Dr. Aqsa Isa is a Senior Lecturer based in the Department of English Language, Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya (UM), Malaysia and Research Associate at Rabdan Academy, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).Her teaching and scholarly interests are focused on the areas of Critical Discourse Studies, Social Semiotics and Multimodality. She is interested in multidisciplinary work and research involving (violent) extremism and (de) radicalisation, especially on social media, as well as religion and politics, among others. As a linguist, she has looked at various violent extremist and far right propaganda materials, exploring and understanding the ideologies and linguistic strategies used to garner support and attract potential followers. She is also exploring the recruitment, radicalisation as well as the reintegration processes, in which she has worked closely with former detainees, their family members and various local and international agencies. In addition, Dr. Aqsa has been invited as a speaker and resource person in various Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE) programmes by agencies such as the Southeast Asia Regional Centre for Counter-Terrorism (SEARCCT), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs (Security Division), Malaysian public universities, civil society organisations, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the SEA Women Peacebuilders Network.  Currently, she is also the Programme Coordinator for the Bachelor of English Language and Linguistics. Her tasks include overseeing accreditation processes and curriculum reviews, coordinating class schedules, and ensuring the wellbeing of students in the programme. She also engages with local and international institutions to build academic collaborations. As part of her role, she provides academic guidance and supports continuous programme improvement to align with current educational and industry needs. Recent publication:1. ‘Dust Off the Dirt of Laziness and Break the Shackles of the Dunya’: The Language of Female Extremists in Daesh Propaganda Magazines, Journal of Gender and Language. 2. From Delegitimisation to Conditional Legitimacy: Media Slant and Multimodal Framing of Quran-Burning Protests, Journalism Studies   Forthcoming publications: 1. Media Framing of Violent Extremism Cases in Malaysia: A Discursive News Values Analysis (Journal Article) 2. Psychological Impacts of News Reporting on Individuals Arrested for Violent Extremism in Malaysia and Their Families (Journal Article) 3. "As Long As Nobody’s Hurt”: A Digital Discourse on Justifying Quran Burning from an Argumentation Perspective (Journal Article) 4. Stance-taking in Online Far-Right Discourse Communities: Anti-immigration and Identity Politics (Journal Article)

Dr Zati Hakim Azizul Hasan is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Artificial Intelligence, Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology, UM, and currently serves as Coordinator at Pusat Teknologi Inovasi under the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Innovation). She previously coordinated the Master of Computer Science (Research) and Master of Computer Science (Applied Computing) programs between 2021 and 2025, strengthening postgraduate training and research capacity. Her research covers AI robotics, swarm robot optimisation, SLAM, and soft sensor technologies, with applications in search and rescue, food security, intelligent farming, water monitoring, and genomics. She has secured over RM 2.14 million in competitive research funding and, in 2025, was awarded RM8.5 million by the Ministry of Higher Learning, Malaysia, for the UM AI Robotics Teaching and Learning Empowerment Project—a landmark initiative that underscores her leadership in advancing national education and innovation agendas. Dr Zati has published in leading journals such as Swarm and Evolutionary Computation, IEEE Access, and PeerJ Computer Science. Her international collaborations span Malaysia, the UK, and ASEAN, supported by Microsoft AI for Earth, the British Council Catalyst Grant, and UKRI, enhancing UM’s global visibility in cutting-edge AI and robotics. She is also dedicated to talent development through Robotedge (UM’s AI Robotics Lab), where her students have won awards at RoboCup Asia Pacific, RoboCup Malaysia Open, IEEE Malaysia competitions, and international innovation carnivals. Her community engagement includes the KitaK2K initiative with ThinkCity, ensuring children in public housing (PPR) gain equal access to robotics education, reflecting UM’s mission of inclusive education and societal transformation.

Associate Professor Dr. Thirunaukarasu Subramaniam received his PhD (Economics) from Universiti Putra Malaysia and his Masters of Commerce (Economics) from University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. His research interest is focused on Economic Development in Southeast Asia. He was a Visiting Researcher at the Warwick Institute for Employment Research, University of Warwick, United Kingdom from November  2014 to October 2015.