Daniel Chow Ung T’chiang (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya. He was the former Deputy Dean (Research, 2022) and former Deputy Dean (Research and Development, 2020-2022). His areas of interest include English for Specific Purposes and Critical Genre Analysis. He is currently involved in research projects on Professional Discourses and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Daniel is the Treasurer of the Malaysian Association of Applied Linguistics (MAAL), an affiliate of the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA), and the Treasurer for the AILA2024 Congress.

Syafiq Faliq Alfan, also known as SEFA, is a theatre and performance studies scholar, performing artist, educator, and cultural researcher specialising in cultural change and memory in Asian traditional performing arts. He is particularly interested in how traditional forms transform across time, media, and space, and how these shifts relate to cultural memory, philosophy of history, and lived experience. He earned his Doctoral Degree from the Faculty of Integrated Arts and Science at Hiroshima University, Japan, in 2022, through research on the methodological construction of analysis towards the traditional dances of Mak Yong and Noh using motion capture technology. As an outsider-artist, SEFA has been a member of the Ipoh artist-collective Projek Rabak since 2011, where he currently serves as director. Since 2007, he has actively participated in numerous local and international performances, focusing on the intersection between Corporeal Mime by Étienne Decroux and the improvisational techniques of Malay traditional performing arts. His performance research centres on the body as subject and its entanglement with elements within its environment, including space, audience, and technology, often drawing on Practice-as-Research as a core method. SEFA is also a creative writer, with works such as Melankolia Bisu (2014) and Novel Eksperimental (2013), among others. Currently, his research interests revolve around memory studies and the philosophy of history to understand Mak Yong history and its multiple trajectories across regions and narratives. He believes that enriching the discourse on Malaysian traditional performing arts, through both theory and practice, will deepen our understanding of their role in shaping local identities and collective memory. He is also interested in engaging Digital Humanities at the intersection of aesthetics, ecology, local wisdom, identity formation, and arts biomechanics. Through media and technology, particularly motion capture, he explores how different experiences and cultures can be understood in greater nuance, especially in relation to various modes of cultural change in performing arts. His work sits at the crossroads of performance theory, cultural and memory studies, media studies, and philosophical inquiry. As a scholar of performance and theatre studies, he believes the role of the performing arts extends beyond the discourse of performance and performativity, and should also engage critically with issues of sustainability, environmental impact, socio-economics, education, architecture, and technology. Potential postgraduate students should be prepared for an integrated and interdisciplinary approach, and be willing to develop practical and high-impact research that benefits society while remaining sensitive to culture, history, and the evolving realities of performance.

Short biography Dr. Mohammad Ismath Ramzy is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Educational Foundation & Humanities, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya (UM), Kuala Lumpur. He has more than 10 year’s experience in teaching, research and Academic thesis supervision He is the Chair of Education for Humanism and Social Advancement Research Centre (EHSAn), Faculty of Education, Universiti Malaya, and he served as an Editor of the Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Management (MOJEM-Scopus indexed)- (https://mojem.um.edu.my/) for more than four years. Dr Ramzy's background is in Intercultural and interreligious education. He obtained a Licentiate Certificate in Islamic studies from Jaamiah Nalemiah, Sri Lanka and completed undergraduate studies in Arabic linguistics at the Peradeniya University of Sri Lanka in 2001. He received a Master's in Comparative Religion from the International Islamic University Islamabad. He studied Shavism of Hinduism for his Master's thesis. Ramzy completed his PhD in Comparative Religion in 2012 at the International Islamic University, Malaysia (IIUM), where he studied the legacy of Ven. Prof. Walpola Rahula Thera of Sri Lanka to peaceful coexistence. Upon completing his PhD, Ramzy joined the Universiti Malaya (UM) as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in October 2012 in the Center for Cilivizational Dialogue, University of Malaya (CCD-UM). He was promoted to Research Fellow in 2013 at the same place. In 2015, Dr. Ramzy joined the Faculty of Education, UM, based on the merits of his research and publications. He is actively involved in research on Intercultural Competence. He has published over 60 research articles in reputed academic review Journals including social science indexed journals in educating different level of people on intercultural studies and governing the cultural and religious diversity. In addition, he has written several chapters of books and contributed seven entries to the Encyclopedia of Indian Religions (Springer Publication). He also co-authored a book published by UM Press in 2023.  Dr Ramzy supervises more than 26 PhD and 12 Master thesis and have evaluated more than 36 MA and PhD Thesis. Further he served as editor of Scopus indexed journal and reviewer of social science and other indexed journals. Dr. Ramzy has been awarded seven international honours for research and coordination and received a Southeast Asia Fellowship from The King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) in Lisbon, Portugal. In addition, he was recently bestowed a 'Senior Fellowship' at the Global Peace Institute in the U.K. Dr Ramzy served as visiting scholar in Prince Songkla Unviersity (PSU), Patttani from 24 April to 05th of May 2023 and the Research Scholarship Centre, King Khalid Unviersity (KKU), Abha, Saudi Arabia from 14-27 February 2024. He has been invited as a keynote speaker in many international seminars and conferences and has participated as a guest speaker at many international forums, including Britain, Australia, South Korea, Turkey, Qatar, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. He has presented research papers at various international conferences, including Australia, the U.K., South Korea, Qatar, Turkey, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. In addition, Dr. Ramzy has conducted more than seven international webinars on research. Dr. Ramzy is not only a researcher but also a peace activist. He is involved in Organizing interfaith initiatives in Malaysia and Sri Lanka and has also participated in programs conducted by the UNESCO Activity Club and various youth interfaith programs. He actively involves in Muslim-Buddhist dialogue and coexistence. He can be reached at ismathramzy@gmail.com.