Rosila Bee Mohd Hussain is currently an Associate Prof. at the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. She completed her PhD from The University of Western Australia. Her areas of research interest include social inequality, identity, youth, cross-cultural study and contemporary social issues (social capital, disability studies, gender and social threats). Her expert opinions on various sociological issues have often been shared on various media platforms like newspapers, talk shows and radio interviews in Malaysia.  She has also completed and secured internal and external grants in the past years in relation to youth, social inequality and identity issues. Among others are UMRG (UM), FRGS (Malaysia), Ungku Aziz Centre for Development Studies and Japan Society for the Promotion Science (JSPS) as Research Collaborator. She has also published more than 50 journal articles, book chapters and proceedings from her research to share.  Her current research work centers on social threats, lifestyle and risk society.

Mala Rajo Sathian is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Southeast Asian Studies and the founding coordinator of the Thai studies programme, both at Universiti Malaya, Malaysia. She previously held visiting research affiliations at Prince of Songkla University, Pattani campus, Thailand, and as a Fulbright Scholar at the Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, US. Her areas of research include Thailand, south Thailand and north Malaysia, relating to ethnicity and marginalisation, diasporas, conflict, governance and histories of nation building. Her publications include: Siamese in Malaysia: Beyond sixty years of heritage (2018) and various articles and chapters on ethnic minorities, identity, conflict and methodology in area studies.  She hopes to advance a message of peace and tolerance towards minority communities living in multicultural Southeast Asia through her research and writing.

Fumitaka Furuoka is a Japanese economist who has lived in Malaysia since 1987. From 1991 to 1999, he worked as a senior assistant at the Consulate General of Japan in Penang. Fumitaka then moved to academia and has taught economics at three Malaysian public universities, namely, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), and Universiti Malaya (UM) for more than 25 years. His academic expertise is in the field of applied economics, which involves applying economic and econometric theories to address real-world critical financial issues and problems. As an applied economist, he aims to provide insights from his research to inform the development of effective policies that foster sustainable development, reduce regional disparities, and move society toward achieving economic and social justice.  In his research in the field of applied economics, he focuses on economic equity between countries (i.e., the problem of inequality of economic development level in different countries), as well as economic equity within countries (i.e., the problem of inequality of income distribution in a specific country). Regarding economic equity between countries, he has conducted extensive research on diverse and pertinent global economic issues, such as poverty reduction, unemployment, economic growth/development, and renewable energy. In 2006, he published a book on Japanese foreign aid titled New Challenges for Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) Policy. The book examines how Japan’s aid policy can contribute to reducing poverty and enhancing the well-being of developing countries, particularly those in Southeast Asia. As to economic equity within countries, the primary focus of Fumitaka's research is promoting “employment for all” which is closely aligned with Target 8 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He firmly believes that employment for all, including people with disabilities, is the basic foundation for a sustainable and more humane economy (Ekonomi Madani). This belief has led him to write a book on employment for people with disabilities entitled Disability and Employment: Towards a Humanistic Economy. The book was published by Springer in 2024. He also wrote another book, co-authored with Dr Yosuke Uchiyama, on employment for people with disabilities, entitled "Youth and Employment: Creating a Productive and Dynamic Society," which was published by the same publisher in 2025. This research direction has a strong practical orientation, and Fumitaka considers work in this area to be of ultimate importance for achieving economic equity and providing employment opportunities to people with disabilities or young people. In short, his research aims to identify barriers and initiate policies that promote and enable economic inclusion, employment, and justice for all.