Associate Professor Dr. Nur Awanis Hashim is an Associate Professor specialising in membrane technology and fabrication at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Malaya (UM). She joined UM as a lecturer in November 2004 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2011. Since then, she has played a key role in developing membrane fabrication research at UM, particularly through the application of the phase inversion process. Before entering academia, Awanis worked as a Plant Engineer at Hitachi Semiconductor (Penang) after completing her Bachelor’s degree under the Monbusho Scholarship (now the MEXT Scholarship, Japan). Her academic training spans Japan and the United Kingdom, with a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from Osaka University, a Master’s degree in Environmental Biotechnology from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), and a PhD from Imperial College London. She completed her secondary education at Sekolah Tun Fatimah, Johor Bahru. In 2014, she represented Malaysia in the ASEAN–US Science Prize for Women competition in recognition of her work on membrane-based approaches to improving access to safe drinking water in the ASEAN region. Her research career has also been strengthened through international collaborations supported by the Hitachi Research Fellowship (2016), the Yamaguchi University Visiting Scholar Award and MEXT Global Networking Award (2019), and the JSPS Bridge Fellowship Award (2023), hosted by Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan. Awanis received a special grant under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) in 2015 from the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia for research on disaster mitigation and flood prevention using membrane technology. She has been involved in 16 research projects and has served as Principal Investigator for 12 internal and external grants, with total funding exceeding RM1.5 million. She is a Chartered Engineer with the Institution of Engineering and Technology (UK) and a Professional Engineer registered with the Board of Engineers Malaysia. She currently serves as an Executive Committee (Exco) member of JSPS–JAAM and is a member of the Board of Engineers Malaysia. Awanis has held various academic and administrative leadership positions at UM since 2004, including Head of the Centre for Separation Science and Technology (January 2020 – December 2021), undergraduate programme coordinator, curriculum review committee member, laboratory coordinator, and departmental quality manager. From 2023 to 2025, she was seconded to the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia as Deputy Undersecretary in the Policy and Research Division, where she headed the Research and Public–Private Research Network (PPRN) Section, comprising the Research Unit, PPRN Unit, and the Administration Unit. In this capacity, she was responsible for developing strategies and overseeing the implementation and monitoring of policy research, PPRN, and social innovation funding to ensure effective, value-added outcomes. She also coordinated research initiatives across departments within MOHE and represented the Ministry in matters related to research with other ministries. Her research interests include membrane fabrication and modification, membrane-based separation technologies, separation processes, water and wastewater treatment, and carbon dioxide capture using membrane gas absorption. She has published more than fifty articles in ISI-indexed journals and regularly presents her work at national and international conferences.

Dr. Shuaibu Umar Gokaru was born and raised in Gokaru, a small town in Alkaleri Local Government Area of Bauchi State, Nigeria. He attended Iqamatissunnah Islamiyyah/Primary School and memorised the entire Qur'an by heart in 2001. Later, he went to Government Day Secondary School Kofar Wamabai. Afterwards, he studied at the then A.D.Rufa'i College for Legal and Islamic Studies, Misau, Bauchi, Nigeria, now known as A.D.Rufa'i College of Education, Legal, and General Studies, where he obtained a Diploma in Shari'a & Civil Law in 2004. Dr. Gokaru earned his B.A. Degree in Islamic Studies in 2010 from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria, followed by a Master of Arts Degree in Islamic and other Civilisations from the International Islamic University, Malaysia (IIUM) in 2014. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy in Islamic Civilisation at the University of Malaya in 2017. Dr. Gokaru has served as a Lecturer at Bauchi State University Gadau, Nigeria, from 2012 until January 2023, when he was appointed as a Lecturer at the Department of Islamic History and Civilisation, Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. While at Bauchi State University Gadau, Dr. Gokaru taught various courses and supervised students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He held various positions, including Faculty Examination Officer of the then Faculty of Arts and Education (now Faculty of Arts) from 2017 to 2021, and Dean of the Students' Affairs Division, Office of the Vice-Chancellor, from 2021 to 2022. He also served as Chairman of the Committee and Member of numerous committees such as the Senate Committee, Senate Business Committee, Committee of Deans and Directors, Appointment and Promotion Committee, and University Disciplinary Committees, among others. He is a journal reviewer for publications such as Al-Habeer: Journal of Islamic Studies, Al-Tamaddun: Journal of Islamic History and Civilisation, and Al-Milal: South Asian Journal of Religion and Philosophy. He has published several papers in international peer-reviewed academic journals (WOS and Scopus), including the Indonesian Journal of Social Sciences and Al-Tamaddun: Journal of Islamic History and Civilisation, Universiti Malaya.

Dr. Noor Ismawati Jaafar is a Professor in Information Systems at the Department of Decision Science, Faculty of Business and Economics. She held various administrative positions including Director of the Graduate School of Business, Deputy Dean (Research) and Head of Department. She obtained Doctor of Business Administration (DBA), from Macquarie University. She holds a professional qualification as Certified Financial Accountant (CFiA) from the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA). She teaches core courses related to Information Systems and Research Methodology. She has completed supervising eleven (11) Doctoral students and thirty three (33) Master students at Master levels. She has led consultancies involving projects such as the National Broadband Initiatives, Case Studies on COVID-19 Vaccination Roll-out Programme and the Economic Enhancement Programmes for MRT3. Her main research areas are IT governance, IT management, human computer interactions, and IT adoption. She has been appointed as Visiting Professor and Adjunct Professor at Aoyama Business School, Universitas Diponegoro, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Universitas Brawijaya, Universitas Negeri Malang and Prince of Songkla University (Trang). She was appointed as mentor for the APRU Asia-Pacific Women in Leadership Mentoring Program (APWiL). As a public intellectual, she hopes to profess her views on societal impact of technologies.