Prof. Dr. Esther Daniel Medical Education, Research and Development Unit (MERDU), Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya    Areas of Expertise  & Background Science Education (Biology); Environmental Education / Education for Sustainable Development; Science Teacher Education, Medical Education; Integrating Technology in Teaching; Learning and Cognition; Metacognition, Pedagogies     Esther was formerly attached to the Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya. She has been a teacher educator for more than two decades. Previous to that she was a science teacher in premier schools such as Sekolah Datuk Abdul Razak, Seremban, the Malay College Kuala Kangsar and Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Ipoh. Her area of expertise and background is in science education, environmental education, technology integration in the science classroom and learning and cognition and has conducted numerous training workshops and seminars related to research, pedagogies and has been a Master trainer for new lecturers in institutions of Higher Learning. Her research has focused on science education, in particular biology and environmental education. Numerous students under her supervision have successfully completed their postgraduate studies. She has worked with WWF-Malaysia in conducting in-depth research and in training teachers in infusing sustainable development education. She has published papers in journals as well as presented at various conferences both local and International. She has written numerous training modules for the teaching and learning of Science, for Environmental Education and for Qualitative Research Methods. More recently she has also been involved in Medical Education with a focus on the cognition of learning. Among the books she has written are ‘Biology Education in a Changing Planet’ and ‘Cognition in Science Education’. In 2016, Esther received the UNESCO-HAMDAN international award for the effective training of teachers. In 2017 she received the Venus International Women’s Award (VIWA) for a ‘Lifetime Achievement in Science Education (Specialisation-Biology). She has also served as the chair of the National Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) Eco-Campus Committee. Recently (2018) she was awarded the Excellence Award for the academic with the highest international grant by the Universiti Malaya. Esther is now an Honorary Professor in the Medical Education, Research and Development Unit, Faculty of Medicine UM. She was involved with the development and implementation of the MOHRE (Master of Health Research Ethics) programme in the Faculty of Medicine. She is also attached to the UM-WWF-M Living Planet Centre, a research centre, as an affiliated member and has just completed the Sustainable Development nation-wide research. Esther together with PPPLS (Pertubuhan Pendidikan Pembangunan Lestari Selangor conducted a nation-wide resesearch - Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) research (2022-2023). Furthermore, she is also involved with the UNESCO-Chair Project for Education for Sustainable Development (2022 – 2024) in collaboration with Asia Pacific University (APU). Esther is also one of the consultants for the project ‘Transformational Learning through ESD: Mission 4.7’ with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) located at the Jeffrey Sachs Centre, Sunway University (2023-2024)  

Ong Zhi Chao, received both his Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering (2007) and Master of Engineering Science degree in vibration and rotor dynamics (2010) from University of Malaya, Malaysia with distinction. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in University of Malaya in March, 2013. His expertise includes vibration, modal analysis, rotor dynamics, virtual instrumentation and signal processing, fault diagnostics, energy harvesting, Artificial Intelligence, computational mechanics. He is active in research and developed a new vibration testing technique named as Impact-Synchronous Modal Analysis (ISMA) which has been implemented in teaching, research and real industrial cases. Dr. Ong has been involved in numerous industrial projects on machinery vibration at both on-shore and off-shore petrochemical and oil and gas processing plants in Malaysia since 2008. He is appointed as Technical Consultant by several local companies to provide comprehensive range of advanced machinery diagnostic consultancy, project planning and management to ensure safe and smooth project implementation. He also has experiences in conducting machinery vibration training courses for engineers and technicians from oil and gas industry. He is a certified trainer/ assessor for Vibration Practitioner/ Specialist Certification Program based on ISO18436 by Institute of Materials, Malaysia (IMM). Dr. Ong was appointed as visiting research fellow of Faculty of Science and Technology at Bournemouth University in 2014 for the tenure of 3 years. He is also a Chartered Engineer of Engineering Council, UK under the membership of Institution of Mechanical Engineers, UK since 2014. He became the corporate member of Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM) and has successfully registered as Professional Engineer (P.Eng) with Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) in 2016. He is an active committee member of Institute of Materials, Malaysia (IMM) Vibration Committee and Young Professionals Committee since 2015, and had partake as a speaker to share his experience in vibrations in several seminars and conferences organized by the committees. Dr. Ong is currently serving as visiting research professor of Faculty of Science and Technology at Bournemouth University, UK until 2023. In 2021, he registered as ASEAN Chartered Professional Engineer (ACPE) under Chartered Professional Engineer Coordinating Committee (ACPECC).

Dr. Dorothy DeWitt is currently an Associate Researcher and a retired Associate Professor in the Curriculum and Instructional Technology Department, University Malaya. She is also an Adjunt Professor at Open University Malaysia. She is an alumnus of the Endeavour Executive Fellowship from the government of Australia. She was formerly with the Educational Technology Division (ETD), Ministry of Education, Malaysia, where she was involved in the Smart School Pilot Project in change management and managing the development of digital materials during the project. In addition, she was involved in the research, management and promotion of innovation in instruction. Her current interests are in instructional design, new pedagogies and technologies for knowledge management, collaborative mobile learning and problem solving. Her publications include academic articles in ISI-ranked publications and journals such as Journal of Educational Technology and Society (ETS), Eurasian Journal of Mathematics, Science and Educational Technology (EJMSET), and Educational Technology Research & Development (ETR&D), and many other Scopus-ranked publications. She has published books on technology-enhanced learning, blended learning, problem-solving for transformative learning, collaborative mobile learning and developmental research. She has been involved in research in collaborative and mobile learning since 2007, and is looking at designs of instructional systems that encourage problem-solving, communication and collaboration using cognitive tools and technologies for schools, higher education and training. As principal investigator, she has been awarded external grants (FRGS) as well as internal grants (RU grant and UMRG) in projects related to technology and problem-solving for instruction. She has also been involved as co-researcher in many other projects related to technology use. Her PhD thesis explored the possibility of collaborative learning using mobile technologies for a mobile learner to enable learning to occur anywhere and at any time; using the collaborative mLearning framework.  She was appointed as consultant in projects related to curriculum acceptance, 21st century learning, and has been involved in training programs for technology pedagogical content knowledge at Academic Enhancement & Leadership Development Centre, University Malaya, as well as many workshops and training programs in 21st century learning, blended learning and online pedagogies, both locally and internationally. Recently, she has expanded her expertise to mixed realities in education.  She has won awards in teaching innovations both at the national and international level. Her team won the Best Immersive Learning Showcase at iLRN2020 (International). She was awarded the University Malaya Excellence Award for Innovative E-Learning in 2018 and is also a reviewer and editorial board member of several ISI journals, and chief editor of TEMPAWAN, a Malaysian peer-reviewed research journal.