Senior Lecturer Department of Fiqh and Usul Academy of Islamic StudiesUniversity of Malaya+603-79676011zafran@um.edu.my€ Google Scholar : https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&view_op=list_works&alert_preview_top_rm=2&gml...€ Orcid : https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4693-1890

VGR Chandran is Professor of Industrial Development at the Department of Development Studies, Faculty of Business and Economics at University of Malaya. He has also worked as Principal Analyst of Economic and Policy Studies with Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT), Prime Minister’s Department, Malaysia. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics and his research interests are mainly on innovation, technology development, trade and globalization that relate to industrial development. His field research covers sectors such as electrical and electronics, automotive, food, chemical, oil palm, machinery, iron and steel, ICT, and the newly emerging sector - renewable energy. He had extensive fieldwork covering the Asian region that includes countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, India, China, Thailand, and Malaysia. In recent years, his research interest expanded into investigating newly emerging enterprises within the context of social innovation and social enterprises, as well as open innovation. His interest has also expanded in studying the issues of NTMs, mainly regulatory and procedural requirements that serve as a barrier for firms to integrate into the Global Value Chain. He has also worked as a consultant for international organizations such as UNCTAD, UNIDO, UNESCO, UNEP, ERIA, OECD as well as governmental organizations in Malaysia. He has published articles in international journals - Economics of New Technology and Innovation, Policy Modelling, as well as book chapters and books on industrial development and innovation. He is the recipient of various national and international grants – to name a few - European Union Horizon 2020 and IDR, Canada, among others. His work is widely quoted in government policy documents contributing to numerous policy changes. He has contributed to the Malaysian regulatory reform efforts, STI and Industrial policy development at national as well as state level. His work via Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Economic Planning Unit, Academic of Sciences, Ministry of International Trade and Industry, MIGHT, Prime Minister’s Department, Malaysian Productivity Corporation and Institute Darul Ridzuan (state level) was instrumental in making the policy changes. His engagement with the industry are mainly in the form of undertaking studies and providing expert opinions. He has received various awards, e.g., excellence in teaching award and outstanding paper award from Emerald and Elsevier. Details of his current projects as follows: (1) Catching-up along the GVC: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/214786/factsheet/en (2) Regional Economic Corridors: http://www.crisea.eu/researchers/chandran-vgr

Dr Fadillah Mansor is an Associate Professor and the Head of Department, Department of Shariah and Management, Academy of Islamic Studies, University Malaya starts from Jan 2019 till current. She joins UM since February 2002. Priorly, she was a lecturer cum Head, Department of Muamalat at Selangor International Islamic University College (KUIS) from 1999 till February 2002. She obtained her PhD (in Islamic finance) from the La Trobe University, Australia. Prior to that, she holds a Bachelor in Shariah (Hons) minor in economics in 1997 and a MBA specialize in Finance in 2001 from the University of Malaya. Her areas of expertise include Islamic finance, Islamic banking, Islamic investments and capital market, takaful and also Islamic management. She has written numerous articles in Islamic finance and her works have been published in International journals and proceedings. In her teaching tasks, she has taught several subjects in in her field encompass Islamic financial system, Islamic capital market, economics for muamalat, Islamic banking operations at undergraduate levels. Her research interest focus on Islamic banking and finance including Islamic mutual fund investments, Islamic financial literacy and Islamic financial planning. She is also interested in research related to halal management. Nationally, she is a member of Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia (FIMM) from 2005 until 2016. She is also a panel assessor for Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), an agency that responsible for programme accreditations before the programme is listed under Malaysian Qualifications Register. As MQA assessor, she has experienced to evaluate more than 50 programmes offered by the IPTA and IPTS in Malaysia in the field of Islamic finance, muamalat, Islamic banking and finance, takaful and also Islamic management. Internationally, she serves as an appointed reviewer for refereed journal including International Journal of Emerging Markets;  International Journal of Economics and Management; Applied Economics incorporating Applied Financial Economics;  Journal of Business Economics and Management; and European Journal of Development Research and many more. She is also actived in the Islamic banking and finance industry and being appointed as a member of Shariah Committee of Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad since 2021.