Dr. Mahidzal Dahari is currently Professor in Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, UM. He is an established academician and a practicing engineer. He has to-date published more than 200 articles in journals and conference proceedings both locally and internationally. His research interest includes instrumentation, automation, robotics and control strategy especially related to manufacturing technology, industrial robots and oil & gas applications. He has supervised more than 50 totals PhD and Masters Students. Dr. Mahidzal is actively involved in many consultancy projects, especially in the field of fluid flow, natural gas and also hydrogen refueling technology. Dr. Mahidzal is a Member of BEM & IEM, Malaysia, and also a Member of IEEE, USA and Chartered Engineer from IET, UK.  

I am an associate professor at the Department of Asian and European Languages, Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, University of Malaya. Much of my research focuses on the psychological and emotional dimensions of learning additional languages. My broader academic interests include quantitative methods in applied linguistics and natural language processing. I am also increasingly interested in the study of the human sensorium—particularly how sensory perceptions, such as olfaction, intersect with language, cognition, and emotion. In my research on language learning, one of the directions I pursue is exploring how language learners perceive and imagine the cultures of their target language communities. This interest led to the publication of my book, Stereotypes and Language Learning Motivation: A Study of L2 Learners of Asian Languages (Routledge, 2020). I actively engage with theoretical perspectives and seek innovative methodologies that help explain the psychological phenomena involved in learning a new language. This line of inquiry resulted in my most recent book, Emotions and Affect in Language Learning: A Photovoice Study of Learning in Lockdown (Routledge, 2025). In this work, Lev Vygotsky’s concept of perezhivanie provides the theoretical grounding for exploring language learners’ lived experiences during the COVID-19 lockdown. My work has appeared in journals such as Applied Linguistics, Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, System, and Journal of English for Academic Purposes. I welcome opportunities for collaboration with researchers working in related areas.

Dr. Diana Abdul Wahab is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Applied Statistics, the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She completed her Doctorate at Leeds University Business School, Leeds, United Kingdom. Dr. Diana has been interested in applying statistical models to understand graduate labor market issues throughout her academic career, beginning at the Master’s level when she collaborated with the Tracer Study Unit in the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia. Her interest in the field has evolved to a deeper understanding of graduate employment issues including gender pay gap, first destination choices, and migration while developing her interest in the field of data science where she applies data science techniques in other areas of studies such as education and economy. She has published her paper in the Institutions and Economies and continues to write for other international academic journals. She has won a scholarship award to go to Kazakhstan to conduct a comparative analysis on the graduate employment issues between the two countries. She teaches Statistical Computing and Business Analytics and planning to expand her research interest in the field of data science.