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.     

Dr. Mohd Hafizan Md Isa is a senior lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Malaya, combining academic expertise with industry experience. He has worked with consultancy and international engineering firms, as well as in technical and academic support roles involving project management and technical design. His research focuses on sustainable construction materials and soil stabilization, with a strong emphasis on recycling waste and industrial byproducts for infrastructure applications. He is actively engaged in projects that promote sustainable construction practices, including the development of environmentally friendly materials and innovative solutions for improving infrastructure performance and durability. His areas of interest include Geotechnical Engineering, Ground Improvement, and Geomaterials, and his work seeks to merge environmental sustainability with practical engineering solutions to create greener, more resilient, and resource-efficient infrastructure.

Ts. Dr. Md. Hasanuzaman is a Chartered Engineer, UK; Senior Member IEEE and working as Associate Professor at the UM Power Energy Dedicated Advanced Centre (UMPEDAC), Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HICoE), Universiti Malaya (UM), Malaysia. He was listed among the World's Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University & Elsevier since 2020 to 2025; World’s Top 17 (2025) & 20 (2024) Highly Ranked Scholars in Energy Conservation by Scholar GPS, USA; Top 3 (2026) & 4 (2025) Scientists in Malaysia (Energy Engineering), Engineering & Technology, AD Scientific Index. He is recipient of AUA Scholars Award 2023-2024, Excellence Bangladeshi Academician Award 2024, Universiti Malaya Excellent Service Awrad 2023, Universiti Malaya Excellent Service Certificate 2021. Dr. Hasan served as the Programme Coordinator Master of Renewable Energy, Double Degree Programme with Master of Energy Science, Kyoto University, Japan from April 2012 to September 2020. He earned his PhD and an M. Eng. Sc. from the University of Malaya (UM), Malaysia and a B. Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Bangladesh. He is a recipient of UM Excellence Award 2012 for his outstanding achievement in his PhD; merit Scholarship from Bangladesh Scholarship Council and Nippon Foundation, Japan in 2003-2004. Dr. Hasan’s research interests include Energy Engineering, Renewable Energy, Energy and Buildings, Energy Policy, Electric Vehicles, Hydrogen Technologies, Hydrogen Vehicles, Sustainability, Carbon Pricing, Carbon Tax and Trade. He is an Associate Editor of the Alexandria Engineering Journal, Elsevier; Guest Editor of Renewable Energy. His 3 books: (1) Advanced Renewable Energy Conversion Technologies and Power Plant Engineering, 2025 (2) Technologies for Solar Thermal Energy, 2022 and (3) Energy for Sustainable Development, 2019 published by Elsevier.