Dr Sujatha Ramasamy is a Senior Lecturer at the Program Science Biology with Education, Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya. Dr Sujatha was previously the Head of Academic Quality Assurance Unit at the Quality Management & Enhancement Center (QMEC) responsible for accreditation and quality assurance of all levels of academic programmes in Universiti Malaya. She has had a wide of experience in quality management systems and academic quality assurance. Currently she is the Quality Manager for Faculty of Science. Dr Sujatha Ramasamy completed her BSc. (Biomedical Technology). MSc. and PhD. (Natural Product Research) from Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. She had more than 20 years of experience in research in the field of plants-derived natural products, which is focusing on medicinal food and underutilized plants. Her main interest is mainly on assessing the bioactive compounds from plants as source for potential candidates for anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and wound healing agents. Dr Sujatha also exploring on the natural pigments from plants as potential food colorants. Her current focus is on medicinal food plants which consumed by Asian culture with the intention of health maintenance. Through the research findings, she aimed to understand the medicinal food plant’s efficacy in its cultural context and promoting its consumption in enhancing well-being. Dr Sujatha is also had more than 20 years’ experience in animal (cancer and normal cells) cell culture techniques in which most of the biological screening had been conducted in in vitro model. She had experienced in handling ELISA assay and immunochemistry test. Her study also includes on the biological mechanism that trigger the plant’s therapeutic activity.

Dr. Lai received his Ph.D. from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Technische Universität Ilmenau under the DAAD Ph.D. Sandwich Programme, and was conferred the prestigious Chancellor Award by the Queen of Johor. He is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering as well as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of BioSight Sdn Bhd, a spin-off company of Universiti Malaya. Dr. Lai has been instrumental in fostering industry-academic collaborations, leading multiple industrial consultation projects. His contributions to science and technology, particularly in medical engineering, have been significant. His research focuses on the development of innovative biomedical devices, including a portable, non-invasive scoliosis detection system and a point-of-care device for knee osteoarthritis diagnosis using vibroarthrography (VAG). More recently, he has pioneered novel machine learning approaches for automated cartilage pattern recognition in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), reducing the need for extensive human intervention. His work has gained substantial interest from both local and international industries. Recognized for his excellence in research and education, Dr. Lai has received more than 30 prestigious international and national awards. These include multiple Special Awards and Gold Medals, as well as Best of the Best Awards from ITEX, MTE, i-ENVEX, AiNEX, PECIPTA, and BioMalaysia Expo, among others. He has also represented Universiti Malaya in global competitions such as iCREATe in Singapore, Thailand, and Japan. Additionally, he has been honored with accolades such as the Best Presentation Award from Fukuoka University (Japan), the Best Sustainable Prototype Award at Digital Wonderland Singapore Expo 2019, an Honorable Mention Award at NSIEC 2020 (Taiwan), and the First Runner-Up Award at the Brunei Crown Prince CIPTA 2021 competition. In recognition of his achievements, he was elected as a Member of the Young Scientists Network - Academy of Sciences Malaysia (YSN-ASM) in 2021 and as a board member of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Young Affiliates Network (TYAN). Dr. Lai has authored over 140 peer-reviewed publications indexed in ISI/Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus, with an h-index of 22. His work has led to the granting of 17 patents and intellectual property rights. As principal investigator or co-researcher, he has successfully completed 22 funded projects and is currently leading 13 ongoing research initiatives supported by government agencies, industry partners, and international collaborators. As a credentialed engineer, Dr. Lai is a registered Professional Engineer with a Practicing Certificate (PEPC) at the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) and holds several esteemed engineering titles, including Fellow of Engineers Australia (FIEAust), APEC Engineer (IntPE Australia), Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng, NER Australia), Fellow and Council Member of the Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM), Senior Member of IEEE (USA), Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), Chartered Engineer (CEng, UK), and Professional Technologist at the Malaysia Board of Technologists (MBOT). Dr. Lai is actively involved in academic and professional service, serving as a Technical Programme Committee (TPC) member and reviewer for over 50 international conferences, workshops, and journals. He has delivered more than 20 keynote and invited talks at international conferences. Additionally, he serves on the editorial boards of several indexed journals, including as Associate Editor of IEEE Access and IET Image Processing, and as Lead Guest Editor for journals such as Multimedia Tools and Applications and Current Medical Imaging. Beyond his academic and research endeavors, Dr. Lai plays a pivotal role in engineering education. He is the key resource person for curriculum development and accreditation reviews (EAC/MQA/QMEC) in his department and serves as an Accreditation Panel member under the Board of Engineers Malaysia. In 2018, he was appointed as a Fellow under the Ministry of Education Malaysia’s CEO@Faculty Programme, working with C-suite executives at PLUS Malaysia Berhad on digital innovation strategies for IR4.0 transformation. He played a key role in developing commercial strategies for the PLUS Video Analytics (VA) Infrastructure, a project with an investment exceeding RM20 million. Dr. Lai’s research excellence has been recognized with numerous awards, including the ACU Fellowship by the Association of Commonwealth Universities (UK) in 2021 for his research on hospital readmission risks among recovered COVID-19 patients. He was also honored with the IEM Young Engineer Award 2021, the IEEE-EMBS Early Career Achievement Award 2021, and the BEM Malaysia Most Prominent Young Engineering Leader Award (Tokoh Muda) 2022, presented by the Prime Minister of Malaysia. In 2024, he received the Anugerah Penyelidik Muda Cemerlang (Bidang Sains) from Universiti Malaya. As the head of the Advanced Analytics Research Group at the Medical Imaging Laboratory, Dr. Lai has supervised 75 postgraduate students (19 PhD, 9 MSc, and 19 MEng completed; 21 PhD and 7 MSc ongoing). His research team has secured over RM5 million in funding for healthcare technology, medical imaging, and bioinstrumentation projects. His innovations have led to the development of clinically impactful diagnostic prototypes, including OsteoKneeKit™ and Scoltech™, both of which are currently undergoing commercialization. The Scoltech™ project has been approved under the UM Deep Tech Accelerator Programme with RM50,000 in seed funding, with Dr. Lai serving as CTO. Additionally, Dr. Lai contributes as an external examiner for PhD and MSc dissertations, both locally and internationally, and serves as a professional mentor for IEM (Malaysia) and Engineers Australia. He is also an external assessor for higher learning accreditation frameworks, an advisor for industry-academic liaison units, and a board member for Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia’s (USIM) new technologist programme. Furthermore, he serves on the Disciplinary Committee Panel of the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board (ASDB) under the Bar Council Malaysia.  

Dr. Amarul Arief Mohd Shuhaimi is a Malaysian academic and researcher specialising in Halal industry management, organisational management, talent development, and food systems governance. He currently serves as a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Management and Islamic Finance, Academy of Islamic Studies, Universiti Malaya. His teaching and postgraduate supervision focus on Islamic management, organisational behaviour, marketing, and the Halal industry. He also contributes to academic governance through curriculum review, programme development, and doctoral title evaluation. Dr. Amarul holds a PhD from The University of Newcastle, Australia, undertaken in collaboration with Universiti Putra Malaysia. His doctoral research examined talent management and career development within the Halal industry. His academic work integrates sociological perspectives with management studies and policy analysis, particularly within Islamic institutions and food-based organisational systems. He has published extensively in Scopus- and Web of Science–indexed journals, including the Journal of Islamic Marketing, International Food Research Journal, and Journal of Culinary Science & Technology. His research addresses Halal governance, workforce sustainability, talent development, certification and compliance systems, organisational development, and Islamic ethical leadership. Beyond academic publishing, he contributes to public and policy discourse through national media platforms such as The Star, New Straits Times, and Utusan Malaysia. Dr. Amarul is actively involved in international research collaborations and regularly participates in academic conferences across Asia, Australia, America and Europe. His work contributes to policy development, academic innovation, and the advancement of a sustainable and globally competitive Halal ecosystem.