Dr. Chui Pin Leaw is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences (IOES), University of Malaya. Her research falls in the field of marine protistology and phycology, focusing on the studies of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs). Her research areas span from taxonomy, molecular systematics, and evolution to the genetics and toxigenesis of harmful microalgae.   She began her academic career at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) in September 2008 as a senior lecturer DS51 of the Faculty of Resource Science and Technology, and a Research Fellow of the Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation (IBEC). She graduated from the National University of Malaysia (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM) with a declared major in Marine Science and holds a First Class BSc. (H), and later received her MSc. and a Ph.D. in Marine Science from the same university.   She is a member of the professional bodies related to the field of interest, the International Society for the Study of Harmful Algae (ISSHA), the Phycological Society of America (PSA), and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). She is also a UNESCO-IOC/WESTPAC Toxic Marine Organisms project committee member. She is actively involved in the editorial task, being appointed as a reviewer to high impact factor journals (BMC Evolutionary Biology, PlosONE, Harmful Algae, Scientific Reports, etc.), and had served on the editorial board as associate editor to the Elsevier impact factor journal, GENE, and its sister journal PLANTGENE. Chui Pin is involved directly in developing course portfolios and online courses, as well as teaching various undergraduate courses, particularly the core courses of UNIMAS in Molecular Biology. The online learning approach is adopted in her teaching, which gained her an award in 2009 on the UNIMAS Outstanding Online Learning Award for the course Bioinformatics. Throughout her academic career, she has mentored more than 40 undergraduate students (FYP); six Ph.D. students and 16 MSc students have completed their studies under her supervision.   

  Dr Benedict Francis is a consultant psychiatrist and a senior medical lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya and was selected for the Brightsparks scholarship to pursue his Masters in Psychological Medicine at his alma mater, the University of Malaya. Subsequently, he completed a fellowship program in Aged Healthcare Services at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, in 2019. Dr Benedict is one of the research leads at the Psychological Medicine Research Unit and has been involved as principal investigator and sub-investigator for several international, multi-centre clinical trials including the ESCAPE-TRD, REMISSIO, ASPIRE, SUSTAIN-3, ROUTE 6, and CONNEX-2 trials. He has also published in several international and regional peer-reviewed journals and presented in international congresses. He was part of the Ministry of Health’s  National Advisory Board committee that drafted the guidelines for prescribing and dispensing Esketamine, a novel adjunct antidepressant treatment. In addition, he has been part of several steering commitees that paved new directions in mental health. For example, he was appointed to be part of the Southeast Asian steering committee to develop a patient decision aid for people living with schizophrenia. He is also part of the regional Asia Pacific steering commitee to develop a module for cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia (CIAS). In 2023, he received the Excellent Service Award from the University of Malaya in recognition of his contributions. Dr Benedict is regarded as a Key Opinion Leader in the field of treatment resistant depression and schizophrenia and is a regular invited speaker at both local and regional events.

  Associate Professor Ts. Dr. Zul Ilham bin Zulkiflee Lubes completed his B.Sc.(Hons.) in Universiti Malaya (UM), a Panasonic Scholar for M.Sc. and a JICA AUN/SEED-Net Scholar for his Doctoral study at the Department of Socio-Environmental Energy Science, Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University, Japan. His research interest is in the field of biomass science (energy and environment), with esteemed awards from Japan Institute of Energy and American Oil Chemists’ Society (AOCS). Currently, as part of Malaysia's effort to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, he is actively studying the role of biomass in urban energy management. Dr. Zul Ilham also serves as Associate Editor for academic journals PROGEE, MJS, JISDeP, JSAEM and Special Issue Editor for Processes. He has been appointed as M.Sc. and Ph.D. external examiner from several Malaysian universities (USIM, USM, UTM, UTeM and IIUM) and internationally (Pakistan and Japan). As an alumnus of the Young South-East Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Professional Fellows Program, he volunteers regularly in promoting energy literacy, renewable energy and climate action to youth and community (Sustainable Development Goals; SDG 7 and 13) including being the country coordinator of the Asian Students Environment Platform (ASEP), a project supported by AEON Environmental Foundation. Professionally, he is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM), ASEAN Centre of Energy and a Professional Technologist, MBOT. He and his team also secured national and industrial research grants such as the FRGS, Gamuda Land, Petronas as well as several coveted international research grants. Dr. Zul Ilham has been invited to participate as plenary or invited speaker in several international conferences and has been a Visiting Scholar to several universities (Kyoto University Japan, Zhejiang University China, Universitas Andalas and Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) Indonesia). He was also the recipient of Fulbright Malaysian Scholar Award as Visiting Associate Professor at the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, USA in 2022. Administratively, Dr. Zul Ilham was the Program Coordinator for B.Sc. Environmental Science and Management (2019-2021), leading the pack in the realignment of the B.Sc. program into 3u1i mode (3 years in University, 1 year in Industry) and the Deputy Director at the UM Centre of Civilisational Dialogue (2022), a top-down research centre. He is currently the Deputy Dean (Research and Innovation), Faculty of Science UM. WoS publications: https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/1414836Scopus publications: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=57218544179Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jVPTqGsAAAAJ&hl=enCommunity Outreach Activities: https://zulilham.wordpress.com/activities/