CHIEW Poh Shin (周宝芯, 周寶芯) is a senior lecturer in the Department of Malaysian Languages and Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya. She earned her Bachelor's, Master's, and PhD from Nanjing Normal University, specialising in Chinese language and linguistics. Her primary research interests include phonetics and phonology, language variation, and language acquisition. Currently, she focuses on sociophonetics and prosodic studies, particularly in the varieties of Chinese like Hokkien, Cantonese, and Mandarin. She has a deep passion for human speech and wants to explore how speech sounds connect with cognition, society, and culture. Beyond academic research, she enjoys science communication work, sharing the fascinating world of linguistics with the public. Here is her first experience on a podcast.

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.

Dr. Hemavathi Shanmugam is a psychiatrist and medical lecturer at the Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Malaya. She is formally certified in transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in the USA and actively participates in global neuromodulation communities through the Clinical TMS Society and its Asian Special Interest Council (CTMSS). She provides repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) services at University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) for psychiatric disorders, in collaboration with Prof. Mazlina Mazlan, Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine. Her research focuses on cost-of-illness analyses and the real-world outcomes and cost-effectiveness of rTMS in the Malaysian context, supported by a BKP research grant. She is also actively involved in undergraduate and postgraduate psychiatry education and contributes to the credentialing of neuromodulation procedures at her department. Looking ahead, Dr. Hemavathi has a growing interest in personalized, circuit-based brain stimulation protocols to advance precision psychiatry in Malaysia.