Maria serves as a Senior Lecture in the Department of Political Science, Public Administration and Development Studies, Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya. She obtained her PhD in Public Policy from Universiti Malaya under the University's Scholarship Award (SLAB). Her research interests encompass several domains, including policy and governance, public administration and urbanization. She also engages in researching Artificial Intelligence (AI) in relation to emotions and behaviours. Maria specializes in qualitative research, where she emphasizes the significance of human-centric understanding, particularly in conducting research within the social sciences. 

Dr. Syakirah Rifa’in@Mohd Rifain is a Senior Lecturer for Department of Arabic and Middle Eastern Languages at the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, UM. She graduated from Islamic Science University of Malaysia in Arabic Language and Communication Studies. She obtained her Master in Modern Language Studies in Arabic Language, Universiti Malaya. She completed her PhD in Arabic Language at Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, UM. Her research interest area includes Balaghah, Pragmatic and Semantic. Currently, she is involved in research related to Arabic for Specific Purpose in University Malaya.

Professor Dr Muhammad Yazid Jalaludin was born in 1972 in a small town, Lenggong, Perak. He received his primary education at SRK Bukit Balai, Lenggong and SRK Anglo Chinese School, Ipoh before going off to MARA Junior Science College Balik Pulau, Penang, for his secondary education. He then continued with foundation study in science at Centre for Foundation Science (Pusat Asasi Sains), University Malaya. Prof Yazid completed his fellowship in Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), USA in 2009 after obtaining his MBBS in 1997 and Masters of Paediatrics in 2004, both from University Malaya. In 2010 he was awarded as a Certified Paediatric Endocrinologist by the National Specialist Register (Malaysia).   Prof Yazid joined Ministry of Health as a House-officer from June 1997 to Dec 1998 and as a Medical Officer from Dec 1998 to June 2000. He then joined University Malaya as a Trainee Lecturer in 2000 and later as a Lecturer in 2004. In 2007, he was appointed as a Senior Lecturer. He is currently a Senior Consultant Paediatrician and Consultant Paediatric Endocrinologist at the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) who specializes in endocrine and diabetes management in children, and a Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya. For his excellent service, he was awarded Excellence Service Certificate by University Malaya in 2006 and 2010 and Excellence Service Award in 2015, 2019, 2022 and 2023. He was also awarded the Excellent Lecturer (Clinical) Award at the University Malaya Excellence Award 2017.    He has been a member of various medical societies, including The Endocrine Society USA, International Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD), Asia Pacific Paediatric Endocrine Society (APPES) and the Malaysian Endocrine and Metabolic Society (MEMS) as well as a life-member of the Malaysian Paediatric Association (MPA). He was the President of Asia Pacific Paediatric Endocrine Society (APPES) 2018-2020 and the President of Malaysian Paediatric Association (MPA) 2017-2019. He is the Vice President of MEMS 2022-2024 and 2024-2026, and Diabetes Malaysia Council Member 2023-2025.     With research interest in diabetes, obesity and vitamin D in children, Prof Yazid’s work has been published in various academic journals and as textbook chapters. Two articles on new medication for Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity in young children were published in the most prestigious medical journal, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in 2019 and 2024, respectively. He holds many significant national and international research grants. He also acts as Scientific Advisors for many multicentre international research for type 2 diabetes and obesity in children. He has numerous experiences presenting in conferences and workshops locally and abroad. He had previously received Travel Grant Awards to the International Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD) Meetings in Slovenia (2009), Argentina (2010) and Turkey (2012), and to the Endocrine Society’s 91st Annual Meeting in Washington DC, USA (2009) where he was awarded the winner of the Presidential Poster Presentation. He also won the Best Poster Presentation at the International Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD) Meeting 2012, in Istanbul, Turkey. Many of his Clinical Masters of Paediatrics students has won various awards (in National Conferences) for their research projects under his tutelage. Prof Yazid has also been involved in many support group and advocacy work. For his relentless effort in improving children's health and well-being, he was recently awarded the Asian Outstanding Paediatrician Award at the 18th Asia Pacific Congress of Paediatrics in Cebu Manila on 16th November 2024.