Professor Dr. Mohd Rafie Bin Johan is an Award Winning Scientist and International Keynote Speaker. He is true example of how theoretical and fundamental research leads to remarkable progresses in the applied, engineering and industrial use of nano-designed advanced materials. Born in Melaka, in 1968, Professor Rafie graduated with a BSc(Hons) in Physics from University of Malaya, Malaysia, in 1993 and BEng in Chemical Engineering from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in 2023. He continued his studies at Institute for Advanced Studies, Universiti of Malaya, where he obtained his MPhil in Quantum Optics in 1997, moving then to Department of Physics, University of Malaya where he obtained his PhD in Theoretical Physics in 2005. From 1999 to 1991 he was also Head of Biomedical Engineering Program in Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya. He later moved to Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malaya where from the year 2005 until 2009, as a senior lecturer and played the role of Coordinator for Materials Engineering Undergraduate Program. In 2010, he is promoted to Associate Professor to steer research in Nanomaterials Engineering. Then, in 2015, he is promoted to Professor of Materials Engineering. In 2016, he is transferred to Nanotechnology and Catalysis Research Centre (NANOCAT), University of Malaya Centre of Excellence (UMCOE), an internationally well-recognized center with the mission to be the world leader in “nanotechnology and catalysis” coining sustainability resources and green technology. In 2017, he is appointed as a Director of NANOCAT. Prof. Rafie is well recognized internationally in the field of Nanotechnology. Testimony to this, he has been elected in Evaluation Panels for AET and ITR clusters and UPGP and for grants applications at UMRG, PRGS, FRGS, and Qatar Foundation. He also has been appointed as panel for Yang di Pertuan Agong Scholarship and COMSTECS for Islamic Organization Country for evaluation of best scientific papers for Muslim Scientist and Qatar Reseach Foundation. Prof Rafie also has been invited as a speaker to numerous talks and conferences and also Guest Editor for Symmetry (ISI journal) and editor for Asean Engineering Journal. In 2010, he was a visiting scientist at Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Cambridge and at 2012, he was a visiting scholar at Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy. The educational contribution of Prof. Rafie may be summarized in few numbers: 40 PhD completed (20 on-going), 30 Master completed (10 on going). These supervised students span over a quite broad scientific area going from science (chemistry, physics, material science, biology) to engineering (chemical, material). He had published more 350 ISI papers with H index 40 (WoS) and 44 Google scholar with 7791 citations. He had various research project (National, International (Jica) and Industry (Petronas, Hartalega and NanoMalaysia) with total amount more than RM 19 million. He is awarded Top Research Scientist Malaysia (TRSM) 2021 by Academy Sciences Malaysia and winner of Top in Tech Innovation Award (Most Impactful Academia-Industry Collaboration. He was awarded UM Excellence award for Best HICOE-UMCOE (2022) and elected as Fellow Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) 2023. He was promoted to Senior Professor (VK6) in 2023. Recently, he was elected as  Fellow Academy Science Malaysia in 2024.

Dr. Dorothy DeWitt is currently an Associate Researcher and a retired Associate Professor in the Curriculum and Instructional Technology Department, University Malaya. She is also an Adjunt Professor at Open University Malaysia. She is an alumnus of the Endeavour Executive Fellowship from the government of Australia. She was formerly with the Educational Technology Division (ETD), Ministry of Education, Malaysia, where she was involved in the Smart School Pilot Project in change management and managing the development of digital materials during the project. In addition, she was involved in the research, management and promotion of innovation in instruction. Her current interests are in instructional design, new pedagogies and technologies for knowledge management, collaborative mobile learning and problem solving. Her publications include academic articles in ISI-ranked publications and journals such as Journal of Educational Technology and Society (ETS), Eurasian Journal of Mathematics, Science and Educational Technology (EJMSET), and Educational Technology Research & Development (ETR&D), and many other Scopus-ranked publications. She has published books on technology-enhanced learning, blended learning, problem-solving for transformative learning, collaborative mobile learning and developmental research. She has been involved in research in collaborative and mobile learning since 2007, and is looking at designs of instructional systems that encourage problem-solving, communication and collaboration using cognitive tools and technologies for schools, higher education and training. As principal investigator, she has been awarded external grants (FRGS) as well as internal grants (RU grant and UMRG) in projects related to technology and problem-solving for instruction. She has also been involved as co-researcher in many other projects related to technology use. Her PhD thesis explored the possibility of collaborative learning using mobile technologies for a mobile learner to enable learning to occur anywhere and at any time; using the collaborative mLearning framework.  She was appointed as consultant in projects related to curriculum acceptance, 21st century learning, and has been involved in training programs for technology pedagogical content knowledge at Academic Enhancement & Leadership Development Centre, University Malaya, as well as many workshops and training programs in 21st century learning, blended learning and online pedagogies, both locally and internationally. Recently, she has expanded her expertise to mixed realities in education.  She has won awards in teaching innovations both at the national and international level. Her team won the Best Immersive Learning Showcase at iLRN2020 (International). She was awarded the University Malaya Excellence Award for Innovative E-Learning in 2018 and is also a reviewer and editorial board member of several ISI journals, and chief editor of TEMPAWAN, a Malaysian peer-reviewed research journal.