Dr. Muhammad Ameerullah Bin Sahudin is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya. He holds a Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD in Chemistry from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), combining strong academic foundations with an active research career. Dr. Ameerullah’s research covers analytical and inorganic chemistry, particularly in transition metal chemistry, biosensor materials, electroanalytical sensors, and optical or photonics-based chemical sensing. His work focuses on solving real-world challenges in food safety, environmental monitoring, and community health. At Universiti Malaya, he is not only passionate about research but also about teaching and mentoring. He supervises both postgraduate and undergraduate students and teaches courses such as Inorganic Chemistry, Nuclear Chemistry, and Practical Analytical and Inorganic Chemistry. He also contributes to postgraduate programmes in electroanalytical chemistry and biosensors. Beyond the classroom, he plays active roles in university administration as the Industry Relations Officer, STEM outreach representative, and programme coordinator for quality assurance and departmental activities. Throughout his career, Dr. Ameerullah has received 21 research awards from national and international institutions, a testament to the quality and impact of his work. His achievements have been recognised by organisations such as the Royal Society of Chemistry, the American Chemical Society, and Institut Kimia Malaysia, alongside several internal honours including the Universiti Malaya Excellent Service Award.

in f inancial e conomics from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). After completing his master degree, Lim joined UMS as a lecturer in January 2002 . Three years later, he was given a staff scholarship to pursue a PhD degree at the Department of Econometrics and Busi ness Statistics, Monash University. He holds a B . B . A . in finance with honors from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM ) , and a M.Sc. in f inancial e conomics from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). After completing his master degree, Lim joined UMS as a lecturer in January 2002 . Three years later, he was given a staff scholarship to pursue a PhD degree at the Department of Econometrics and Busi ness Statistics, Monash University. Kian-Ping Lim is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya. He received his B.B.A. (Hons.) in Finance from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Determined to become a scholar, he pursued an M.Sc. in Financial Economics at Universiti Putra Malaysia. It was during his master’s program that he first acquired formal training in econometrics through two foundational courses, which became instrumental in shaping his approach to empirical research. Drawing on this new skill set, he completed his dissertation, “Non-Linear Dependence in ASEAN-5 Foreign Exchange Rates: An Insight from a Battery of Non-Linearity Tests”, marking his entry into scholarly inquiry on financial markets. In 2002, after completing his master’s degree, Kian-Ping joined Universiti Malaysia Sabah as a lecturer. During this period, he had the privilege of collaborating with the late Professor Melvin Hinich, a pioneering scholar who developed the bispectrum and trispectrum tests for nonlinearity. Their intellectual exchanges proved formative, as they questioned the dominance of linearity-based approaches in weak-form efficiency studies. Together, they showed that returns can be linearly uncorrelated yet still exhibit nonlinear dependence that is forecastable. By uncovering such nonlinearities across different stock markets, their work challenged the adequacy of conventional efficiency tests and laid the groundwork for his doctoral research at Monash University. From 2005 to 2009, Kian-Ping pursued his PhD at the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics, Monash University. Building on his earlier work, he moved beyond the question of whether markets were efficient in an absolute sense to challenge the static treatment of efficiency. Using rolling-sample methods, he showed that efficiency evolves over time. More importantly, he advanced the idea of treating efficiency in relative terms, opening new avenues to explore its drivers across countries. His survey article in the Journal of Economic Surveys called for a paradigm shift from the Efficient Markets Hypothesis to the Adaptive Markets Hypothesis. Together with his collaborators, he contributed to operationalizing this framework, and the resulting paper was published in the Journal of Empirical Finance. He regards the four-year PhD journey as the most productive phase of his career, publishing 18 of 21 papers written during candidature in mainstream economics and finance journals. After completing his PhD, Kian-Ping continued his research journey largely in collaboration with his doctoral students, while staying true to his philosophy of offering novel perspectives against conventional practices. His work on stock liquidity moved beyond firm-level analysis to examine liquidity at the aggregate market level. In corporate finance, he shifted the lens from broad corporate governance to the role of blockholder governance. In his more recent research on market integration, he advocated Bayesian approaches that more effectively capture the dynamics of market comovements, offering a conceptually richer alternative to conventional correlation-based measures. Across these domains, his post-PhD work reflects a commitment to advancing scholarship through fresh and critical perspectives. The impact of his research is reflected in both readership and recognition. His publications have attracted high citations across Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar, placing him among the leading financial economists in Malaysia. Since 2010, he has consistently been ranked within the top five percent of economists in the country according to IDEAS/RePEc. His international standing is further affirmed by ScholarGPS, where he is listed as a Highly Ranked Scholar within the top 0.05% globally in the specialty of "Stock": ranked #48 in 2022, #59 in 2023, and #66 in 2024 worldwide. Beyond research, Kian-Ping contributes actively to academic leadership and service. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Malaysian Journal of Economic Studies, the flagship publication of the Malaysian Economic Association. He was the Deputy Dean (Research & Innovation) at the Labuan School of International Business & Finance, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (Jan 2010–Jan 2012), and later the Deputy Dean (Research & Development) at the Faculty of Economics & Administration, Universiti Malaya (Aug 2016–Sept 2021). In these capacities, he helped to promote research in business and economics, supporting an environment where scholarship can grow. Kian-Ping's journey, shaped by these milestones in research and leadership, is captured in the attached timeline (click here), which also points to the path he looks forward to pursuing in the years ahead.

Dr. Nurul Shahnaz Ahmad Mahdzan is a Professor and served as the Head at the Department of Finance, Faculty of Business & Economics, University of Malaya from 2019-2023. She obtained her PhD from the Nottingham University Business School, UK; MBA (with Distinction) from the University of Malaya; and BBA (Finance) (Summa Cum Laude) from Ohio University, USA. Her research passion is in the area of Consumer Finances, particularly on the issues of financial behaviour and economic psychology of households - this includes their financial literacy, financial well-being, fintech adoption, financial attitudes, saving behaviour, investment risk-taking behaviour, and gullibility to financial fraud victimisation. She also has an interest in studies related to the financial services industry, particularly in insurance and risk management. Her current research project involves FinTech usage among millenials and the Gen X's and how this impacts financial well-being. Recently, she was invited as a Plenary Speaker at the National Financial Literacy Symposium (NFLS 2023) to share her views on the state of financial literacy and financial well-being among Malaysians. She has also appeared in numerous national TV, radio and print media where her views on personal finance and economic issues have been sought. She has been appointed as a panel of assessor for the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) research grants since year 2020 to date. Additionally, she has been invited to speak on several local industrial platforms on the topic of Consumer Finances. She has been invited as guest speaker at international symposiums and platforms that discuss financial and economic issues pertaining to the Malaysian context. Her deep interest and engagement in the area of Consumer Finances stems from her ten-year experience working in financial services, where she mainly dealt with consumers and their personal finances. It was then that her passion the area began and continues till today, as reflected in her research, publications and other activities.