Professor Dr. Ernest Poh is Senior Consultant in respiratory medicine and Head of the Respiratory Division at Universiti Malaya. He is recipient of the Anugerah Staf Akademik Cemerlang Universiti Malaya (ACUM) 2025 and a recognized leader in bronchiectasis, lung cancer and COPD. Dr. Poh serves as faculty at international conferences and as principal investigator for clinical trials. He has secured over RM17.7 million in external grants and published extensively in high-impact journals, including Nature Medicine. Co-founder of the National Lung Cancer Registry, Dr Poh also formed the UM Lung Cancer Multidisciplinary Tumor Board back in 2018, positioning UM as a hub for thoracic oncology. As Deputy Chair of the Malaysian Thoracic Society’s Lung Cancer Special Interest Group, he drives national clinical guidelines and symposiums. In education, Dr. Poh mentors medical students and postgraduates, and serves as Clinical Coordinator for the undergraduate MBBS programme at Universiti Malaya. He is also a trainer and examiner for the Respiratory Subspecialty Examinations. He is an award-winning educator, receiving the Best Lecturer Award in 2018. His community contributions include media outreach, advisory roles with the NPRA, and peer review for Tier 1 journals, advancing UM’s academic and societal impact.

Luqman Hakim has built a diverse career across manufacturing, oil & gas, and industrial digital technologies in Malaysia and the UK. He observed that while companies aim to innovate sustainably, many struggle to advance R&D without the right research partners. If this felt like you, this is where he can help. His current work focuses on developing functionalised, micro- and mesoporous materials such as zeolites, activated carbon and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for water and gas purification. Specifically:   (1) For water treatment: removal of trace, harmful organic pollutants like poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), endocrine disrupting compounds and microplastics.   (2) For gas purification and separation: capture of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), moisture (water) or filtration of other hazardous industry gases (CO, CO2, H2S, SOx, NOx). See an example of news coverage on his past PhD project.   In particular, MOF materials also hold great potential in improving catalytic reactions and process efficiency; an area which he plans to venture next. He welcomes any collaboration opportunities either from the industry or other academic institutions to help solve the technical challenges together.

“Professor Dr. Saad Mekhilef is a Charted Engineer (CEng) and Fellow of The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), and Fellow of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He is an Associate Editor of various top journals such as IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics and the Journal of Power Electronics. He is a Professor at the Department of Electrical, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, since June 1999. He is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, and the Director of Power Electronics and Renewable Energy Research Laboratory (PEARL). He authored and co-authored for more than 400 publications in academic journals and proceedings including 253 International Scientific Indexing, ISI publications, and five books with more than 34,500 citations and 90 H-index. A total of 116 Philosophy Doctorate (Ph.D.) and Master Degree candidates have successfully graduated under his supervision. He has filed six Intellectual Property (IP) in his expertise. He is frequently invited as honorary keynote lectures at international conferences, congress, meetings, and symposiums. Saad Mekhilef has been listed by the Thomson Reuters (Clarivate Analytics) as one of the Highly Cited (Hi.Ci) engineering researchers in the world, and included in the "Thomson Reuters’ The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds: 2018 - 2021". He is actively involved in industrial consultancy for major corporations in the Power Electronics and Renewable Energy projects. His research interests include Power Conversion Techniques, Control of Power Converters, Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT), Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, Smart Grid, Microwave and Wireless Technologies.”