Muhammad Izzul Syahmi Zulkepli has been a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Shariah and Economics, Academy of Islamic Studies, Universiti Malaya, since July 2024. He earned his Bachelor's Degree in Shariah (Shariah and Economics) from Universiti Malaya in 2018, followed by a Master's Degree by research at the same institution in 2020, focusing on Islamic banking. He then pursued a PhD at Universiti Malaya, specializing in the application of fintech in Islamic banking operations, and successfully completed it in 2023. Driven by a passion for expanding knowledge, he is dedicated to learning, exploring, and sharing insights in the fields of Islamic economics, Islamic banking, Islamic finance, and Islamic fintech. His academic career has seen significant contributions, including the publication of a book, several book chapters, and numerous articles in highly indexed and other reputable journals. Additionally, he has presented his research at various local and international conferences, further cementing his expertise and thought leadership in his field.

Dr Helena Varkkey is an Associate Professor of Political Ecology at the Department of International and Strategic Studies, Universiti Malaya. Her areas of expertise include transboundary haze governance in Southeast Asia and global palm oil politics. Her monograph on “The Haze Problem in Southeast Asia: Palm Oil and Politics” was published by Routledge in 2016. Her latest book is a collection of essays on the politics of haze and the environment in Southeast Asia called “The Forests for the Palms” published by ISEAS Singapore in 2021. Dr Helena has almost two decades of experience in qualitative research, including conducting fieldwork, interviews, and focus groups among various government and non-government stakeholders, and has built up extensive research networks in countries across ASEAN. She has edited and produced reports for the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, UNICEF, and the ASEAN Secretariat.

My academic career began on December 05, 2001 as a tutor at the Department of Islamic History and Civilization, APIUM. A year later I had completed my Usuluddin Master's Degree in Islamic History with a dissertation entitled "Dato' Haji Ismail Yusof: His Contribution to the Development of Islam in Kelantan". After completing my master's degree, I was assigned as a lecturer in the Department of Islamic History and Civilization on January 24, 2003 until now. In 2012, I have successfully graduated with a PhD degree from the same deparment after submitting a research thesis entitled "Majalah Pengasuh After Independence: A Study of Themes and Approaches". Throughout my career as a lecturer at Department of Islamic History and Civilization, I have actively written various articles in the fields of Islamic letters, the development of jawi writing, sirah nabawiah, Method of Islamic Biography Writing and Islamic civilization in addition to presenting papers at national or international seminars. Among the areas of research that have been carried out are on Jawi writing, Jawi-Islamic manuscripts, and Islamic letters, scholarly figures of the Malay Peninsula and the relationship between Malaysian and Indonesian Islamic institutions of higher education. I have written more than 60 papers in seminar proceedings, more than 125 articles that have been published in national and international journals, in addition to various activities that are academic, community and so on. Now I have been entrusted to lead the Department of History and Islamic Civilization as the Head of Department starting from Julai 2012 until April 30, 2020. In addition, I was also appointed as Ahli Lembaga Pengarah Universiti Islam Malaysia since 2019 and also now as Ahli Senat UIM. In 2022, I was appointed as Prof Madya in the same department and have now published more or less 250 publications in various academic mediums.