Dr. Sameer has a PhD in Social Networking and is presently working as Associate Professor at Asia-Europe Institute, University of Malaya. He has over two decades of work experience in the industry and academia and also holds a PMP® (Project Management Professional) certification from PMI, USA. Dr. Sameer has been consistently ranked in the World's Top 2% Scientists list (released by Stanford University and Elsevier) from 2021 to 2024 (present) - Field: Social Sciences.  At Asia-Europe Institute (AEI) Dr. Sameer has taught courses at the Masters level on Information Technology K-Economy, Social and economic dimensions of Digital Economy, History of Southeast Asia and Research Methods . He has been the Program Co-ordinator for International Masters in Information Management (2014 - 2016) and is currently the Programme Co-ordinator for International Masters in ASEAN Studies program (2016 -). He is the founding Managing Editor of AEI Insights (an official AEI peer reviewed journal) since 2014. During 2015 he was the visiting scientist at Ilmenau University of Technology, Germany.    His current research and teaching interests are in the field of Social Networks, Data Analytics, Educational Technologies, Social informatics, Digital economy in Asia-Europe, and History of Southeast Asia. Dr. Sameer has successfully completed grant-based research projects (High Impact Research and UM Frontier Science Research) as Principal Investigator and a bilateral interational project (ETH- Switzerland funded). He has organised international workshops and events and has chaired panels in international foras. He is the life member of Computer Society of India and member of several national and international research centers and associations. He has several papers published in ISI-Web of Science indexed journals (publishers include Springer, Emerald, Wiley, McMillan Palgrave, Elsevier and others). He has regularly reviewed for top ISI journals including JMIR, PlosOne, JASIST, Scienometrics, and several others and supervises candidates at both Masters and PhD levels. 

Dr Arindam was born and raised in Kolkata (India) and he did his B.Sc. with Biotechnology (Jiwaji University, India) and M.Sc. in Marine Biology at the Pondicherry University (India). For his Doctoral degree in Marine micropalaeontology at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP), India / University of Burdwan he worked on the Neogene microfossils and palaeoclimate of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He had the opportunity to travel internationally (UK, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Thailand, Poland, Taiwan, France, Turkey, Indonesia) and nationally to attend conferences and collaborated research work. His postdoctoral experience in India as a National Post-doctoral fellow (NPDF, 2017-2019) and Birbal Sahni Research Associate (BSRA, 2019-2022) at BSIP (India) was to understand the Neogene climate of northern Indian Ocean. During April, 2022 he joined the Stable Isotope laboratory at Institute of Earth Sciences (IES), Academia Sinica (Taiwan) as a Postdoctoral Researcher and worked on triple oxygen isotopes and silicon isotopes from diatoms. He is currently working as a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia since March, 2023. Other than the teaching responsibilities his research is focused on the palaeoclimatic variability during the geological history. He use microfossils (mainly siliceous microfossils and calacreous nannofossils) and their chemistry to determine patterns of global climatic conditions and ecology. He is also currently working on samples from International Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 342 (North Atlantic), Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 378 (South Pacific) and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 391 (South Indian). He is also the Supervisor of the Geology Museum, Universiti Malaya. Dr Arindam is the Associate Fellow of Academy Sains Malaysia, Membership Secretary of The Micropalaeontological Society (UK) and also nominated member of Risk-KAN 'Past4future' Working group. 

Dr. Muhamad Alihanafiah bin Norasid is a senior lecturer at the Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya. He was born on 22 May 1987 at Kuala Lumpur General Hospital and is the eldest of twelve siblings. Originally from Johor, he has resided in Dusun Tua, Hulu Langat, Selangor, for over 30 years. He is married and blessed with five children—two boys and three girls. Educational Background Dr. Alihanafiah began his early education at Sekolah Agama Menengah Rawang, Selangor in 2000, before continuing his secondary studies at Sekolah Menengah Agama Kerajaan Johor in Kluang from 2001 to 2004. In 2005, he pursued religious studies at Ma’ahad Johor in Johor Bahru and successfully obtained the Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia (STAM). He continued his academic journey at the University of Malaya, earning a Bachelor of Usuluddin (Al-Quran and Al-Hadith) from 2006 to 2009. He then pursued a PhD in the field of Thematic Quranic Interpretation and Human Capital Development at the same university from 2010 to 2016. He also attended a one-month Arabic language enhancement course at Cairo University, Egypt in 2008, and a three-month research methodology course at The World Islamic Sciences and Education University in Amman, Jordan in 2012. Academic Career Dr. Alihanafiah has been serving as a lecturer at the Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya since 2017, and currently holds the position of Senior Lecturer. With over eight years of academic experience, he has demonstrated strong commitment to teaching and research, particularly in the field of Quran and Hadith studies. Leadership and Involvement Since his student days, Dr. Alihanafiah has actively engaged in various leadership and co-curricular activities. He served as Chairman of the Student Committee, Department of Quran and Hadith (2005–2006), and was a committee member of the Islamic Student Association of the University of Malaya (2004–2005). He also held the position of Advisory Committee Member of the Training and Cadre Unit at YADIM (2020–2021), and served as Chairman of the Youth Bureau (Lajnah Syubban) of the Malaysian Muslim Scholar Association (PUM) from 2017 to 2024. As of 2025, he holds the position of Chairman of the Madrasah Ulama’ Secretariat, also under PUM. Academic Publications and Scholarly Network Dr. Alihanafiah is an active academic in the field of scholarly publishing. He has authored more than 60 academic articles, which have been published in various academic journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings. Additionally, he has presented over 15 research papers at international conferences and seminars. His involvement in research includes delivering presentations as a guest speaker in countries such as Japan, Iran, and Indonesia. He has also participated in research competency courses in Turkey, Thailand, Egypt, Brunei, Japan, Jordan, Qatar, Iran, and other countries. He is recognized as a subject matter expert in the areas of Quranic thought, thematic (Mawdu‘i) interpretation, human capital development, and environmental sustainability from the perspective of the Quran. Academic and Co-Curricular Achievements Dr. Alihanafiah has received various awards and recognitions throughout his academic journey. These include the Cikgu Haji Osman Hassan Book Prize for Best Student at the Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya (2009), the Active Student Award of Residential College 8 (2007), and the Academic Excellence Award of the same college (2007). He also received the University Book Prize for achieving a perfect CGPA (4.00) in three out of six semesters. In the field of debating, he represented the University of Malaya in the Royal Intervarsity Debate Championship (Arabic category) and emerged as First Runner-up in 2007. He also reached the quarterfinals of the ASEAN Debate Championship (Arabic category) in the same year. Additionally, he was the First Runner-up in the Quran Memorization Competition and Islamic Calligraphy Competition (khat) at the university level in 2007 and 2008 respectively.