Associate Professor Dr. Santha Chenayah has demonstrated sustained excellence across academic scholarship, institutional leadership, and societal engagement for over three decades. Her intellectual contributions to the fields of environmental economics, operations research, and sustainability reflect a trajectory of deep expertise, policy relevance, and global impact. Holding a Ph.D. and Master’s in Economics from Osaka University, Japan, and a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) from Universiti Malaya, she possesses a foundation rooted in both analytical rigor and regional policy insight.Dr. Chenayah’s research output includes over 40 peer-reviewed publications, many in high-impact journals indexed by Web of Science, Scopus, and ESCI. Her body of work addresses climate change mitigation, green disposal behavior, electric vehicle adoption, and solid waste management, demonstrating her interdisciplinary approach to contemporary environmental challenges. She has served as Principal Investigator or Co-Researcher on more than 20 funded projects supported by the Ministry of Higher Education, University of Malaya, and global institutions such as the World Bank. Her scholarly excellence is recognized through prestigious accolades, including the Outstanding Paper Award by Emerald Literati (2019), multiple Excellent Service Awards from University of Malaya, and the JSPS RONPAKU Fellowship awarded by Japan (2003–2007).Dr. Chenayah has contributed extensively to academic development through course instruction, programme coordination, and postgraduate supervision. She has taught more than 15 undergraduate and postgraduate modules covering macroeconomics, environmental economics, welfare economics, Environmental Management and Planning. Between 2020 and 2025 alone, she was appointed as internal examiner for over 40 postgraduate theses. Her leadership in academic quality assurance includes contributions to curriculum redesign and assessment at faculty and national levels.In addition to her pedagogical responsibilities, Dr. Chenayah has held key administrative roles, including multiple terms as Head of the Department of Economics at Universiti Malaya. She has served on more than 70 institutional and faculty-level committees, ranging from safety and health boards to steering panels on strategic policy and curriculum development. Her editorial leadership includes current appointments as the Chief Editor and Associate Editor of Institutions and Economies, and Associate Editor of the Singapore Economic Review (2024–2026), reflecting her influence in shaping scholarly discourse in economics across the region.A defining aspect of Dr. Chenayah’s professional portfolio is her international engagement and representation. As the Honorary Secretary of the Malaysian Economic Association (MEA), she has actively represented Malaysia at Federation of ASEAN Economic Associations (FAEA) conferences across ASEAN countries. These diplomatic assignments underscore her role in promoting regional economic integration, academic exchange, and multilateral collaboration. By fostering intellectual ties and facilitating joint dialogues on policy and development, her contributions have elevated Malaysia’s visibility in regional economics while expanding her own transnational scholarly networks. Such experiences enrich her academic leadership and position her as a regional ambassador of Malaysian economic thought.Complementing her academic and regional roles, Dr. Chenayah has contributed her expertise to national policy development and consultancy initiatives. She has led and participated in advisory projects for key institutions including the World Bank, MB Inc. Perak, and Malaysia’s Ministry of Environment, addressing strategic themes such as circular economy planning, rare earth supply chain resilience, and carbon mitigation. Her consistent engagement with media outlets, webinars, and public policy forums highlights her ability to translate research into actionable insights.Through the integration of research excellence, pedagogical innovation, academic stewardship, and ASEAN-level diplomatic engagement, Dr. Santha Chenayah exemplifies the ideals of a modern scholar whose work transcends borders and disciplines. Her sustained record of contributions aligns with Universiti Malaya’s mission to foster transformative education and globally relevant scholarship.

Azeana Zahari qualified as Bachelor of Science (2007) and Master of Science (2010) from the University Malaya, Malaysia. She went for a research attachment under SLAB/SLAI fellowship at The International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry and Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research), Karachi, Pakistan in 2015. She completed her doctoral degree in Natural Product and Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Malaya in 2016. Having obtained the qualifications, she was appointed as Senior Lecturer at Department of Chemistry, Faculty Science, University of Malaya. She is actively involved in teaching of the undergraduates, postgraduates and active member in her department, holding a number of administrative posts and task force members. She has published extensively in many acclaimed international journals such as Scientific Reports, Planta Medica, Heterocycles, Molecules, Phytochemistry Letters, Natural Product Communications and Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine.  Her areas of interest are extraction and isolation of natural product compounds, structural elucidation using 1D, 2D NMR, UV-vis, LCMS and IR. Recent advance natural product research that she interested in is Molecular networking as dereplication strategy. Subsequently, she undergo research training entitled dereplication of alkaloids from Ochreinauclea Maingayi by integration of molecular networking and LC-MS/MS fragmentation under the framework of the LIA  (Laboratoire International Associe) programme established under CNRS, ICSN and the University of Malaya at University Paris-Sud, University Paris-Saclay, France in 2018. She has been awarded with a number of research grants as a Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator.  She is member of Malaysian Natural Product Society as part of her contribution to Malaysia as whole. 

Prof Sanjiv Mahadeva is a Consultant Gastroenterologist and the previous Head of the Department of Medicine (2014 - 2019), University Malaya. He underwent his basic undergraduate and postgraduate medical training in the UK, and subsequently completed his sub-speciality training in Gastroenterology in the Yorkshire Deanery, UK. After joining the Faculty of Medicine in 2003, he pursued research in the area of Functional GI disorders and obtained a Doctorate in Medicine (M.D.) from the University of Leeds, UK in 2009. Despite a busy clinical practice and heavy training commitments, he has actively contributed to research with over 200 scientific peer-reviewed publications in international journals, > 10,000 citations and a H-index of 52 (Google Scholar). He currently serves as Associate and Academic Editor for several international journals and has been ranked “top 2% scientists in the world” by Stanford University in 2022, 2023 & 2024 .