Dr Nishakanthi Gopalan is a Senior Lecturer at the Medical Humanities and Ethics Unit (MedHEU), a newly established unit within the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya (UM). She is a biotechnologist by training with a PhD in research ethics and policy implication particularly looking at stem cell technology. During this time, she published her key findings in several reputable high-impact bioethics journals. Dr Nisha is the Programme Coordinator of the Master of Health Research Ethics (MOHRE), a programme developed incollaboration with the Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University (JHU). Besides teaching in MOHRE, she also provides ethics lectures in other programmes in the faculty. Dr Nisha also contributes as a member of the Universiti Malaya Research Ethics Committee (UMREC) as well as an external member of the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) Medical Research Ethics Committee. She is one of the instructors for the Introduction to Health Research Ethics, an online course in FutureLearn. She also facilitates the APRU Health Research Ethics course. Additionally, Dr. Nisha is an editorial board member of the Asian Bioethics Review. Dr Nisha’s research interest includes different aspects of ethics such as bioethics, research and clinical ethics on diverse topics ranging from emerging technologies (such as regenerative medicine, stem cells, and genetic testing), health research, and aesthetic medicine. She is an expert in qualitative research methods such as in depth interviews, focus group discussion (FGD), inductive and deductive analysis, thematic analysis,grounded theory, as well as narrative and scoping reviews. Currently, Dr Nisha is working on a bioethics training grant (Fogarty International Centre, NIH US) with Johns Hopkins University (JHU),  the ethics of genetic testing among Parkinson’s patients (USMC Care Fund), ethics and governance in AI in healthcare and understanding the ethics committee deliberarion process. She is constantly on the look out for collaborations with local/regional/international projects on various topics involving ethics. 

Syafiq Faliq Alfan, also known as SEFA, is a theatre and performance studies scholar, performing artist, educator, and cultural researcher specialising in cultural change and memory in Asian traditional performing arts. He is particularly interested in how traditional forms transform across time, media, and space, and how these shifts relate to cultural memory, philosophy of history, and lived experience. He earned his Doctoral Degree from the Faculty of Integrated Arts and Science at Hiroshima University, Japan, in 2022, through research on the methodological construction of analysis towards the traditional dances of Mak Yong and Noh using motion capture technology. As an outsider-artist, SEFA has been a member of the Ipoh artist-collective Projek Rabak since 2011, where he currently serves as director. Since 2007, he has actively participated in numerous local and international performances, focusing on the intersection between Corporeal Mime by Étienne Decroux and the improvisational techniques of Malay traditional performing arts. His performance research centres on the body as subject and its entanglement with elements within its environment, including space, audience, and technology, often drawing on Practice-as-Research as a core method. SEFA is also a creative writer, with works such as Melankolia Bisu (2014) and Novel Eksperimental (2013), among others. Currently, his research interests revolve around memory studies and the philosophy of history to understand Mak Yong history and its multiple trajectories across regions and narratives. He believes that enriching the discourse on Malaysian traditional performing arts, through both theory and practice, will deepen our understanding of their role in shaping local identities and collective memory. He is also interested in engaging Digital Humanities at the intersection of aesthetics, ecology, local wisdom, identity formation, and arts biomechanics. Through media and technology, particularly motion capture, he explores how different experiences and cultures can be understood in greater nuance, especially in relation to various modes of cultural change in performing arts. His work sits at the crossroads of performance theory, cultural and memory studies, media studies, and philosophical inquiry. As a scholar of performance and theatre studies, he believes the role of the performing arts extends beyond the discourse of performance and performativity, and should also engage critically with issues of sustainability, environmental impact, socio-economics, education, architecture, and technology. Potential postgraduate students should be prepared for an integrated and interdisciplinary approach, and be willing to develop practical and high-impact research that benefits society while remaining sensitive to culture, history, and the evolving realities of performance.

I am a senior lecturer at the Department of Science and Technology Studies, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya. My expertise lies in climate change education, critical thinking, gamification in education, and science policy. Passionate about empowering youth through innovative pedagogy, I am now leading multiple funded projects such as Superhero Iklim, a gamified campus-wide climate action campaign, and research on enhancing students’ critical thinking skills for sustainable development.  As part of global interests in boosting Halal tourism through aritifical intelligence, I am currently leading a funded project by the Japan Foundation developing a sustainable smart halal tourism framework for South East Asia. I am also a recipient of the UN SDGs Open Pedagogy Fellowship (Asia Chapter), and serves on the National STEM Association committee. My work has been recognized with international awards for teaching innovation, and regularly contributes to public engagement programs on environmental education and sustainability.