Siti Zubaidah Ismail's field of expertise is Islamic criminal law and criminal justice. She graduated with Bachelor of Shariah from University of Malaya, Master of Comparative Laws from IIUM, LL.M from Birmingham University and PhD (Malaya). Her main research interest  is on the Islamic law and criminal justice in contemporary Muslim countries, particularly in Southeast Asia. She also focuses on the application of Islamic criminal law on the society  and on the development of Islamic criminal law implementation in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. Her current research is on the intersection between islamic punishment and human rights and the potential of diyat as an alternative to death penalty in Malaysia She is also active in research relating to interaction of Islamic law in society relating to new-Muslim reverts, inter-religious marriage and freedom of religion. She was Visiting Fellow at Asian Law Institute, National University of Singapore in 2010, Visiting Scholar at Faculty of Law Universitas Indonesia in 2016, Visiting Lecturer at UNISSA, Brunei, Visiting Fellow at IAIS in 2022 and Visiting Scholar at Law Faculty, Yildirim Beyazit University, Ankara Turkey in 2025. She was one of the recipients for AUA Scholars Award 2019 and Universitas Indonesia's UI-Resolv Visiting Scholar Awards 2016. From 2023-2024 she was Honorary Fellow at IKIM. She was also invited to teach her subject of expertise in Universitas Brawijaya Law School in Malang, Indonesia under 3-in-1 program in 2025. She has supervised 20 Phd and 40 masters students. She was Head of the Shariah and Law Department from 2011 until January 2016, Deputy Dean for Humanities and Ethics Research Cluster of UM in 2018 and Deputy Director for Research and Development from 2019-2021. She contributes her expertise in Islamic law as member of Majlis Agama Islam dan Adat Melayu Perak (2024-2027) and as Law Committee Member for Majlis Agama Islam Kelantan (MAIK) and advised on the amendments of shariah laws including Islamic Family Law Enactment 2002 and Shariah Criminal Offences Enactment 2019. Her contribution in the society is also significant in the area of human rights activism and advocacy. She is Senior Research Fellow with Centre for Human Rights Research and Advocacy (CENTHRA) since 2017 and Senior Fellow for Malaysian Alliance of Civil Society Organisations in the UPR Process (MACSA) assisting in preparing the civil society report for UPR Process in Geneva, Switzerland every five years. She has more than 165 articles published and the author of four books.  Her book Undang-Undang Kesalahan Jenayah Syariah di Malaysia won Anugerah Cemerlang Universiti Malaya 2018 and Hadiah Karya Ilmiah 2019 from Dewan Bahasa Pustaka. She also received "Anugerah Penulisan Artikel Terbaik dalam Jurnal Hukum 2019" by Jabatan Kehakiman Syariah Malaysia.  

Marniza Saad is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist at the Department of Clinical Oncology, University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, since 2006. She also holds the Associate Professor post at the Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya (UM) Kuala Lumpur. She obtained her Medical Degree from University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff, United Kingdom in 1997. She completed her general medical training within the South Wales Medical Rotation in 2000. In 2001 she joined UM as a trainee lecturer in Oncology. She pursued her formal training as clinical oncologist at the Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff, UK from 2002 to 2006 and was awarded the Fellowship of Royal College of Radiologists (Clinical Oncology) in 2006. She is now the supervisor and internal examiner for the Master of Clinical Oncology programme in UM since May 2006. Working within the department Education Committee, she has deep passion for education and training of future oncologists in Malaysia. She was the Head of Department of Clinical Oncology UMMC from 2013 to 2015. During this time she was overseeing the development of Stereotactic Radiosurgery/Radiotherapy (SRS/SRT) and Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) with the designated expert teams, until successful initiation of the services in UMMC in May and September 2015, respectively. She is currently in the UMMC Intra-Operative Radiotherapy Working Group to introduce the service in UMMC in the near future. She is an Exco Committee member for Malaysia Oncological Society since 2013. She is a member of College of Radiology Academy of Medicine Malaysia and European Society for Medical Oncology. Her areas of special interest include genitourinary cancer, sarcoma, breast and gastrointestinal cancers. She is the principle investigator for several international clinical trials mainly in urological cancers and regularly speaks in the areas of her interest at both local and international conferences. 

Professor Dr Hong Ching Goh, an interdisciplinary social scientist, studies human-environment interactions. Initially focused on urban planning and nature-based tourism, her approach has evolved to encompass sustainability, relevance, inclusion, and impact of scales. Her research inquiry explores how diverse communities benefit from nature, e.g., livelihood, health and wellbeing and intangible values. She investigates the threats and constraints posed by various anthropogenic actions and governance systems on the environment, and devises strategies for its safeguarding. This focus stems from her academic training in urban planning, tourism planning, and geography. Her research, with wide-ranging applications in urbanized environments, resource-rich regions and protected areas, draws inspiration from her fieldwork in Sabah since 2005, which has then driven her interdisciplinary coastal research in Southeast Asia. Currently attached to the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Built Environment, Prof. Goh also leads the Humanities and Social Sciences Group of the Malaysia National Antarctic Research Centre. She's a registered town planner with the Malaysian Institute of Planners and the Board of Town Planners Malaysia.  Prof Goh serves as the country coordinator for ForUm, a DAAD-funded network for Urban Futures in Southeast Asia that connects SEA and German experts since 2018. She also continues to serve on GYA membership selection and output review committees. Her commitment to interdisciplinary research has been significantly influenced by being a recipient of the MIT-UTM Malaysian Sustainable Cities Program Fellowship and the DAAD Doctoral Scholarship Awards where she conducted her doctoral study in the Center of Development Research (ZEF), as well as her memberships in ASEAN Science Leadership Program and Global Young Academy (GYA).  Since 2009, she has secured RM6.9 million in research grants, including RM4.95 million internationally. As a co-investigator, she helped secure the GBP6.4 million Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) grant. Her contributions to interdisciplinary research, particularly in marine environments and coastal communities, have earned recognition. This recognition was highlighted by the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur in 2021, in conjunction with International Women's Day and Commonwealth Day. In the same year, she was invited to join the UK Minister of Science, Amanda Solloway, and Professor Melanie Austen (University of Plymouth, UK) to discuss climate change impacts on marine environments and coastal communities in the Blue Communities program. In 2022, she was featured among the '100 Women Scientists in Global Polar Research. In 2024, she is appointed as the DAAD Research Ambassador in Malaysia in recognition of her outstanding contribution towards furthering the academic & scientific cooperation between Malaysia and Germany and awarded the Top Research Scientists Malaysia Award by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia.   To date, she has published more than 65 peer-reviewed articles, 30 book chapters and books, and other 40 publications. She has supervised nine PhD students and three master students to completion and oversees 10 ongoing students.