Professor Kulenthran Arumugam is a Malaysian national, born on January 30th 1949.  He is married and has two children.  He graduated from University of Singapore Medical School in 1975 and completed his internship at the University Hospital Kuala Lumpur.  After serving 2 years as a Lecturer in the Department of Anatomy, University of Malaya he commenced his career in Obstetrics and Gynaecology as a Registrar in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur and at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland for two years before sitting for and passing the Membership Examination to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists  (MRCOG), London at its first attempt in January 1982.(He was elevated to a Fellow of the Royal College in 1995). He resumed his Academic and Clinical career as a Lecturer in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Malaya Medical Centre in 1982.  He rapidly rose through the ranks and was appointed Associate Professor and Consultant in 1986 and to Professor and Senior Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologistin 1991. He was elevated to a Fellow of Academy of Medicine of Malaysia in 2008 In 2003 he found his niche in Clinical Epidemiology having read the Post Graduate Diploma in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene.  Completing his tenure in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, in 2008 he moved to Head the Research Development Unit of the Faculty in order to guide the Faculty Staff into Research in the Clinical Sciences. Also, because of his legal expertise in having read the LLB Hons (Lond), he teaches Health Law, Ethics and professional development to the Faculty. However he continues to keep in touch with Clinical Medicine with his colleagues in the Clinical Departments. Since his retirement from the University Malaya in 2015 he continues, as Professor Kehormat, to teach in the Faculty, Health Law, Ethics, and Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Furthermore, as a Consultant to the Research Training Unit of the Faculty he guides and trains the medical officers and academic staff in clinical research.  

Nurliana Kamaruddin is senior lecturer at the East Asian Studies Department, Faculty of Arts and Social Science, Universiti Malaya. She is also a fellow at the Centre for ASEAN Regionalism, AEI, UM. Previously she was Deputy Executive Director (Academic and Students Affairs) at the Asia-Europe Institute (2021-2024). Her recent publications include books by Routledge (Southward Bound: Examining the Regional Policies of Taiwan and South Korea, 2024) and Palgrave-Macmillan (The New Normal and Its Impact on Society: Perspectives from ASEAN and the European Union, 2024). Nurliana was a recipient of the Korea Foundation ASEAN Fellowship (2013-2015) and the POSCO TJ Park Foundation Asia Fellowship (2009-2011). Her research interest includes international security and development with a focus on East Asia and specifically Malaysia-Korea Relations.

Dr. Hemza Azri is currently a senior lecturer at the Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malay. He has his PhD in Physics from Izmir Institute of Technology, Turkey, in 2018. His research interests lie in gravitational physics, specifically the theoretical and experimental aspects of general relativity (GR) and alternative theories of gravity. He also works on the interplay between gravitational and particle physics. Dr. Azri made significant contributions to purely affine gravity, a theory based on affine connections rather than the metric (as in GR) for describing gravitational interactions. For decades, these theories have been seen as lacking physical application due to difficulties in incorporating matter. In a series of papers, he succeeded in demonstrating the practical use of these theories by developing their cosmological implications. A notable result is a specific cosmological inflationary model, known as "Affine Inflation" proposed by him and his collaborator. He has also proposed (with collaborators) a gravity theory based on the Ricci determinant. This work presents for the first time a metric-affine Ricci-Determinant based type of gravity that, unlike GR and its standard modified versions, is non-polynomial in the curvature and is allowed by the general invariance. This type of gravity showed interesting implications for relativistic astrophysics. On the particle physics side, Dr. Azri worked on dark matter physics where he proposed (with collaborators) a gravitational scenario for dark matter decay into the standard model particles. As a theorist, he is interested in fundamental problems like the cosmological constant problem. Dr. Azri was also involved, as a researcher, in the UAE-ATLAS Cluster (CERN Experiment). Alongside his research activities, Dr. Azri has developed a strong profile as a teacher of physics. In his lectures, he places particular emphasis on clarity and logical structure, using well-chosen examples to guide students through challenging material and to encourage genuine understanding rather than rote learning. His commitment to effective communication also extends beyond the classroom: he is capable of presenting advanced physical ideas in a way that is accessible to non-specialists. By translating complex theories into clear and relatable language, he promotes a broader appreciation of physics and contributes to the public’s engagement with science.