He obtained B.Sc. Hons in 1973 and Ph.D. in 1976 from UM.  He went on a French Scholarship in 1976. He returned to UM as a Lecturer In 1978. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1986 and Professor in 1999.   During sabbatical leaves, he had been to the Tokyo Institute of Technology (1983),  the PennState University, USA (1989). He was a visiting professor to the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in 1990, and to the King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology, Thailand in April and the University of Sidney in July 1997. He has written 3 textbooks, and published more than 133 journal papers. He had supervised and produced 21 Ph.Ds. and 38 M.Sc. He has filed 25 patents and has served as consultant to many local and foreign companies.

I am currently a Senior Professor at the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya. My main areas of research include Varieties of English, in particular, Malaysian English, as well as language use in educational and in multilingual contexts. Additionally, I  work on an endangered language, Melaka Portuguese, which I have digitally archived at the Endangered Languages Archive. As part of my interest in indigenous languages and culture, in 2019, I co-convened an exhibition on indigenous languages in Malaysia in conjunction with the International Year of Indigenous Languages. My work and thoughts on endangered languages in general, and more specifically on Melaka Portuguese, have been featured in local and international media. I am a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) and a 2024 recipient of the ASM's Top Research Scientist. I was the 2013 Ian Gordon Fellow at the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, and until recently an Adjunct Professor at Mahidol University in Thailand.  

Dalilah is a qualified accounting professional with a passion towards widening participation in the accounting profession. Having gained professional experience in the accounting industry through the Central Bank of Malaysia and Ernst & Young, Dalilah is a Fellow member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA), a Chartered Accountant (CA) member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) member of CPA Australia.  Dalilah earned her PhD in Accounting from the University of Glasgow (UK), where she was honoured with the Adam Smith Business School Prize for Excellence. Her doctoral research, grounded in social theory, investigates the professional socialisation practices of prospective accountants in Malaysia. She also holds an MSc in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics (LSE, UK) and a Bachelor of Accounting from Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN, Malaysia), graduating with First Class honours. Dalilah has over 10 years of teaching experience in financial accounting at various higher education institutions including International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF) and the University of Glasgow where she served as a teaching assistant.