Nur Syabeera Begum is a senior lecturer at the Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Malaya, specializing in soil with a particular focus on soil erosion in highland agricultural areas. Her research actively explores factors and predictions of areas susceptible to soil erosion. Since embarking on her academic career, she has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals and presented at conferences. She is always seeking new opportunities to expand her research network and foster collaborations, both nationally and internationally.

  Dr Benedict Francis is a psychiatrist at the University Malaya Medical Centre. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya and was selected for the Brightsparks scholarship to pursue his Masters in Psychological Medicine at his alma mater, the University of Malaya. Subsequently, he completed a fellowship program in Aged Healthcare Services at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, in 2019. Dr Benedict is a keen researcher and is involved in several international, multi-centre clinical trials involving novel antipsychotics and antidepressants. He has also published in several international and regional peer-reviewed journals and presented in international congresses. Dr Benedict is a clinical expert in treatment resistant depression. He was part of the Ministry of Health’s  National Advisory Board committee that drafted the guidelines for prescribing and dispensing Esketamine, a novel adjunct antidepressant treatment. Dr Benedict is regarded as a Key Opinion Leader (KOL) in the fields of treatment resistant depression and schizophrenia, and is regularly invited as a speaker at both local and regional events. His passion and interest is in the mechanism of action of rapid-acting antidepressants and treatment optimization of patients with treatment resistant depression. 

Wenn-Chyau Lee received his BSc (Hons) degree in Biomedical Sciences from University of Malaya, Malaysia in year 2011, and graduated with his PhD in Medical Sciences from University of Malaya in year 2014. Subsequently, he joined Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN, A*STAR) as a research fellow in Laurent Renia’s Laboratory. He was appointed as SIgN fellow after receiving OF-YIRG grant awarded by the National Medical Research Council (NMRC) of Singapore in year 2018. He joined the newly formed A*STAR ID Labs as an investigator in year 2021. Subsequently, he joined the Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya as a senior lecturer. Currently, he is also an adjunct investigator in A*STAR ID Labs, Singapore. As a parasitologist, he has involved in studies encompassing a number of medically important parasites such as the malaria causative agent Plasmodium spp., Toxoplasma gondii that can cause birth defects, Brugia pahangi that can cause symptomatic zoonotic filariasis, as well as several medically important vectors. His main research interest revolves around the immuno-pathobiology of malaria. He has been investigating and deciphering the roles of rosetting (a phenomenon where a Plasmodium-infected red blood cell is stably adhered to uninfected red blood cells, forming a flower-like structure called ‘rosette’) in the pathogenesis of malaria. Besides, he is looking into the potential of applying biocontrol strategy to eliminate different vector borne diseases. He has worked as a research fieldworker in different places including the Thai-Burmese Border, China, peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. As different laboratory settings are equipped differently, he enjoys adapting and improvising facilities available in the field sites to conduct experiments. Currently, he is also the facility coordinator of the insectary and arthropod containment level 2 (ACL2) research unit in the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya. To date, he has published (as first/ corresponding author) in a number of reputable journals such as Blood, EBioMedicine, eLife, Frontiers in Immunology, Frontiers in Microbiology, and Trends in Parasitology. Besides working as a reviewer for many scientific journals and grant evaluation committees, he is also an editorial board member of Frontiers in Microbiology.