Started his research career in the think tank sector, Dr. Lee Chee Leong (Karl) is attracted to the rise of non-traditional diplomacy in the international order today. Such appeal has taken Dr. Lee into new research horizons that started with his Monash University's doctoral research on the Chinese sub-state diplomacy in China-ASEAN economic cooperation. With constructive supervision by Professor Helen Nesadurai and Associate Professor Kuik Cheng Chwee, Dr. Lee completed his doctoral thesis that unravels how a faraway and least developed sub-state of Guangxi managed to overcome its own hurdles, navigate the complexities within the Chinese state and become the frontline actor in China-ASEAN economic cooperation.  Following his doctoral completion, Dr. Lee's research on non-traditional diplomacy has expanded into Taiwan’s quasi-state diplomacy in Southeast Asia. Such quest has led him spending at great length in comprehending the concept of soft power, a concept that finds its relevance to Taiwan, which has no official diplomatic with Southeast Asia but is heavily connected to the region and has to rely on soft power in its engagements with these Southeast Asian nations. By comparing different case studies of Taiwan's quasi-state engagement within Southeast Asia, Dr. Lee has developed the soft power diffusion process to explain how such phenomenon operates in the real world. His ongoing and incoming research projects include Unpacking ‘De-risking’ China in the Indo-Pacific Region: Economic Statecraft (ES) & Geoeconomics, Taiwan's New Southbound Policy (NSP) and NSP+: The Domestic-International Dichotomy, The Taiwanese Connections in Nvidia's Global AI Supply Chain and Taiwan and Ireland: The Story of Two Tech Powerhouses.  To date, Dr. Lee was the recipient of several scholarships and fellowships in Malaysia and overseas: University of Malaya’s Graduate Fellowship (2010-2011); Monash University’s Merit Scholarship (2016-2019); Chinese Government Scholarship (2018-2019); and Taiwan Fellowship (2020). Prior to his appointment as Senior Lecturer at the Institute of China Studies (ICS), he was the Visiting Scholar at Guangxi University for Nationalities (GXUN) (2018-2019), Taiwan Fellow at National Chengchi University (NCCU) (2020) and Associate Fellow at ICS UM (2016-2019). He welcomes any potential PhD candidate who would like to work on Taiwan-Southeast Asia relations, comparative cases of ES between Asia and Europe, US-China-ASEAN semiconductor geoeconomics and case studies of donut economies in Asia. He is also willing to discuss with potential doctoral candidates on proposals related to the Chinese sub-state (provincial and city) diplomacy toward ASEAN, comparative cases of sub-state diplomacy between Asia and Europe as well as conceptual innovations of sub-state diplomacy vis-a-vis soft power.     

Teo is the recipient of the 2007-2012 SLAI scholarship which supported his education in the United States of America. He completed his Master's and Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA. His areas of interest are in sports testing & measurement, psychometrics, questionnaire development and validation, sport psychology, health & fitness, and wildlife conservation. He is involved in sport studies on sport motivation, self-esteem, task & ego resilience, and sport commitment in Malaysian settings. Teo was the ex-Coordinator for Bachelor of Sport Management programme (2017-2021), and also the Coordinator of Social Engagement (Jalinan Masyarakat) & SULAM from 2016-2023. Currently he is the faculty coordinator for Internship Programme for Bachelor of Sport Management programme.

Abuisaac is an academic, translator, and interpreter currently serving as a lecturer at the University of Malaya. He holds extensive expertise in translation studies, intercultural communication, TESOL, and Arabic-English linguistics. Formerly the head of a translation unit at an English language center, he has designed and taught courses that integrate language, technology, and critical thinking to enhance students’ communicative and analytical skills.  Abuisaac’s research interests span Qur’anic translation, pragma-translation, intercultural rhetoric, discourse analysis of literary texts, and communication within cross-cultural contexts. He also specializes in syntax and semantics, focusing on the interface between structure and meaning across languages. His academic work emphasizes the role of language in shaping understanding, identity, and dialogue across cultures. He has supervised postgraduate research on media language, pragmatics, and cross-cultural communication, and is committed to learner-centered, research-informed teaching practices. His scholarly approach blends theory and practice, fostering both linguistic precision and cultural awareness. Fluent in Arabic and English, and experienced in both academic instruction and professional interpretation,  Abuisaac continues to contribute to the fields of language, translation, andintercutlrual  communication through teaching, research, and scholarly collaboration.