VGR Chandran is Professor of Industrial Development at the Department of Development Studies, Faculty of Business and Economics at University of Malaya. He has also worked as Principal Analyst of Economic and Policy Studies with Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT), Prime Minister’s Department, Malaysia. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics and his research interests are mainly on innovation, technology development, trade and globalization that relate to industrial development. His field research covers sectors such as electrical and electronics, automotive, food, chemical, oil palm, machinery, iron and steel, ICT, and the newly emerging sector - renewable energy. He had extensive fieldwork covering the Asian region that includes countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, India, China, Thailand, and Malaysia. In recent years, his research interest expanded into investigating newly emerging enterprises within the context of social innovation and social enterprises, as well as open innovation. His interest has also expanded in studying the issues of NTMs, mainly regulatory and procedural requirements that serve as a barrier for firms to integrate into the Global Value Chain. He has also worked as a consultant for international organizations such as UNCTAD, UNIDO, UNESCO, UNEP, ERIA, OECD as well as governmental organizations in Malaysia. He has published articles in international journals - Economics of New Technology and Innovation, Policy Modelling, as well as book chapters and books on industrial development and innovation. He is the recipient of various national and international grants – to name a few - European Union Horizon 2020 and IDR, Canada, among others. His work is widely quoted in government policy documents contributing to numerous policy changes. He has contributed to the Malaysian regulatory reform efforts, STI and Industrial policy development at national as well as state level. His work via Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Economic Planning Unit, Academic of Sciences, Ministry of International Trade and Industry, MIGHT, Prime Minister’s Department, Malaysian Productivity Corporation and Institute Darul Ridzuan (state level) was instrumental in making the policy changes. His engagement with the industry are mainly in the form of undertaking studies and providing expert opinions. He has received various awards, e.g., excellence in teaching award and outstanding paper award from Emerald and Elsevier. Details of his current projects as follows: (1) Catching-up along the GVC: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/214786/factsheet/en (2) Regional Economic Corridors: http://www.crisea.eu/researchers/chandran-vgr

Suhaiza Zailani is an expert in the field of Supply Chain Management (SCM). She received her MSc in Operational Research and a PhD in Management Science from Lancaster University, England, United Kingdom. Currently serving as a Professor of Supply Chain at the Faculty of Business and Economics, University Malaya, she has made significant contributions to academia and the business community. During her academic career, Suhaiza Zailani has held several key positions, including Head of Training Section and Deputy Dean of Postgraduates. She also served as the Director of the University of Malaya Entrepreneurship Center (UMEC). Under her leadership, UMEC received recognition as one of the top 20 entrepreneurship centers globally by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business' (AACSB) Entrepreneurship Spotlight Challenge. This recognition underscores her commitment to providing students with practical business experience and tools for success. Suhaiza Zailani has recently been appointed as the Director of the Ungku Aziz Center (UAC), which is dedicated to supporting disadvantaged and vulnerable communities through collaborations with government agencies and corporations. This appointment demonstrates her dedication to making a positive impact on society. Her primary area of expertise lies in Supply Chain Management, with a specific focus on sustainability and halal issues. Her achievements in SCM are evident through her extensive track record, including supervising numerous postgraduate students, securing research grants, conducting consultations, fostering industrial partnerships, and holding professional appointments. Suhaiza Zailani has also made significant contributions to the field through her publications. She has authored articles in the newpapers column and written a textbook on Operations Management, widely used by undergraduate students. Additionally, she has published more than 200 papers in various citation-indexed journals, with a strong presence in ISI-based and Scopus journals. Her impact on the academic community is reflected in her impressive citation records, with an ISI H-Index of 39 (5,059 total citations), a Scopus H-Index of 44 (7,132 citations), and a Google Scholar H-Index of 63 (15,230 citations) as of October 10, 2023. These numbers highlight the significance and influence of her research in the field. Suhaiza Zailani has received numerous recognitions and awards throughout her career, including nominations for the Anugerah Akademik Negara by both University Science Malaysia (USM) in 2012 and the University of Malaya (UM) in 2017. She was awarded the USM Sanggar Sanjung in 2012 and recognized as the UM Distinguished Researcher in 2016. Her contributions to literature have also earned her the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence in 2016 and 2019. Moreover, her dedication to research excellence is underscored by her recognition as one of the recipients of the Top 80 UM Researchers in 2021 and 2022. She was the only recipient from the arts discipline, highlighting her interdisciplinary approach and contributions to the broader scientific community. In summary, Suhaiza Zailani is a distinguished scholar and expert in Supply Chain Management in Malaysia, with a strong commitment to academic excellence, entrepreneurship, and community development. 

Professor Dr. Lim Kheng Seang, a University of Malaya (Malaysia) graduate in 1999 with MRCP (UK), is a Professor of Neurology in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, the Head of Neurology Unit, PPUM, and a Consultant Neurologist specializing in epilepsy at the University of Malaya Medical Centre and University Malaya Specialist Centre, Malaysia. He has been trained at the University of Malaya for his neurology subspecialty training (2008), followed by fellowship training in Melbourne (2011) and Cleveland (2017) for epilepsy.  He is the President of the ASEAN Neurological Association (ASNA, 2023-2027), the Chair-elect (2025-2029) and General Secretary (2021-2025) of the Asian and Oceanian Commission, International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE-AO), the chair of the Research Task Force in the commission, the past President of the Malaysian Society of Neurosciences (MSN) and Malaysian Epilepsy Society (PEM), an active member of the Malaysian Epilepsy Council and internationally and ex-chair of the Research Commission in the International Bureau of Epilepsy. He has been involved in many trials of newer treatments (e.g., newer drugs and transcranial magnetic stimulation) in epilepsy. He also specialises in non-invasive and invasive epilepsy surgery assessment, including long-term video-EEG monitoring, intracranial monitoring with stereo-EEG, subdural and depth electrodes, electrocardiography, and cortical stimulation. Other areas of expertise included vagal nerve stimulation, deep brain stimulation, transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, transcutaneous direct current stimulation, corpus callosotomy and radiofrequency ablation.  He is currently the Associate Editor for Neurology Asia, a reviewer for a few academic journals, and an organising committee member of multiple national and international conferences. He has published ≥ 150 original papers with an H-index of 24, in journals including Neurology (IF:8.055), Epilepsia (IF:5.562), Neuron (14.403), and JAMA Neurology (IF:29.91). His research work focuses on the psychosocial aspects of epilepsy, clinical studies, especially epilepsy surgery and seizures in brain tumours, genetics in focal and familial epilepsies, pharmacogenomics and pharmacokinetics of antiepileptic drugs, quantitative EEG and quantitative MRI research, and artificial intelligence. He is active in research, being the principal investigator and co-investigator in many local and international research projects, and has a strong collaboration with Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. He was awarded multiple university and national research grants of more than RM1.5 million, and he has supervised 20 postgraduate students and 30 international neurology fellows.