Started his research career in the think tank sector, Dr. Lee Chee Leong (Karl) is attracted to the rise of non-traditional diplomacy in the international order today. Such appeal has taken Dr. Lee into new research horizons that started with his Monash University's doctoral research on the Chinese sub-state diplomacy in China-ASEAN economic cooperation. With constructive supervision by Professor Helen Nesadurai and Associate Professor Kuik Cheng Chwee, Dr. Lee completed his doctoral thesis that unravels how a faraway and least developed sub-state of Guangxi managed to overcome its own hurdles, navigate the complexities within the Chinese state and become the frontline actor in China-ASEAN economic cooperation.  Following his doctoral completion, Dr. Lee's research on non-traditional diplomacy has expanded into Taiwan’s quasi-state diplomacy in Southeast Asia. Such quest has led him spending at great length in comprehending the concept of soft power, a concept that finds its relevance to Taiwan, which has no official diplomatic with Southeast Asia but is heavily connected to the region and has to rely on soft power in its engagements with these Southeast Asian nations. By comparing different case studies of Taiwan's quasi-state engagement within Southeast Asia, Dr. Lee has developed the soft power diffusion process to explain how such phenomenon operates in the real world. His ongoing and incoming research projects include Unpacking ‘De-risking’ China in the Indo-Pacific Region: Economic Statecraft (ES) & Geoeconomics, Taiwan's New Southbound Policy (NSP) and NSP+: The Domestic-International Dichotomy, The Taiwanese Connections in Nvidia's Global AI Supply Chain and Taiwan and Ireland: The Story of Two Tech Powerhouses.  To date, Dr. Lee was the recipient of several scholarships and fellowships in Malaysia and overseas: University of Malaya’s Graduate Fellowship (2010-2011); Monash University’s Merit Scholarship (2016-2019); Chinese Government Scholarship (2018-2019); and Taiwan Fellowship (2020). Prior to his appointment as Senior Lecturer at the Institute of China Studies (ICS), he was the Visiting Scholar at Guangxi University for Nationalities (GXUN) (2018-2019), Taiwan Fellow at National Chengchi University (NCCU) (2020) and Associate Fellow at ICS UM (2016-2019). He welcomes any potential PhD candidate who would like to work on Taiwan-Southeast Asia relations, comparative cases of ES between Asia and Europe, US-China-ASEAN semiconductor geoeconomics and case studies of donut economies in Asia. He is also willing to discuss with potential doctoral candidates on proposals related to the Chinese sub-state (provincial and city) diplomacy toward ASEAN, comparative cases of sub-state diplomacy between Asia and Europe as well as conceptual innovations of sub-state diplomacy vis-a-vis soft power.     

  Associate Professor Ts. Dr. Zul Ilham bin Zulkiflee Lubes completed his B.Sc.(Hons.) in Universiti Malaya (UM), a Panasonic Scholar for M.Sc. and a JICA AUN/SEED-Net Scholar for his Doctoral study at the Department of Socio-Environmental Energy Science, Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University, Japan. His research interest is in the field of biomass science and bioenergy, with esteemed awards from Japan Institute of Energy and American Oil Chemists’ Society (AOCS). Currently, as part of Malaysia's effort to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, he is actively studying the role of biomass in urban energy management. Dr. Zul Ilham also serves as Associate Editor for academic journals PROGEE, MJS, JISDeP, JSAEM and Special Issue Editor for Processes. He has been appointed as M.Sc. and Ph.D. external examiner for several Malaysian universities (USIM, USM, UTM, UTeM and IIUM) and internationally (Indonesia, Pakistan and Japan). As an alumnus of the Young South-East Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Professional Fellows Program, he volunteers regularly in promoting energy literacy, renewable energy and climate action to youth and community (Sustainable Development Goals; SDG 7 and 13) including being the country coordinator of the Asian Students Environment Platform (ASEP), a project supported by AEON Environmental Foundation. Professionally, he is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM) by ASEAN Centre of Energy and a Professional Technologist accredited by the Malaysian Board of Technologists (MBOT). He and his team also secured national and industrial research grants such as the FRGS, Gamuda Land, Petronas as well as several coveted international research grants. Dr. Zul Ilham has been invited to participate as plenary or invited speaker in several international conferences and has been Visiting Scholar to several universities (Kyoto University Japan, Zhejiang University China, Universitas Andalas and Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) Indonesia). He was also the recipient of Fulbright Malaysian Scholar Award 2022/2023 as Visiting Associate Professor at the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, USA. Administratively, Dr. Zul Ilham was the Program Coordinator for B.Sc. Environmental Science and Management, Deputy Director at the UM Centre of Civilisational Dialogue, Deputy Dean (Research and Innovation) for the Faculty of Science UM and currently the Director of UM Grant Management Centre. He is also the core member of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities Forest Biomass Ecosystem Living Lab Initiative and expert panel in the ASEAN-UNESCAP Carbon Neutrality Campus Network, tasked to formulate a regional carbon neutral course for university students. WoS publications: https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/1414836Scopus publications: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=57218544179Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jVPTqGsAAAAJ&hl=enCommunity Outreach Activities: https://zulilham.wordpress.com/activities/

Vilashini Somiah is an anthropologist who is a senior lecturer at the Gender Studies Programme at Universiti Malaya. She received her PhD from the National University of Singapore, an MA from Ohio University, an MRes from Universiti Malaya and a BA from the Universiti Malaya. She maintains a keen interest for underrepresented narratives of women, migrants and Borneans living in the interiors. She is the co-editor of “Sabah From the Ground: The 2020 Elections and the Politics of Survival (SIRD/ISEAS, 2021), and her first book, “Irregular Migrants and the Sea at the Borders of Sabah, Malaysia: Pelagic Alliance'' with Palgrave Macmillan (TBC 2022). Outside of academia, she writes ethnographic articles on the local socio-political landscape.