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.  

MOHAMAD HUSSIN was born in Sik, Kedah, Malaysia, in 1975. He received a Bachelor's degree in Arabic Language and Literature from the Al al-Bayt University, Jordan, in 1999, and a Master of Modern Language Studies from the University of Malaya in 2007. In 2017, he received Ph.D. degrees in Arabic Language studies from the Universiti Putra Malaysia. In 2017 he joined the Department of Arabic and Middle East Languages, Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur as a Senior Lecturer. He has taught a variety of courses in Arabic Language Studies at undergraduate programs and supervised some postgraduate MA and Ph.D. candidates.  His research interests include learning Arabic as a second language, Arabic for specific purposes, Arabic Language Studies, translation Arabic to Malaya and Arabic Rhetorical especially the Prophet Muhammad (saw) bayān. He has published articles in international and national journals, books, and other publications. One of his remarkable works is he published a few article journals indexed by WoS and Scopus.  Apart from his teaching experiences, he is actively taking part as thesis examiners and article reviewers, both at local and international levels. Besides than that, he is also assigned as one of the editorial board members in some of the acknowledged journals, International Journal of Humanities and Journal of Language Teaching, Literature and Linguistics (JLTLL), to name a few. In addition, he has been appointed as Chief Editor for al-Dad Journal.

Concertmaster Yi-Li Chang, who carried it off with confident virtuosity....                                                               - The Boston Musical Intelligencer -   A native of Taiwan, Dr Yi-Li Chang has been recognized by Boston Musical Intelligencer as a baroque violinist with “confident virtuosity, and blend as necessary, adding a rich warmth to the group’s sound.”. As a founding member of the early music chamber ensemble Incendium Novum, Dr Chang performs regularly in Asia and U.S. Dr Chang has also invited and participated in music festivals and concert series, most recently at Macau International Music Festival, Georgetown Festival in Malaysia, Macau Vocal Festival and Boston Early Music Festival, among others. She also invited to give lectures at Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysian Institute of Art, Boston Public Library and National Taiwan Normal University. Dr Chang has performed solo and chamber baroque violin and modern violin recitals in many well-known concert halls such as Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS, Experimental Theatre of UM in Malaysia, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Boston University, Cary Hall in U. S., National Concert Hall of Taiwan, National Recital Hall of Taiwan, among others. She has also toured with various groups, such as Incendium Novum, La Donna Musicale, Rumbarocco, VerSeS and Formosa Baroque in U.S., Malaysia, Taiwan, and Europe. She has also studied piano performance and composition; some of her compositions have been recognized and performed in U.S. and Taiwan. As an orchestral musician, Dr Chang has performed with Boston-based groups such as Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra and Lexington Symphony Orchestra. While in Taiwan, she has been a member of the Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra and Taipei Century Orchestra. She has performed as concertmaster with the Longy Early Opera Project; as string section coach and concertmaster, for Philharmonia Moments Musicaux Baroque orchestra in Taiwan, and as guest artist and coach at Tufts University and Montserrat College of Art in U.S. A well-rounded musician, Dr Chang’s knowledge of music goes beyond the modern and baroque violin. In addition to baroque performance and composition, her interests extend to harpsichord, which most recently she performed the harpsichord concerto of J.S.Bach with KLPAC orchestra in Malaysia in 2022. When Dr Chang studied in U.S., she has studied the harpsichord with Avi Stein and Vivian Montgomery, continuo accompaniment, which she has studied with Vivian Montgomery, Avi Stein, Dana Maiben, and Douglas Freundlich, and viola da gamba, which she has studied with Jane Hershey and Sarah Cunningham. Dr Chang received her first master degree (2007) and Ph. D. (2014) in violin performance from National Taiwan Normal University under Professor Nanette Chen. After receiving her PhD, she went aboard to study historical performance and graduated in 2016 with a Graduate Performance Diploma in baroque violin, and in 2015 with a Master of Music degree in Early Music from the Longy School of Music of Bard College, under baroque violinist Dana Maiben. During her studies at Longy, she was the winner of the Honors Competition and granted the prestigious Roman Totenberg Award. Besides being soloist and being with these groups, Dr Chang is also a dedicated educator, which she has been the faculty of Arlington Public School, New School of Music, and staff accompanist at Longy School of Music of Bard College in USA. Dr Chang is the member of The Viola da Gamba Society of America and College Music Society of U.S.   She is now Senior Lecturer at University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.