Associate Professor Dr. Norasmatul Akma Ahmad is a Prosthodontist at the Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Malaya. She graduated with a Bachelor of Dental Surgery from Universiti Malaya in 2002 and served the Ministry of Health as a dental officer for four years before pursuing specialist training in London. In 2009, she obtained her Master of Clinical Dentistry in Prosthodontics with Distinction from King’s College London and was awarded the Membership in Restorative Dentistry (Prosthodontics) from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. She completed her PhD in 2025 at Universiti Malaya, earning a Thesis with Distinction. Her research interests span tooth wear, prosthodontics and dental education. She served as Head of the Restorative Dentistry Department (2017–2021) and was a member of the Universiti Malaya Dental Education Enhancement and Development Unit (UMDEED). In addition to her academic leadership, she practices as a Prosthodontist and Restorative Consultant at the Universiti Malaya Specialist Centre (UMSC). Dr. Norasmatul also contributes nationally as an elected member of the Dental Specialty Sub-Committee (DSCC) under the Malaysian Dental Council and the Dental Specialty Education Committee (DentSEdC) under the Ministry of Health. She currently serves as Deputy Dean (Undergraduate Studies).     

Loo Fung Ying is Associate Professor of cultural musicology and the Dean of Faculty of Creative Arts, Universiti Malaya. She teaches cultural musicology and research methodology. After obtaining her Fellowship (Trinity College of London) and Bachelor of Music (Hons) in piano performance (Universiti Putra Malaysia), she furthered her music study at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where she received her Master of Music in Piano Performance with distinction. She studied piano under Michael Schreider, Barno Haknazarov, Larisa Rakhmanova, and Lillian Joseph, and had master classes conducted by Artur Pizzaro, Boris Berman, Irina Osipova, Julian Jacobson, Richard MacMahon, Olga Malissova, and Ng Chong Lim. As a pianist, her performances locally and abroad included the first piano concertos of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky under the baton of Zakhid Khaknazarov, recitals at St. John’s Smith Square and St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and a recording for Ceri Richard’s Themes and Variations published by National Museums and Galleries of Wales, UK. Fung Ying continues to pursue research in music and completed her PhD at the University of Sheffield, UK in 2009. Her research interests include cultural musicology, performance practice, popular music, music and movement perception, and Tai Chi in application to the physicality of piano performance.  She joined Universiti Malaya in 2009 and has published over sixty refereed articles and book chapters. Her work has appeared in International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, Muzikološki Zbornik, Revista Música Hodie, Asian Theatre Journal, International Journal of Music Education, IEEE Multimedia, Women's History Review, Media Watch, Journal of Popular television, New Ideas in Psychology and The Routledge Companion to Women and Musical Leadership. Her research has been supported by grants from the Ministry of Higher Education, Universiti Malaya, and Universiti Putra Malaysia, and won her gold and silver awards at local and international research exhibitions. She is a member of the International Editorial Board of eTropic and Media Watch. She has held positions such as Deputy Director (Postgraduate study and Research) of Cultural Centre (now Faculty of Creative Arts), Universiti Malaya (from 2010 to 2018, and April 2024 to March 2025), Chair of Academic Programmes Accreditation Panel for PhD, Master’s, and Bachelor degree level (Malaysian Qualifications Agency), Internal Auditor of MYRA (Malaysia Research Assessment, Ministry of Higher Education), and Associate Editor of Malaysian Journal of Performing and Visual Arts. As an active composer and musician with the multiple award-winning Dama Orchestra (now Dama Asia Productions) from 2001 to 2016, she has over twenty productions to date, five albums and three sold-out musicals: Empress Wu, I Have a Date with Spring and Butterfly Lovers. In addition, her composition titled Freedom won second prize at the 2022 Seoul International Meditation Music Competition.

Kong Kin Weng holds the position of a senior lecturer in the Department of Molecular Medicine. He joined Universiti Malaya in 2011 as a SLAI Fellow and was honoured with the esteemed Bright Spark Scholarship, which enabled him to pursue his PhD in Molecular Medicine. This marked a turning point as he delved into the molecular intricacies underlying the relationship between food and health. Kong's passion for his field drove him to explore various facets of nutritional sciences, including food analysis, food chemistry, nutritional biochemistry, nutrigenomics (transcriptomics and lipidomics), traditional medicine, and natural products. His work aimed to bridge the gap between traditional knowledge and modern scientific advancements, uncovering the hidden potential of nature's bounty. Kong's dedication to research and commitment to advancing the field did not go unnoticed. During his tenure, he received a travel award for the Japan Medical Innovation Programme (2017) established by Kyushu University that sponsored by the Japan Science and Technology Agency. He experienced as a visiting researcher at the Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College sponsored by International Joint Research and Academic Exchanges (One Belt, One Road Project) (2019) and Jeffery Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia (2023). He was the Specially-invited Expert (2017-2020) and the Research Consultant (2019-2024) of Agro-food Science and Technology Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China. Kong is actively involved in many international journals, he was the Review Editor of Frontiers in Nutrition (2017-2024) and was the Lead Guest Associate Editor of Frontiers in Nutrition and Frontiers in Chemistry (Research topic: Phytochemical and nutritional properties of underutilised plants, 2017-2018), Guest Associate Editor of Frontiers in Microbiology (Research topic: Discovery of novel plant-derived compounds with antibacterial actions against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, 2018-2019), and Editorial Board Member of Current Research in Nutrition and Food Science (2017-2021). Currently, he is serving as the Associate Editor of Frontiers in Nutrition (2024-Present), Editorial Board Member of Discover Food (2024-Present) and Editorial Board Member of Food as Medicine (2025-Present). Kong is an eminent reviewer for many journals, he was honoured with the Publons Peer Review Awards, attaining the distinction of being among the “Top 1% peer reviewers in Agricultural and Biological Sciences, 2017” and “Top 1% of Reviewer in Agricultural Sciences, 2018”. Kong has acted as an external examiner of PhD/MSc theses from different universities. His research on medicinal and functional foods has been published in many reputable peer-reviewed journals as well as book, chapters and patents.