Dr Melati Sumari, is a Professor and a Registered Counselor. She joined UM as a tutor and was later appointed as a lecturer at the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling. Dr Sumari pursued her doctoral degree in Counselor Education and Supervision, at Western Michigan University, USA. She specializes in Marriage and Family Therapy and College Counseling. She teaches counseling courses at the undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels. Dr Sumari has also presented at national and international conferences. She has published in local and international journals. Most of her publications focus on family, adolescents, and young adults. 

Professor Dr Hong Ching Goh, an interdisciplinary social scientist, studies human-environment interactions. Initially focused on urban planning and nature-based tourism, her approach has evolved to encompass sustainability, relevance, inclusion, and impact of scales. Her research inquiry explores how diverse communities benefit from nature, e.g., livelihood, health and wellbeing and intangible values. She investigates the threats and constraints posed by various anthropogenic actions and governance systems on the environment, and devises strategies for its safeguarding. This focus stems from her academic training in urban planning, tourism planning, and geography. Her research, with wide-ranging applications in urbanized environments, resource-rich regions and protected areas, draws inspiration from her fieldwork in Sabah since 2005, which has then driven her interdisciplinary coastal research in Southeast Asia. Currently attached to the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Built Environment, Prof. Goh also leads the Humanities and Social Sciences Group of the Malaysia National Antarctic Research Centre. She's a registered town planner with the Malaysian Institute of Planners and the Board of Town Planners Malaysia.  Prof Goh serves as the country coordinator for ForUm, a DAAD-funded network for Urban Futures in Southeast Asia that connects SEA and German experts since 2018. She also continues to serve on GYA membership selection and output review committees. Her commitment to interdisciplinary research has been significantly influenced by being a recipient of the MIT-UTM Malaysian Sustainable Cities Program Fellowship and the DAAD Doctoral Scholarship Awards where she conducted her doctoral study in the Center of Development Research (ZEF), as well as her memberships in ASEAN Science Leadership Program and Global Young Academy (GYA).  Since 2009, she has secured RM6.9 million in research grants, including RM4.95 million internationally. As a co-investigator, she helped secure the GBP6.4 million Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) grant. Her contributions to interdisciplinary research, particularly in marine environments and coastal communities, have earned recognition. This recognition was highlighted by the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur in 2021, in conjunction with International Women's Day and Commonwealth Day. In the same year, she was invited to join the UK Minister of Science, Amanda Solloway, and Professor Melanie Austen (University of Plymouth, UK) to discuss climate change impacts on marine environments and coastal communities in the Blue Communities program. In 2022, she was featured among the '100 Women Scientists in Global Polar Research. In 2024, she is appointed as the DAAD Research Ambassador in Malaysia in recognition of her outstanding contribution towards furthering the academic & scientific cooperation between Malaysia and Germany and awarded the Top Research Scientists Malaysia Award by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia.   To date, she has published more than 65 peer-reviewed articles, 30 book chapters and books, and other 40 publications. She has supervised nine PhD students and three master students to completion and oversees 10 ongoing students. 

After graduating from Western Michigan University, I was given the opportunity to serve in various industries. I started my career as Personnel Assistant in the hotel industry in 1998. Then, I pursued a similar career as Human Resources Executive in the manufacturing and insurance industries in 2000 and 2001, respectively. I ended my career in human resources after leaving the insurance industry in 2003 and continued my studies in Diploma in Education (TESL)(Kursus Perguruan Lepasan Ijazah /Ministry of Education) at the International Languages Teacher Training Institute (IPBA) in 2004. In 2005, I began my career in teaching at two government polytechnics in Kota Kinabalu and Port Dickson prior to my transfer of service to Universiti Malaya as Language Teacher DG41 in 2007. Presently, I hold the post as Language Lecturer DG48 in the English Language Department, Faculty of Languages & Linguistics.