Rozana Othman received her BSc (Hons) in Chemistry in 1995, and PhD degree in 2010 from Universiti Malaya. She joined the Pharmacy Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, in 1999 as a lecturer. She became a Senior Lecturer in 2007 and Associate Professor in 2016. She achieved top five Merck Young Scientist Award 2009, and was also awarded with the Bioinno Award in 2010 by Biotech Corp, Malaysia, The Jenesys Programme by The Japan Foundation in 2010, and the Asian Core Program Lectureship Award in 2014. Rozana initiated and worked towards the setting-up of the computational research lab in the faculty, which is now known as INSPirE (In Silico Pharmaceutical Suite). Currently, Rozana is the Head of the External Linkage Division under the Faculty of Pharmacy. She is also the Deputy Head for the Centre of Natural Products Research and Drug Discovery (CENAR), a founding member of the Drug Design and Development Research Group (DDDRG) Universiti Malaya, an associate member of the Malaysian Institute of Chemistry, and a member of the Malaysian Natural Products Society. Rozana was the Deputy Dean of Research & Development (2019-2021), Deputy Dean of Research, Value Creation and Enterprise (2022-2023) and Deputy Dean of Student Affairs (2023).  Her research interest revolves around the area of Medicinal Chemistry, Natural Products Chemistry and Computational Chemistry. Till date, she has supervised more than 16 PhD and 8 Masters by research students.  

Dr. Jamilah Syafawati Yaacob completed her B.Sc (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology & Biotechnology) from University of Melbourne, Australia in 2007, and her M.Sc (Crop Biotechnology) from University of Nottingham (Malaysia campus) in 2009. She received her PhD in Biotechnology from University of Malaya in 2013 and was one of the recipients of the University of Malaya Excellence Awards in 2014 for completing her PhD in less than 4 years. In 2010, during her PhD candidature, she had also won a Gold Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Biosciences & Biotechnology during University of Malaya Innovation and Creativity Expo. After successfully completing her PhD, she then joined the Institute of Biological Sciences at the Faculty of Science, University of Malaya as a Senior Lecturer. Since then, she has taught and coordinated various undergraduate courses such as Biology of Organisms, Genetic Engineering in Animals and Plants, Cell and Tissue Culture and Higher Plant Physiology. At the postgraduate level, she has also helped in teaching Research Methodology, a compulsory course upon entry into postgraduate studies at the department. Since her employment as an Academic, she has served the department and University in various administrative duties, such as the programme coordinator for Bachelor of Science with Education (ISB), BSc in Biotechnology, academic advisor, final year project coordinator and many more. Her current research interest is on manipulation of plant tissue culture system for biotechnological applications, with special emphasis on stress-induced plant secondary metabolites and proteins for medicinal applications and sustainable production of functional food colorants. Her present research works include projects on understanding and manipulating plant’s response towards abiotic stress for over-expression of valuable bioactive compounds, such as in Azadirachta indica (neem). The regulation of proteins involved in the biosynthesis of these bioactive compounds or secondary metabolites are analyzed through proteomics-based approach, to allow for a better understanding of the biosynthesis pathways that has been affected. In addition to that, she is also working on the epigenetics aspect of plant phenotypic plasticity, to understand the epigenetic regulation (with focus on histone modification) in DNA repair and somaclonal variation. In recognition of her work and scientific achievements, she has won several awards such as a Gold Medal at International Invention, Innovation & Technology Exhibition (ITEX) in 2013 and a Bronze Medal at Bioinnovation Awards/BioMalaysia & Bioeconomy Asia Pacific 2013. Other than that, she is also actively participating in the scientific community and the public by taking on various roles as a judge or jury in scientific competitions and innovation programs at national and secondary school levels. These include her role as a judge for Malaysian Agricultural Invention Show (MAgIS) competition organized by Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry in 2016, and judge for science videos and scientific poem recitation competitions organized by Ministry of Education in 2017-2018, among others. Professionally, she was also one of the representatives in the working group for pineapple planting material for preparation of Malaysian Standard (organized by SIRIM Malaysia) in 2018. Outside of work and research, she also loves to join various events that promote sustainability and green environment.

  Zuwati Hasim Associate Professor Department of Language & Literacy Education, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, WP, Malaysia Email: zuwati_hasim@um.edu.my   Zuwati Hasim is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. Completed her PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Waikato, New Zealand, with a research focus on understanding ESL writing and its assessment practice through the sociocultural lens. She was formerly a Deputy Director at the Centre for Civilisational Dialogue, University Malaya (UMCCD) during which she managed programmes in collaboration with the agencies and institutions in building understandings (through dialogues) of certain topics of discussions along with the themes found in the UN/UNESCO International Days. Upon completion of her tenure at the UMCCD, she was then appointed as the Deputy Director at the International Institute of Public Policy & Management (INPUMA), Universiti Malaya where she managed the Master of Public Policy (MPP) programme, organized evaluation and training programmes, and developed collaborations with local and international agencies. Among the programmes managed were the Malaysia Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP) under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MPP Outbound Programme, and Education Policy Lab. She currently serves as Deputy Dean of Research and a Chief Liaison Officer at the Faculty of Education, Universiti Malaya. In the field of research, she has led several national research projects such a Bullying Phenomena Among Malaysian Students (lead consultant to MOHE & MOE), Evaluation of School-Based Assessment (funded by MOE), Digital Resilience & Cyberbullying (funded by MBPJ and UM), and Community English Support System (funded by MOE under IIRG). She has also collaborated in a few research projects funded by the government agencies such as MCMC (Click Wisely Project) and MPC (Behavioral Insights Research Project). She was appointed as a research coordinator (2022-2024) by an international organization, Education International (in Brussels), for a Teacher-Led Learning Circles Project - Looking into Formative Assessment Practice. In 2023, she participated in the In-Person Exchange Program on Media and Information Literacy sponsored by the United States Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Office and hosted by the Global Launch of Arizona State University, Phoenix, USA in cooperation with FHI360. Her research work continues in which for 2024 she explores on Social Innovation in Education research projects that focus on three elements: communitize, industrialize, and internationalize higher education institution (HEI) - aligning with the university's vision.  Acknowledging her expertise - in the field of ESL, assessment, and education - she has been appointed as external examiner, curriculum evaluator, advisor, panel of expert, and reviewer by several higher learning institutions and government agencies, local and abroad. She was appointed by MOHE (Bahagian Mahasiswa Holistik)/MOE, as Lead Consultant for a nationwide research on bullying phenomenon in 2018. In 2023, she was consulted by the National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN) on revieweing the  CEFR Aligned Language Assessment instruments. In 2024 she was engaged as Lead Consultant to the National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN) focused on Developing and Validating MCQ Items for ELPA Reading Test Component.  Her research interests include ESL, language assessment, action research, behavioral insights, pedagogy, teacher education, reflective practice, higher education, media and information literacy, and school-based assessment. Among her book publications are Barnard & Hasim (Eds.) (2018) English Medium Instruction: Perspectives from Southeast Asian Universities published by Routledge and Hasim & Barnard (Eds.) (2017) Pedagogical Research Practices in Higher Learning Institutions in Malaysia by UMPress.  For both publications and research, she has collaborated with academics, locally and internationally. She is also actively involved with community projects where her interest is to share knowledge and to bring about positive social change in practice and perspectives of the communities. To add, she is actively involved with Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and activities celebrated by UNESCO in which she was a programme director for the Celebration of UNESCO World Teachers’ Day 2017 through 2019 (Malaysia chapter), funded by the Malaysia National Commission for UNESCO and Education International. Some of her completed UNESCO projects were documented in Hasim & Chang (2016) Narratives of Intercultural Relationships & Understanding. In 2019, she was given the honor to coordinate inaugural Academia Day Celebration (National Level), hosted by the Malaysia Ministry of Education/Ministry of Higher Education & Universiti Malaya. As part of the community contribution, she is actively participating in the Parent-Teacher-School and Community associated programmes. For local and international network recognition and effort, she was a guest researcher and a visiting scholar at the University of Muenster, Germany in 2017; an advisory panel for Zulfaqar Journal of Defence Management, UPNM; a member to International Literacy Association, Qualitative Research Association of Malaysia (QRAM), Malaysia English Language Teaching Association (MELTA), Applied Linguistics Association New Zealand; an auditor to Malaysia Academic Movement Association (2017-2019); an evaluation expert for UPNM (2019); Testing & Evaluation trainer for ASWARA (2021); an adjunct Senior Lecturer at Asia E University (2020); a member of UM Academic Staff Association, as well as a certified Microsoft Innovative Educator. Her expertise is further acknowledged when she was appointed as a visiting lecturer/professor at several institutions - Universitas Negeri Medan, Indonesia (2022-2023); adjunct professor at Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta (2025) and as an adjunct Associate Professor at Ningde Normal University in Fujian, China (2023-2025). She is the recipient of Erasmus+ Teaching Staff Mobility Award to Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania (2025). She is also the recipient of several outstanding awards such as Excellence Service Award (2025), Best Teacher Award (2025), Award for Best Community Engagement Project from Universiti Malaya (2022); a Gold Award for Innovation Project from IPGM (2022); Award of Excellent Contribution as Reviewer from CALL-EJ (2018); Certificate of Excellence Service (2015) and granted a Professional Certificate for Entrepreneurship Educator (ProCEEd) from MOHE and UiTM (2022). With her expertise, she has contributed ideas and thoughts related to education through various recognized local media platforms (printed, telecast & online) such as The Star, News Straits Times, Radio IKIM, Berita RTM, Selamat Pagi Malaysia (RTM), Bernama TV, Berita Harian, Utusan, etc.