Dr Yong Sook Lu is a faculty member in the Department of Economics at Universiti Malaya, Malaysia. She holds a PhD in Economics from Lancaster University, United Kingdom, as well as a Master of Economics (MEcon) and a Bachelor of Economics (BEcon) in Analytical Economics from Universiti Malaya. Her research interests and expertise span Industrial Organisation, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and Public Health Economics. She has taught several courses at Undergraduate level including:  Microeconomics, Malaysian Economy, Introduction to Mathematical Economics, Industrial Economics, Macroeconomics and Health Economics (at University of Malaya); Principles of Economics, Microeconomics and Econometrics (at HELP University). She supervised over 50 UG projects including industrial placement projects (at University of Malaya); over 30 Masters Research Projects (at University of Malaya); and 4 PhD (under supervision).  Produced over 15 publications, including book chapters, articles in internationally refereed journals, policy briefs and reports. She has also reviewed several papers for journals and conferences. She has led research projects on: " A Regional Study on Social Protection coverage: ASEAN Countries " (SWRC Grant), "The Impact of Uncertainty on Economic Growth: The Case of ASEAN-5 " (University Grant), “Industrial Organisation and Classification of Firms Listed in Bursa Malaysia” (University Grant) and “Exploring CPI Basket for Identifying Minimum Essentials in Reference Budgets” (SWRC Grant). She is also a co-researcher for projects such as " Rural Women Empowerment through Entrepreneurship " (FRGS); “Malaysia Ageing and Retirement Survey” and “Belanjawanku" (SWRC Grant) and " Malaysia: Labelling Regulations on Natural Rubber Condoms and the WTO TBT Agreement " (Australian Government Aids). She is an Editor for Malaysian Journal of Economic Studies. She was awarded Certificate of Excellent Service (UM) 2016; Certificate of Excellent Service (UM) 2015; UM Excellence Award, Naib Canselor, 2013; Certificate of Excellent Service (UM) 2013; UM Excellence Award, Naib Canselor, 2011; Certificate of Excellence Service (UM) 2011; Best Oral Presentation at The University of Sheffield Postgraduate Research Workshop, University of Sheffield, 2008, (International); Research and Innovation Expo/Silver Medal (UM) 2007, (National); Certificate of Excellent Service (UM) 2006; Research and Innovation Expo/Silver Medal (UM) 2005 (National) and University Book Award (UM) 2001 (National).  

Prof. Dr. Chan Kok Gan is a distinguished microbiologist and interdisciplinary scholar whose work bridges molecular biology, genomics, microbial communication, and biosafety law. He is currently a Professor at University of Malaya, where he leads research in microbial genomics, quorum sensing, quorum quenching, genome biology, next-generation sequencing, biosafety laws and intellectual property law in biotechnology. His contributions span genomics, microbial communication, and conceptual innovation rather than single isolated discoveries.  Prof. Chan holds double Bachelor and Master degrees in Microbiology and laws, and PhD in Molecular Microbiology, with a rare combination of science and law. Prof. Chan is prolific researcher,  with >485 WoS WoS publications in high-impact journals including Nature, Nature Communications. His work has garnered tens of thousands of citations (e.g., his Google Scholar profile shows >27,200 citations, h index 83). He received fundings gloablly, eg. Malaysia Toray Science Foundation research grant, >15 French Fellowships, Hubert Curien Partnership-Hibiscus, SEAOHUN Award, UK Prime Minister’s Initiative II grant, 3 China Governments grants, JSPS Award and many Malaysia fundings.  Prof. Chan has received numerous research awards and recognitions, including a consistent ranking in Research.com’s listings of Top Microbiologist and and Leader in Biology/biochemistry in Malaysia; Malaysia Toray Science Foundation (MTSF) Science and Technology Award, JSPS Award. He was listed as the World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University/Scopus in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 in both categories of “Current Year” and “Career”. He is even listed as World’s Top 0.1% Scientist by ScholarGPS.com, and ranked First in the categories of “quorum quenching”, “genomes” , “multidrug resistant pathogens” by Google Scholar. Prof. Chan made several first discoveries in Malaysia and globally, including (i) introducing the concept of, and coining, bacterial “signalling confusion”; (ii) coexistence of quorum sensing and quorum quenching in some bacteria, and (iii) quorum quenching molecules from Malay, Chinese and Indian medicinal herbs and secured several patents,  (iv) characterising novel quorum sensing and quenching genes, (v) novel bacterial genus and species, (vi) he published Malaysia’s first complete bacterial genome 13 years ago when next-generation sequencing was still globally scarce. Prof. Chan is elected Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (FASc) in 2017, and fellowships in other international learned academies. A novel bacterial species of a novel genus was named in honoured of Prof Chan’s contribution in microbiology:  Chania multitudinisentens gen. nov., sp. nov. Prof. Chan is world’s leading expert in bacterial quorum sensing, quorum quenching, genome biology, biosafety laws and whole genome sequencing. After publishing the first bacterial complete genome in 2013, Prof Chan then pioneered into multi-OMICs technology, providing a new dimension of research in microbiology and genome biology. To date, Prof. Chan is the leading expert in NGS, multi-OMICs (genome, plasmidome, resistome, virome, oncogenome, transcriptome, methylome, microbiome, metagenome, lipidome, metabolome).

VGR Chandran is Professor of Industrial Development at the Department of Development Studies, Faculty of Business and Economics at University of Malaya. He has also worked as Principal Analyst of Economic and Policy Studies with Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT), Prime Minister’s Department, Malaysia. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics and his research interests are mainly on innovation, technology development, trade and globalization that relate to industrial development. His field research covers sectors such as electrical and electronics, automotive, food, chemical, oil palm, machinery, iron and steel, ICT, and the newly emerging sector - renewable energy. He had extensive fieldwork covering the Asian region that includes countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, India, China, Thailand, and Malaysia. In recent years, his research interest expanded into investigating newly emerging enterprises within the context of social innovation and social enterprises, as well as open innovation. His interest has also expanded in studying the issues of NTMs, mainly regulatory and procedural requirements that serve as a barrier for firms to integrate into the Global Value Chain. He has also worked as a consultant for international organizations such as UNCTAD, UNIDO, UNESCO, UNEP, ERIA, OECD as well as governmental organizations in Malaysia. He has published articles in international journals - Economics of New Technology and Innovation, Policy Modelling, as well as book chapters and books on industrial development and innovation. He is the recipient of various national and international grants – to name a few - European Union Horizon 2020 and IDR, Canada, among others. His work is widely quoted in government policy documents contributing to numerous policy changes. He has contributed to the Malaysian regulatory reform efforts, STI and Industrial policy development at national as well as state level. His work via Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Economic Planning Unit, Academic of Sciences, Ministry of International Trade and Industry, MIGHT, Prime Minister’s Department, Malaysian Productivity Corporation and Institute Darul Ridzuan (state level) was instrumental in making the policy changes. His engagement with the industry are mainly in the form of undertaking studies and providing expert opinions. He has received various awards, e.g., excellence in teaching award and outstanding paper award from Emerald and Elsevier. Details of his current projects as follows: (1) Catching-up along the GVC: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/214786/factsheet/en (2) Regional Economic Corridors: http://www.crisea.eu/researchers/chandran-vgr