Amirul Mohamad Khairi bin Mannan is an accomplished educator and researcher, currently serving as an Education Officer at the Mathematics Division, Centre for Foundation Studies in Science, Universiti Malaya. Since 2012, he has been teaching a diverse range of pre-university mathematics courses, including Algebra, Calculus, Vector, Statistics, and Programming. Amirul holds a Degree in Electrical Engineering (2005), Master’s in Computer Science (2013) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (2017) from Universiti Malaya, and he is presently pursuing a PhD in Education. His research focuses on metacognitive processes in calculus problem-solving, particularly through the integration of GeoGebra, a dynamic mathematics software. In addition to his teaching roles, Amirul has been recognized for his innovative approaches in education. He has received several prestigious awards, including the Malaysia Toray Science Foundation - Science Education Award 2024, Gold Medal at the Pre-University Matriculation Innovation Competition 2023 and Universiti Malaya Excellent Awards 2023 for Innovative Alternative Assessment. His commitment to using technology to enhance learning has earned him recognition both nationally and internationally. Prior to his academic career, Amirul spent five years in industry, gaining expertise in PCB layout design and online marketing. This technical background complements his research interests in mathematics education, online learning, hybrid learning, and STEM education. Amirul is open to future collaborations in education and technology integration and welcomes opportunities to supervise and mentor students. He is passionate about guiding students and colleagues in their academic pursuits and research projects, and he remains committed to contributing to the advancement of educational practices.

      Badrul Mohamed Jan, SPE is currently an associate professor attached to the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Malaya, Malaysia.  He holds a BS, MS and PhD degrees in petroleum engineering from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, USA. He spent almost 10 years in the US and he had the opportunity to work in aworld class research center, Petroleum Recovery Research Centre in New Mexico Tech. He joined the Department of Chemical Engineering, UM as lecturer in 2004.    The first project successfully executed is related to the use of Dolomite as alternative weighting agent to Barite in drilling fluids. The outcome of the research indicates a promising opportunity to use Dolomite instead of Barite in drilling fluids. Barite is toxic and expensive compared to dolomite, which can be acquired locally.   Dr. Jan first envisions is to develop and link any upstream oil and gas activity to his research. The major project that he accomplished was in the development of Super Light Weight Completion Fluid, (SLWCF) for 3M Asia Pacific. He managed to come out with a discreet formulation for new completion fluid with the use of glass bubbles from 3M. The formulated fluid has been tested in BKC 3 well at Bunga Raya field near Malaysia and Vietnam border. The field belongs to PETRONAS. The outcome of the field test showed nearly 1,000 barrels of additional oil could be produced daily if well is treated with SLWCF. The findings has been presented in SPE conference in Mexico and also published in the Journal of Drilling and Completion.   In addition Dr. Jan has also worked closely with BCI Chemical Sdn  Bhd, a local company mainly formulating and selling oil filed chemicals for various applications such as Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). Dr. Jan has successfully formulated a novel emulsifier, which is based on palm oil. About 15 ISI journal papers have published from the work.   Dr. Jan has also embarked in making use of industrial waste to improve production of hydrocarbon. In this effort, specific waste from industry has been characterized and extracted for its graphene content. Preliminary work and results indicates as much as 11% of graphene is able to be extracted. Current research is still on going to optimize the extraction process. In addition the extracted graphene will also be added into drilling fluid to investigate the rheological improvement resulting from the addition of the extracted graphene.   Dr Jan next research activities will mainly focus on the use of local dolomite in improving local water quality from a novel “Dolomite Water” system. This new niche area will open up new window of  opportunity for university research to be applied to industry and community.        

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.