Fumitaka Furuoka is a Japanese economist who has lived in Malaysia since 1987. From 1991 to 1999, he worked as a senior assistant at the Consulate General of Japan in Penang. Fumitaka then moved to academia and has taught economics for 25 years at three Malaysian public universities, namely, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, and Universiti Malaya. His academic expertise is in the field of applied economics which involves applying economic and econometric theories to address real-world critical economic issues and problems. As an applied economist, he aims to provide insights from his research for hammering out effective policies that foster sustainable development, enable a reduction of regional disparities, and move society towards achieving economic and social justice.  In his research in the field of applied economics, he focuses on economic equity between countries (i.e., the problem of inequality of economic development level in different countries), as well as economic equity within countries (i.e., the problem of inequality of income distribution in a specific country). Regarding economic equity between countries, he has conducted extensive research on diverse and pertinent global economic issues, such as poverty reduction, unemployment, economic growth/development, and renewable energy. In 2006, he published a book on Japanese foreign aid titled New Challenges for Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) Policy. The book examines how Japan’s aid policy can contribute to reducing poverty and improving the well-being of developing countries, particularly Southeast Asian economies. As to economic equity within countries, the main focus of Fumitaka's research is promoting “employment for all” which is closely aligned with Target 8 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He strongly believes that employment for all, including people with disabilities, is the basic foundation for a sustainable and more humane economy (Ekonomi Madani). This belief has led him to write a book on employment for people with disabilities entitled Disability and Employment: Towards a Humanistic Economy. The book was published by Springer in 2024. This research direction has a strong practical orientation, and Fumitaka considers work in this area to be of ultimate importance for achieving economic equity and providing employment opportunities to people with disabilities. In short, his research aims to identify barriers and initiate policies that promote and enable economic inclusion, employment, and justice for all.

Surinderpal Kaur is a Professor and the Dean of the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics at the Universiti Malaya, Malaysia. She holds a PhD from Lancaster University, UK. With a career spanning over three decades, she has made significant contributions to the fields of linguistics, critical discourse studies, and multimodality. Her expertise lies in Critical Discourse Studies and Multimodality, with research interests spanning discrimination and prejudice, particularly in migration, Islamophobia, far-right extremism, terrorism, gender, and sexuality. She has been invited to speak by the Director-General of the OIC on Islamophobia at the UN for the International Day Against Islamophobia in 2024. She has also been invited to speak on Islamophobia by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. She has published extensively in reputable journals, contributing to the global understanding of how discourse shapes and reflects social realities.​ Currently, her work centres on climate change communication and education, reflecting her commitment to addressing pressing global challenges. She is also the Co-Chair of the University Malaya Committee for Climate Change which functions as a part of the technology advisory panel for Climate Change for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability. As Co-Chair, she is focused on ensuring that UM obtains observer status at the Conference of Parties for Climate Change, and also for UM to take the lead in climate-related research in the nation. She has represented Malaysia and UM at COP29 (UNFCCC) in Baku on Humanising Sustainability. She is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics at UM. She is also the Vice-Chair for the Malaysian Language Deans Council, and is leading the taskforce for all public universities on Technology Enhanced Language Learning (TELL). She is committed to embedding digital humanities in the teaching and learning of languages and is focused on establishing a Digital Humanities Centre at the faculty, which will be the hub for TELL for the nation and ASEAN.  Beyond academia, she is actively involved in capacity-building initiatives for Punjabi and Sikh youth in Malaysia, fostering leadership and community development.  Her career reflects a deep commitment to inclusive education, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the application of linguistics to address pressing social and environmental challenges. She continues to shape national and international discourse on the critical role of language in society.  

Dr. Meor Hakif is an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Geology, University of Malaya (UM). He has written at least 100 publications including one article in Nature. He teaches undergraduate courses in Stratigraphy and Sedimentology, as well as postgraduate topics in Reservoir Sedimentology and Sequence Stratigraphy. Previously, he was the Coordinator for the MSc in Petroleum Geology Programme for 5 years. Currently, he is President of the Geological Society of Malaysia. Dr. Meor graduated with a BSc. (Hons) in Geology from UM in 2002, which included an early exposure to the petroleum industry through an internship with Esso Production Malaysia Inc. (EPMI) on abnormal pressure in offshore Sabah. While being a Tutor at UM, he graduated with a MSc. (with distinction) in 2005, with a dissertation revising the stratigraphy of NW Peninsular Malaysia.  The MSc. included research and training on graptolite biostratigraphy at the Technische Universitat Berlin in Germany, which was supported by a German Academic Exchange (DAAD) Scholarship. In 2005, Dr. Meor worked as an Executive Geoscientist in the Petroleum Resource Assessment and Marketing division, Petroleum Management Unit (PMU) of PETRONAS, mainly working on sequence stratigraphy and sequence biostratigraphy of the Sarawak Basin, and also gaining experience in resource assessment, well log interpretation, seismic interpretation and well operations monitoring. Dr. Meor graduated with a Ph.D and DIC from Imperial College, University of London in 2011. His Ph.D project was on the sedimentology of the Nyalau Formation and Balingian Province of the Sarawak Basin. Since then, he has been actively involved as a consultant on many sedimentological related studies with several oil and gas companies. Part of the PhD included fieldwork in Bintulu, Sarawak, core description at PETRONAS and a secondment to Petrofac Malaysia (PM-304) Ltd in Kuala Lumpur. Dr. Meor also took the advantage during his PhD to visit the textbook outcrops of the Book Cliffs (Sego Fm, Ferron Sandstone, Chinle Fm., Morrison Fm.) in Utah, USA, as well as the Welsh and Wessex Basins of the UK. Dr. Meor Hakif frequently leads sedimentology, stratigraphy and petroleum geology fieldtrips to the Palaeozoic strata of NW Peninsular Malaysia and the hydrocarbon-bearing, Neogene strata of Sarawak and Labuan. He maintains good relationships with industry, with several consulting projects and fieldtrips organized for companies. He is also the Faculty Advisor for the AAPG Student Chapter of UM.  Dr. Meor's current research interests in sedimentology mainly lies in the facies composition and stratal architecture of siliciclastic rocks, and how they are used to infer depositional and basin history. In particular, many of his publications are on tidal deposits preserved in the Oligo-Miocene rock record of Malaysia. The work involves integration with fields and specialists beyond traditional geology, including geophysics and engineering. His work is mainly field-based, with field experience in northwest Peninsular Malaysia (Perlis, Kedah, Langkawi), Pahang, Kelantan, Sarawak (Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu, Miri, Marudi, Limbang, Lawas), Labuan and Sabah (Klias, Kota Kinabalu area, Kudat). Dr. Meor is also a worker on the stratigraphy of the Palaeozoic succession of northwest Peninsular Malaya, specializing in the palaeontology and biostratigraphy of Devonian tentaculitoids and graptoloids and Carboniferous ammonoids. Results of this work include the discovery and naming of a new species of ammonoid, Praedaraelites tuntungensis, from Bukit Tuntung in Perlis as well as a new species of foraminifera, Crenulosepta perlisensis. Dr. Meor also uncovered a previously unknown Devonian stratigraphic unit, now called the Sanai Limestone. Dr. Meor is a certified Professional Geologist (P.Geol.) with the Board of Geologists Malaysia.