Pacific University (2022-2024). Additionally, he also delivered several policy lectures and seminars at the Royal Malaysian Police College (MPDRM), the Public Service Department (JPA) Policy Lab series, and a Purposeful and Principled Leadership Immersion (PPL-I) course hosted by the UM Centre for Leadership and Professional Development (UM LEAD). Previously, Danial served as the Secretary of the Malaysian International Studies Association (2023-2024) and was a Fellow at the Research Institute for Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore at Universiti Utara Malaysia (ITS-UUM) during the same period. He is also a member of several professional organisations, including the International Political Science Association (IPSA) in Montreal, Canada, the International Studies Association (ISA) in the US, the British International Studies Association (BISA), the Royal African Studies Association (RAS), the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA), and the African Studies Association (ASA) in the US. Additionally, he is also a lifetime member of the Malaysian-Japan Studies Association (MAJAS), a Research Fellow at the Malaysia-Japan Research Centre (MJRC), and a former member of the Malaysian Association for American Studies (MAAS) and Malaysian Scholars on Korea (MASK) with Malaysia's International Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) In addition to his peer-reviewed tasks in Third World Quarterly, Comparative Politics, African Identities, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, SAGE Open, Kajian Malaysia (USM Press), and Journal of International Studies (UUM Press), Danial currently serves on the Editorial Boards of the Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities (UPM Press) the Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) Journal of Social and Political Science (JSP-FISIP), and JEBAT: Malaysian Journal of History, Politics and Strategic Studies (UKM Press) all indexed in Scopus and WOS. He has also served on the editorial boards of the Malaysian Journal of International Relations (MJIR), SINERGI: Journal of Strategic Studies & International Affairs (UKM Press), and WILAYAH: International Journal of East Asian Studies (UM Press). Alongside his internal supervision and examination duties, he has acted as a supervisor for the Malaysian Armed Forces Defence College-National University of Malaysia (MPAT-UKM) programme. Danial has also worked as an external examiner for PhD theses in politics, policy, and security at universities in Malaysia, Australia, Japan, India, Pakistan, and Singapore. Furthermore, he has been involved in various government and industry projects in roles including consultant, moderator, resource person, invited speaker, and public lecturer. Apart from his academic publications, Danial has contributed commentaries and participated in interviews addressing various issues for national and global media. Danial was also previously given invited lectures at the UUM, UNIZA, APU and UiTM. He also served as a founding advisor for the UM student association, Malaya Model United Nations (2016-2023). Danial holds a PhD in International Relations (Political Science) from the University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom. During his doctoral studies, he was mentored by the late Professor Ian Taylor, a prominent expert in Africa-Asia Politics and Relations and Critical Political Economy. He was awarded the UM Bright Spark Fellowship, facilitating his PhD studies. Moreover, Danial has conducted extensive fieldwork and study visits across several African and Asian countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Libya, Egypt, Sierra Leone, and in Europe: The Former Republic of Yugoslavia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany, Greece, and Cyprus. He has also travelled to Russia, Canada, Brazil, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. Danial also obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Distinction Honours), majoring in International and Strategic Studies and minoring in East Asian Studies. During the 2007 UM Graduation Ceremony, he received the Ghazali Shafie Book Prize and the Dato Panglima Kinta Yusuf Gold Medal. Danial is highly interested in conducting research, teaching, and supervising in the areas related to Global South or Africa-Asia Relations in Comparative Public Policy, Malaysia's Public and Foreign Policy Analysis, and Peace and Conflict Studies. He has been awarded various prestigious grants such as the European Union-Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (EU-SUHAKAM), the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS), the National Agency for Anti-Drug Research Grant, the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Malaysian government, and grants from the Sumito Foundation (Japan), Japan Foundation and Korea Foundation (South Korea).

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ASSOCIATE PROF. DR. CHIU WEE SIONG

Dr. Chiu Wee Siong is currently a senior lecturer at Department of Physics in University Malaya. He received both of his Bachelor of Science (Nuclear Science) and Master of Science (major in Materials Science) in UKM. Thereafter, he enrolled his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering at University of Nottingham. His research interests cover the aspects of synthesis and characterization of solid-state nanostructural materials, which consisted of oxide- and 2D-based semiconductor and magnetic-nanomaterials, graphene nanocomposite, novel metal nanoparticles as well as photocatalyst nanocomposite. His current research work mainly focuses on the design of value-added nanostructural photocatalyst materials for photoelectrochemical application in producing hydrogen gas through water splitting reaction. He has published 95 papers in ISI-cited peer-reviewed journals and 30 conference proceedings. He has earned 2505 citations with total H-index of 26 according to ISI-Web of Science. Up to date, he has led 7 external grants and 6 internal grants with the sum of ~2-million and successfully filed two patents. Furthermore, he has received Young Scientist Award from Malaysia Association for Solid State Science and Technology. For the number of postgraduate students, he has successfully produced 10 PhD students and 2 master students. Moreover, he is actively involved in social engagement activity inclusive of serving as auditor/reviewer for numerous of well-known international fundings cum renowned publishers. His dedication in research also has honoured him with 17 awards both internationally and locally. In the meantime, he is also honoured with “Trusted Reviewer by UK Institute of Physics” in addition to the honour of Recognized Reviewer Award for numerous of ISI-cited journals under Elsevier Publisher. Furthermore, he has being appointed as Scientific Coach by Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) for International Nanotechnology Olympiad (INO) and won gold medal with the honour of Best Project in Science and Technology Development. In the meantime, he also has won gold medal for the Green Hydrogen Technology Invention in International Materials Invention Competition in Nov 2024. With respect to his expertise in nanoscale materials for hydrogen production, lately, he has been elected as Guest Editor for a journal (Discover Nano) under Springer Nature, in managing publications associated to the “Green Hydrogen Production via Nanoengineering Approach”. On the other hand, his well-recognized expertise in semiconductor physics and photoelectrochemistry also renders him to be invited as plenary speaker and invited speaker in both international- and local-conferences. In terms of teaching, he has reflected multi-tasking and can diversify his teaching philosophy to wide range of subjects that ranges from materials physics to modern physics. Meanwhile, he has been appointed as external assessor for Curriculum Review of Materials Science Program in UiTM Shah Alam and serve as judge for numerous of scientific competitions. Finally, he has actively contributed to faculty administration task by serving as Quality Manager in handling auditing task, troubleshooting quality issues and managing special task force for the well-being of department and faculty. Additionally, his excellence contribution to department has rendered him to be awarded with excellent service certificate thrice.

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PROF. DR. LOO CHU KIONG

Prof. Dr. Loo has conducted fascinating research over the 12 years in The University of Malaya, particularly in Lifelong Machine Learning, Explainable Robotics, Explainable AI and recently in Trustworth & Sustainable AI. His numerous publications on the topic have been well-received and have made a substantial contribution to the Continual Machine Intelligence.  He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers on neurorobotics and machine intelligence. In high-impact journals such as IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, Neural Networks, Journal of Neural Systems, IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems, IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, to name a few. Prof. Loo is also the recipient of JSPS fellowship award from Japan and the Georg Forster Fellowship award from Humboldt Foundation, Germany, Belt and Road Academic Fellowship Scheme, China. He has been the visiting professor of Osaka Metropolitan University, Japan, and King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Thailand and Adjunct Professor in The Harry Butler Institute, Murdoc University. He has applied the developed theory to medical diagnosis, prognosis, and brain-inspired Machine Intelligence, and the potential of his research findings has been successfully demonstrated in various domains, including digital healthcare and cognitive robotics. Chu Kiong has been recognized for his excellence in applied research that has commercial potential based on the 10 patents filed. He is one of the founders of UM spin-off company, UMCH Sdn. Bhd. specializing in AI-enabled connected healthcare solutions.   Moreover, he is honoured Malaysia’s Research Star Award 2019 - Research and Innovation Excellence Awards, from the Ministry of Education as one of the most influential researchers in Malaysia. He received the Top Research Scientist Malaysia (TRSM) award 2020 from the Academy of Science Malaysia. 

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RECENT PUBLICATION

LATEST AWARDED GRANT

  • Empowering Change Agents: Building Leadership Capacity for Sustainability Governance in Higher Education


  • Designing a Sustainable E-waste Ecosystem At UM: Circular Economy, Recovery Technologies, and Behavioural Change


  • Lifelong Learning in Humanistic Buddhism: Integrating Tacit Knowledge and Acceptance of Evolution


  • Repurposed End-of-life Electric Vehicle Batteries for Demand Side Management System ? An Assessment On The Environmental and Economic Benefits Analysis


  • Scientific Analysis of Buddhist Meditation and Mantra Energy: An Experimental Study Using Aura Color


  • Smart Recycling On Campus: Investigating Rvm Adoption and Behavioural Determinants


  • Teaching for a Cooler Future: Empowering Pre-service Science Teachers Through Environmental Stem (e-stem) and Climate Change Pedagogical Content Knowledge (cc-pck) Via Campus-based Action


  • Advancing Predictive Modeling and Early Warning System for Microclimate and Air Quality Using An Intelligent Framework in Universiti Malaya