Md. Ershadul Karim, LL.B. (Hons.), LL.M. (University of Dhaka, Bangladesh), PhD in Nanotechnology Law and Policy (University of Malaya, Malaysia), has joined the Faculty of Law of University of Malaya as Senior Lecturer after completion of his PhD with the very prestigious Bright Spark Scholarship.    Being a passionate researcher and academic, Dr. Karim has widely published in peer-reviewed Journals and presented papers at many national and international Conferences in his areas of interest i.e. ‘legal and regulatory aspects of nanotechnology’, ‘emerging technologies and law’, ‘privacy and data protection law’, ‘health and medical law’, ‘legal research’, and ‘Asian and comparative law’, etc. Ershadul authored six books and is the author of Cyber Law in Bangladesh, Kluwer Law International, 2022 (2nd Edition), Environmental Law in Bangladesh, Kluwer Law International, 2024 (2nd Edition), Privacy and Personal Data Protection Law in Bangladesh, Kluwer Law International, 2024, and co-author of Personal Data Protection Law in Asia (second edition), Thomson and Reuters, 2018. Dr. Ershadul has written Chapters on the Legal System of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran, Nepal, Maldives, and Myanmar in GlobaLex, New York University, USA. He has also developed the Research Guide on Nanotechnology Law and Policy, and SAARC for the same database. Ershadul has published more than fifty peer-reviewed academic papers and contributed chapters in books published by the United Kingdom’s Royal Society of Chemistry, Elsevier Inc., SpringerNature and BRILL analysing, inter alia, the relationship between nanomaterials and international environmental law, various legal and regulatory issues in polymer nanocomposite, functionalised nanomaterials, biosensors, consumer nanoproducts, international renewable energy law, and nuclear energy law. Dr. Karim managed the National Chapter on Bangladesh for the Yearbook of International Environmental Law published by Oxford University, the United Kingdom between 2013-2024. As an enlisted lawyer with the Bangladesh Bar Council and Bangladesh Supreme Court, Dr. Karim was instrumental in developing the Bangladesh Code, a collection of 38 volumes containing all existing Acts of Parliament, Ordinances and President’s Orders in force in Bangladesh between 1836-2006. He was also the Web Administrator and Editor of the first ever online case law database of Bangladesh, Chancery Law Chronicles [www.clcbd.org] for six years.   Dr. Karim served as Senior Research Officer at the Technical Support Secretariat of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Women and Children for three years. So far Dr. Karim and his team have received grants of more than USD 2,00,000 to research different legal and policy issues. He was a member of the research team in the “INDUSTRY-ACADEMIA COLLABORATIVE BLOCKCHAIN-BASED REGULATORY FRAMEWORK RESEARCH PROJECT”. Dr. Karim has been consulted by different national and international organisations including Japan Government's Patent Office through Kyoto Comparative Law Center, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), UN Women, World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), World Bank Group, European Union, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA), Consumer International, Prime Minister’s Office of the Government of Malaysia and Ministry of Justice, United Arab Emirates, Transparency International, Bangladesh, ARTICLE 19, and Qatar Foundation. Ershadul has been interviewed by Prothom Alo, the largest circulated newspaper in Bangladesh several times, the Daily Star (Bangladesh) [largest circulating English-language newspaper in Bangladesh], the Star (Malaysia) [largest paid English newspaper in terms of circulation in Malaysia], and has also been quoted in the several news media including the Prothom Alo and BBC Bangla. Ershadul is a member of the International Network Initiative on Safe and Sustainable Nanotechnology, and covers the Asian legal systems. He is also a member of the Global AI Ethics Consortium (Technical University of Munich, Germany). Ershadul has recently developed interests in exploring the history and philosophy of technologies, technology regulation theories, sociology of technologies, science and technology studies, and is available to supervise research students willing to explore the legal aspects in these areas.

Dr. Jamilah Syafawati Yaacob completed her B.Sc (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology & Biotechnology) from University of Melbourne, Australia in 2007, and her M.Sc (Crop Biotechnology) from University of Nottingham (Malaysia campus) in 2009. She received her PhD in Biotechnology from University of Malaya in 2013 and was one of the recipients of the University of Malaya Excellence Awards in 2014 for completing her PhD in less than 4 years. In 2010, during her PhD candidature, she had also won a Gold Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Biosciences & Biotechnology during University of Malaya Innovation and Creativity Expo. After successfully completing her PhD, she then joined the Institute of Biological Sciences at the Faculty of Science, University of Malaya as a Senior Lecturer. Since then, she has taught and coordinated various undergraduate courses such as Biology of Organisms, Genetic Engineering in Animals and Plants, Cell and Tissue Culture and Higher Plant Physiology. At the postgraduate level, she has also helped in teaching Research Methodology, a compulsory course upon entry into postgraduate studies at the department. Since her employment as an Academic, she has served the department and University in various administrative duties, such as the programme coordinator for Bachelor of Science with Education (ISB), BSc in Biotechnology, academic advisor, final year project coordinator and many more. Her current research interest is on manipulation of plant tissue culture system for biotechnological applications, with special emphasis on stress-induced plant secondary metabolites and proteins for medicinal applications and sustainable production of functional food colorants. Her present research works include projects on understanding and manipulating plant’s response towards abiotic stress for over-expression of valuable bioactive compounds, such as in Azadirachta indica (neem). The regulation of proteins involved in the biosynthesis of these bioactive compounds or secondary metabolites are analyzed through proteomics-based approach, to allow for a better understanding of the biosynthesis pathways that has been affected. In addition to that, she is also working on the epigenetics aspect of plant phenotypic plasticity, to understand the epigenetic regulation (with focus on histone modification) in DNA repair and somaclonal variation. In recognition of her work and scientific achievements, she has won several awards such as a Gold Medal at International Invention, Innovation & Technology Exhibition (ITEX) in 2013 and a Bronze Medal at Bioinnovation Awards/BioMalaysia & Bioeconomy Asia Pacific 2013. Other than that, she is also actively participating in the scientific community and the public by taking on various roles as a judge or jury in scientific competitions and innovation programs at national and secondary school levels. These include her role as a judge for Malaysian Agricultural Invention Show (MAgIS) competition organized by Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry in 2016, and judge for science videos and scientific poem recitation competitions organized by Ministry of Education in 2017-2018, among others. Professionally, she was also one of the representatives in the working group for pineapple planting material for preparation of Malaysian Standard (organized by SIRIM Malaysia) in 2018. Outside of work and research, she also loves to join various events that promote sustainability and green environment.

Ir. Dr. Hwa-Jen YAP is a Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia. He obtained a tertiary academic qualification from the Universiti Malaya for a B.Eng in Mechanical Engineering, Master of Engineering Science and PhD in Engineering.  Before joining UM, he worked in the Air-Conditioning R&D industry from 2000 to 2002. He has to date published more than 100 papers in respectable journals and conference proceedings both locally and internationally. He has supervised more than 15 PhD and Master's students. His area of interest in research includes Extended Reality (Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality),  Virtual Manufacturing (VM), Product Design, Artificial Intelligence, Sports Engineering, Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0), Robotics (Industrial Robots & Collaborative Robots, Cobot) and Automation. He is also actively involved in consultancy projects, in which he has more than 15 research & technology projects related to the Aerospace Manufacturing industry. He was the advisor of an undergraduate robotics team (R.E.D – Robotics.Engineering.Design) which has won more than 30 prizes/awards in inter-varsity competitions.  Ir. Dr. Yap was the head of the Centre of Product Design & Manufacturing (CPDM) from 2013 to 2015. He was the Deputy Dean (Development) of the Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya from 2017 to 2018. Currently, he is the Director of Universiti Malaya's Consultancy Centre (Pusat Perundingan Universiti Malaya, UMConsult), Director of the UPUM Resources Sdn Bhd and Managing Director of the UPUM Sdn Bhd. On professional qualifications, he is a Professional Engineer (P.Eng) in the Mechanical Engineering discipline registered with the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM). He is also a member of The Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) and a Chartered Engineer (C.Eng) of the Engineering Council, UK.