Prof. Dr. Sarinder Kaur is a distinguished academic at the University of Malaya, where she serves as Associate Professor at the Data Science & Bioinformatics Laboratory, Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Kings University College, Malaysia. Her academic journey and research career have been driven by a commitment to harnessing data for impactful, real-world solutions, particularly in the domains of AI, data science, bioinformatics, health informatics, and database technology. Dr. Sarinder earned her PhD in Bioinformatics as well as her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science from the University of Malaya. Over the years, she has made substantial contributions to biomedical research and digital health, publishing over 145 scientific articles, including 49 indexed in Web of Science. Her work has been cited extensively, earning her an H-index of 13 (WoS) and 16 (Google Scholar). Her research has spanned diverse topics—from AI-driven cancer data ecosystems and bioinformatics meta-analyses of COVID-19 gene expression, to EMR optimization, radiology text mining, and traditional medicine data systems. She has led multi-institutional research collaborations involving the University of Cambridge, University of Saskatchewan, University Malaya Medical Centre, and Homi Bhabha Cancer Institute, among others. One of her key contributions is the development of digital frameworks and health data platforms that support clinical services, research, and policymaking. A passionate educator, Dr. Sarinder has supervised over 30 postgraduate students and teaches extensively at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Her courses cover computer networking, big data, advanced database systems, bioinformatics tools, and digital health technologies. Beyond academia, Dr. Sarinder plays an active role as a consultant in the Malaysian public and private sectors. She served as Project Director for Sigma Teguh Sdn Bhd, leading the development of machine learning algorithms to analyze national issues such as inflation and the PerantiSiswa program. She also partnered with the Ministry of Health to develop bioinformatics pipelines for analyzing COVID-19 variants and vaccine responses—demonstrating her ability to bridge science and policy through data-driven insights. She is a respected contributor to national and international academic development. Dr. Sarinder has served on academic accreditation panels for UTAR, IMU, and Multimedia University, and has been invited to speak at high-level forums including Monash University’s Data Science Seminar, MOH’s Digital Health Workshops, and the Health Informatics 2024 webinar. She is currently the Treasurer of the Asia Pacific Bioinformatics Network (APBioNet) and serves on the editorial boards of two prestigious journals: BMC Bioinformatics and BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making. Dr. Sarinder’s accomplishments have been recognized with multiple honors, including the Hind Rattan Award (2014 and 2017), the University of Malaya Excellent Service Award, and medals for innovation at national exhibitions such as INATEX and INNOVATE. In 2020, she was awarded the Khidmat Setia (Loyal Service) Award by the University of Malaya. Her commitment to education extends into the community. She has organized coding and STEM workshops for schoolchildren across Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Putrajaya, and actively contributes to social initiatives through her leadership roles in the Malaysian Consumer Movement and Pertubuhan Pembangunan Insan Sikh Perak, where she champions women’s development and digital literacy. Through her academic, consultancy, and community service work, Dr. Sarinder Kaur continues to be a trailblazer in advancing data-driven innovation in healthcare and education—both in Malaysia and internationally. Currently, Dr. Sarinder is contributing to the development of a Healthcare Data Safe Haven Infrastructure as part of the AI in Medicine Initiative at the University of Malaya. 

Tharani Loganathan is a Public Health Medical Specialist with a specialization in Health Economics, and a Medical Lecturer at the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya. She is the course coordinator for the Global Health, Global Health Leadership and Law and Health modules in the Masters in Public Health (MPH) programme. She has 17 years of working experience with the Ministry of Health, Malaysia in diverse areas, notably in Primary Health Care. Dr Tharani has a medical degree from Universiti Sains Malaysia, and an MPH and DrPH from University Malaya. For her doctoral degree, Tharani conducted a comprehensive economic evaluation of rotavirus vaccines beyond cost-effectiveness, to include benefits of vaccination in improving equity and financial risk protection to inform its inclusion into the national immunization program Malaysia. She is particularly interested in health systems and policy research towards advancing health system goals of achieving Universal Health Coverage. Dr Tharani has written and spoken extensively on migrant access to healthcare, including the healthcare financing and social protection policies for migrant workers in Malaysia. Currently, Dr Tharani is investigating the provisions for educational access for non-citizen children in Malaysia. Tharani Loganathan is an Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity in South East Asia.  

  Started his research career in the think tank sector, Dr. Lee Chee Leong (Karl) is attracted to the rise of non-traditional diplomacy in the international order today. Such appeal has taken Dr. Lee into new research horizons that started with his Monash University's doctoral research on the Chinese sub-state diplomacy in China-ASEAN economic cooperation. With constructive supervision by Professor Helen Nesadurai and Associate Professor Kuik Cheng Chwee, Dr. Lee completed his doctoral thesis that unravels how a faraway and least developed sub-state of Guangxi managed to overcome its own hurdles, navigate the complexities within the Chinese state and become the frontline actor in China-ASEAN economic cooperation.  Following his doctoral completion, Dr. Lee's research on non-traditional diplomacy has expanded into Taiwan’s quasi-state diplomacy in Southeast Asia. Such quest has led him spending at great length in comprehending the concept of soft power, a concept that finds its relevance to Taiwan, which has no official diplomatic with Southeast Asia but is heavily connected to the region and has to rely on soft power in its engagements with these Southeast Asian nations. By comparing different case studies of Taiwan's quasi-state engagement within Southeast Asia, Dr. Lee has developed the soft power diffusion process to explain how such phenomenon operates in the real world. His ongoing and incoming research projects include Unpacking ‘De-risking’ China in the Indo-Pacific Region: Economic Statecraft (ES) & Geoeconomics, Taiwan's New Southbound Policy (NSP) and NSP+: The Domestic-International Dichotomy, The Taiwanese Connections in Nvidia's Global AI Supply Chain and Taiwan and Ireland: The Story of Two Tech Powerhouses.  To date, Dr. Lee was the recipient of several scholarships and fellowships in Malaysia and overseas: University of Malaya’s Graduate Fellowship (2010-2011); Monash University’s Merit Scholarship (2016-2019); Chinese Government Scholarship (2018-2019); and Taiwan Fellowship (2020). Prior to his appointment as Senior Lecturer at the Institute of China Studies (ICS), he was the Visiting Scholar at Guangxi University for Nationalities (GXUN) (2018-2019), Taiwan Fellow at National Chengchi University (NCCU) (2020) and Associate Fellow at ICS UM (2016-2019). He welcomes any potential PhD candidate who would like to work on Taiwan-Southeast Asia relations, comparative cases of ES between Asia and Europe, US-China-ASEAN semiconductor geoeconomics and case studies of donut economies in Asia. He is also willing to discuss with potential doctoral candidates on proposals related to the Chinese sub-state (provincial and city) diplomacy toward ASEAN, comparative cases of sub-state diplomacy between Asia and Europe as well as conceptual innovations of sub-state diplomacy vis-a-vis soft power.