Dr. Foong Chan Choong is an expert in educational psychology, interdisciplinary studies, curriculum design, and psychometric. Dr. Foong, an Associate Professor at the Medical Education and Research Development Unit (MERDU) of the Faculty of Medicine at Universiti Malaya, is an educator and researcher in the field of health professions education. He is a member of the Young Scientist Network – Academy Sciences Malaysia (YSN-ASM) and has been conferred the honor of Fellow of the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER) PSG Regional Institute, India. He holds a first-class honors bachelor's degree in Science with Education from Universiti Malaya, where he also obtained his PhD in Education. Dr. Foong joined MERDU in 2013 and played a crucial role in the development of the university's new undergraduate medical curriculum. He initiated a new curriculum development project at the post-graduate level and in 2016, he developed the Master of Medical Education, which commenced in 2018 and he has been serving as the founding program coordinator until now. He is also responsible for teaching educational psychology, instructional design, and research methodology for the master's program. His proficiency and deep understanding of the development, implementation, and improvement of outcome-based education (OBE) academic programmes have led to his appointment as the Programme Quality Assurance Expert (ProQAE) at Universiti Malaya. In this role, he regularly advises and evaluates accreditation for academic programs as the chairperson of the accreditation panel. Dr. Foong Chan Choong is an educationist of great accomplishment, who has dedicated his career to teaching and research. With a passion for interacting with students and teacher trainees, he finds great satisfaction and motivation in his work. Currently, he is involved in teaching the Postgraduate Diploma of Education (Physics specialisation) at the Faculty of Education. In addition to his role in medical education / health professions education, Dr. Foong has also ventured into the field of engineering education. He is a lifelong learner, constantly seeking out new knowledge and experiences. His current research is multidisciplinary in nature, spanning the medical, dental and other health professions, engineering, physics and music education. Dr. Foong's research interests are diverse, with many of his publications focusing on educational psychology and psychometric. To date, he has published more than 70 publications. He holds several editorial positions, including editor for the Annals of Medicine (Medical Education section) (WoS Journal Citation Report 2024 Quartile 1), executive editor for the Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research (Scopus indexed), and editorial board member for BMC Medical Education (WoS Journal Citation Report 2024 Quartile 1). Dr. Foong plays an active role in the academic community. At present, he is the executive treasurer for the Qualitative Research Association Malaysia and also serves as an executive committee member for the Malaysian Association of Education in Medical and Health Sciences (MAEMHS). In addition to his academic pursuits, Dr. Foong is also an innovator, with several of his projects receiving recognition at the university, national, and international levels. He is also involved in community service, coaching the debate team at his alma mater, a secondary school in Perak. The school has achieved recognition at the state, national, and international levels.

Dr. Sonia Kumari is Senior Lecturer at Department of Development Studies, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Malaya. She holds PhD (Financial Development and Economic Growth, UNIMAS, Malaysia), MEcon (Public Policy, UKM, Malaysia) and BEc (Management Economics, UKM, Malaysia).  Her research expertise includes, Financial Development ; Financial Integration; Financial Inclusion; Sustainable Finance; Climate Finance; and Financial management of small businesses, with main focus on multidisciplinary themes related to emerging and developing economies. Her previous work experience includes: Associate Economist at the Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM) ; Visiting Research Fellow at Bocconi University, Milan, Italy; Visiting Research Fellow at Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales (ICEI), Complutense University of Madrid, Spain; Lecturer at Help University, Malaysia.  She has taught several courses at Undergraduate level including:  Microfinance and Social Enterprise, Analysis of Development Projects, SME Development, Agriculture Business Management, Agriculture Development, Development Economics and Research Methodology (at University of Malaya); Principles of Business Management, Principles of Macroeconomics and Principles of Microeconomics (at Help University). Postgraduate courses: Sustainable Finance (Universiti Malaya).  She supervised over 50 UG projects including industrial placement projects (at University of Malaya); over 15 Masters Research Projects (at University of Malaya); and 1 Doctoral completion (current PhD supervision = 8).   Produced over 30 publications, including book chapters, articles in internationally refereed journals, policy briefs and reports. She has also reviewed several papers for journals and conferences.  She has led research projects on: "Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth" and "Government Supports And Food Operator's Performance In Klang Valley" (University Grant). She is also a co-researcher for projects such as "Role of Social Enterprise in Poverty Alleviation and Inclusive Development in Malaysia" (University Grants); Developing Environmental Reporting Framework for the Small and Medium Enterprises in Malaysia: Using Q-Methodological Approach" (FRGS, Government of Malaysia) and "Catching-up along the Global Value Chain: models, determinants and policy implications in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution" (European Commission Grant). She has research collaborative links in several countries including South Africa, China and Bangladesh.  She is an Associate Editor for Journal of Institutions and Economies.  

Ir. Dr. Hwa-Jen YAP is a Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia. He obtained a tertiary academic qualification from the Universiti Malaya for a B.Eng in Mechanical Engineering, Master of Engineering Science and PhD in Engineering.  Before joining UM, he worked in the Air-Conditioning R&D industry from 2000 to 2002. He has to date published more than 100 papers in respectable journals and conference proceedings both locally and internationally. He has supervised more than 40 PhD and Master's students. His area of interest in research includes Extended Reality (Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality),  Virtual Manufacturing (VM), Product Design, Artificial Intelligence, Sports Engineering, Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0), Robotics (Industrial Robots & Collaborative Robots, Cobot) and Automation. He is also actively involved in consultancy projects, in which he has more than 15 research & technology projects related to the Aerospace Manufacturing industry.  Ir. Dr. Yap was the head of the Centre of Product Design & Manufacturing (CPDM) from 2013 to 2015. He was the Deputy Dean (Development) of the Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya from 2017 to 2018. Currently, he is the Director of Universiti Malaya's Consultancy Centre (Pusat Perundingan Universiti Malaya, UMConsult), Director of the UPUM Resources Sdn Bhd and Managing Director of the UPUM Sdn Bhd. On professional qualifications, he is a Professional Engineer (P.Eng) in the Mechanical Engineering discipline registered with the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM). He is also a member of The Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) and a Chartered Engineer (C.Eng) of the Engineering Council, UK.