Associate Professor Dr. Nor Shahila Mansor is a Malaysian scholar-translator whose work sits at the intersection of multilingualism, sociolinguistics, communication strategies and translation studies. Currently, she is serving as the Head of the Department of Asian and European Languages at the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya. She possesses native fluency in reading, writing, and speaking the Spanish language. She has an abiding, passionate and almost obsessive interest in the Spanish language and linguistics, and has built a distinctive academic profile that bridges Spanish-Malay-English language scholarship with pressing global concerns such as sustainability and cross-cultural communication. She holds a PhD in Spanish Language and Linguistics from the University of Valladolid, Spain. Trained as a linguist and translator, Associate Professor Dr. Nor Shahila Mansor's research advances a central conviction: language is never neutral. Whether analysing parallel crime news reports across multilingual Malaysian media, interrogating cultural representation in beauty advertising between Malaysia and Spain, or examining localisation in geopolitical narratives, her work reveals how translation practices shape power, identity, and public trust. Her scholarship is marked by methodological rigour, often combining corpus analysis, qualitative inquiry, and digital tools, while remaining firmly grounded in real-world impact. Associate Professor Dr. Nor Shahila Mansor is equally recognised for her work in Spanish language promotion in Malaysia. Through innovative teaching modules, translation training, and intercultural communication courses, she has strengthened Spanish as a foreign language within the Malaysian context. Her publications and forthcoming books, including works on translation from a Malaysian perspective and on the rise of Spanish in Malaysia, reflect her long-term commitment to cultivating multilingual competence in Southeast Asia. Beyond academia, her research agenda aligns with the national and global frameworks, including sustainable development, gender equity, and inclusive access to information. She has led and collaborated on grant-funded projects that address language barriers in poverty alleviation, multilingual sustainability education, and cross-cultural communication in diverse communities. Her approach integrates scholarly depth with societal relevance. An accomplished keynote speaker and research supervisor, Associate Professor Dr. Nor Shahila Mansor continues to mentor postgraduate scholars while publishing in high-impact venues. Her intellectual trajectory reflects both ambition and clarity of purpose: to position multilingualism and translation not as peripheral skills, but as foundational infrastructures for equitable global communication. Through scholarship, teaching, and leadership, she stands as a transformative voice in contemporary translation and multilingual studies, advancing not only academic knowledge but also the ethical and technological futures of language in society.

Dr. Nurshafarina serves as a senior lecturer in the Department of Building Surveying at Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Housing, Building, and Planning (Building Surveying), a Master’s in Building Technology, and a PhD in Construction Materials and Technology, all conferred by Universiti Sains Malaysia. Before joining Universiti Malaya, Dr. Nurshafarina amassed considerable industry experience with a leading construction chemicals firm, where she specialized in designing sustainable concrete solutions and developing advanced chemical admixtures for both ready-mix and pre-cast concrete applications. Her research portfolio encompasses a breadth of cutting-edge construction technologies, with particular focus on sustainable cementitious materials, concrete admixtures and durability enhancement.

Kong Kin Weng holds the position of a senior lecturer in the Department of Molecular Medicine. He joined Universiti Malaya in 2011 as a SLAI Fellow and was honoured with the esteemed Bright Spark Scholarship, which enabled him to pursue his PhD in Molecular Medicine. This marked a turning point as he delved into the molecular intricacies underlying the relationship between food and health. Kong's passion for his field drove him to explore various facets of nutritional sciences, including food analysis, food chemistry, nutritional biochemistry, nutrigenomics (transcriptomics and lipidomics), traditional medicine, and natural products. His work aimed to bridge the gap between traditional knowledge and modern scientific advancements, uncovering the hidden potential of nature's bounty. Kong's dedication to research and commitment to advancing the field did not go unnoticed. During his tenure, he received a travel award for the Japan Medical Innovation Programme (2017) established by Kyushu University that sponsored by the Japan Science and Technology Agency. He experienced as a visiting researcher at the Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College sponsored by International Joint Research and Academic Exchanges (One Belt, One Road Project) (2019) and Jeffery Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia (2023). He was the Specially-invited Expert (2017-2020) and the Research Consultant (2019-2024) of Agro-food Science and Technology Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China. Kong is actively involved in many international journals, he was the Review Editor of Frontiers in Nutrition (2017-2024) and was the Lead Guest Associate Editor of Frontiers in Nutrition and Frontiers in Chemistry (Research topic: Phytochemical and nutritional properties of underutilised plants, 2017-2018), Guest Associate Editor of Frontiers in Microbiology (Research topic: Discovery of novel plant-derived compounds with antibacterial actions against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, 2018-2019), and Editorial Board Member of Current Research in Nutrition and Food Science (2017-2021). Currently, he is serving as the Associate Editor of Frontiers in Nutrition (2024-Present), Editorial Board Member of Discover Food (2024-Present) and Editorial Board Member of Food as Medicine (2025-Present). Kong is an eminent reviewer for many journals, he was honoured with the Publons Peer Review Awards, attaining the distinction of being among the “Top 1% peer reviewers in Agricultural and Biological Sciences, 2017” and “Top 1% of Reviewer in Agricultural Sciences, 2018”. Kong has acted as an external examiner of PhD/MSc theses from different universities. His research on medicinal and functional foods has been published in many reputable peer-reviewed journals as well as book, chapters and patents.