Khoo Ying Hooi, PhD, is an Associate Professor of International Relations and Human Rights at Universiti Malaya (UM). Her research centres on human rights and democracy in Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on civil society, Southeast Asian politics, and the domestic politics of Malaysia and Timor-Leste. She also examines how the geopolitics of Southeast Asia shapes domestic political developments, rights discourses, civic spaces, and institutional contestations. In addition, she works extensively on human rights education and academic freedom. She is the author of “The Bersih Movement and Democratisation in Malaysia” (SIRD/ ISEAS/ Lexington Books, 2020) and “Seeds of Dissent (Gerakbudaya, 2015). Furthermore, Ying Hooi has also co-edited several volumes, such as “Social and Political Deglobalisation: Covid-19, Conflict and Uncertainties in Malaysia (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023), “Marginalisation and Human Rights in Southeast Asia” (Routledge, 2022) and “Rethinking Human Rights and Peace in the Post-Independence Timor-Leste through Local Perspectives” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022). Her co-author paper (with C. Leong, I. Faik, F. Tan and B. Tan, 2020), “Digital organising of a global social movement: from connective to collective action," won the 2021 Best Paper Award at the Information and Organization and was Runner-Up in the 2021 Special Interest Group-Grounded Theory Methodology (SIG-GTM).  Ying Hooi is the Editor-in-Chief of the Malaysian Journal of International Relations (MJIR) and sits on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, the Journal of Southeast Asian Human Rights (JSEAHR), and the Indonesian Law Review (ILREV).  Ying Hooi has been appointed to the International Advisory Council by the Timor-Leste government for Centro Nacional Chega! (CNC), a public institute tasked to institutionalise memory and promote human rights. She is also a founding member of the Southeast Asian Coalition for Academic Freedom (SEA-CAF). She received several fellowships, including the Mellon/ SAR Academic Freedom Fellowship by Scholars at Risk (SAR), the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) Curriculum Fellowship, and visiting fellowships at Kyushu University, Mahidol University, Humboldt University of Berlin and Beijing Foreign Studies University. She has served as a judge in several local and international human rights awards, including the Amnesty International Philippines Ignite Awards and Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) Human Rights Awards. Between 2013 and 2016, Ying Hooi was involved in the diplomatic training course for the Institute of Diplomatic Studies (IDS), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in Timor-Leste. Additionally, she has contributed to consultancies for organisations like the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), the Democracy Academy of Malaysia, and Strengthening Human Rights and Peace Research and Education in Southeast Asia (SHAPE-SEA). In addition to her academic roles, Ying Hooi has extensive experience in the field of human rights and democracy in Southeast Asia. These roles include serving as a Scientific Member in the Observatory of Political Alternatives in Southeast Asia (ALTERSEA), Vice-Chair in the Society for the Promotion of Human Rights (PROHAM), and Board Member in the Innovation of Change - East Asia Governance Circle (EAGC). Before entering academia, Ying Hooi garnered experience in corporate sectors and served as the Head of International Issues and Cooperation at the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM). Her involvements include the ASEAN human rights body (now AICHR) in the ASEAN Charter, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Malaysia in Geneva and the SUHAKAM Amendment Bill 2009.  

Dr. Sujaya Singh received her undergraduate medical training at Calicut University, Kerala, India. Subsequently she moved to Malaysia and worked in various hospitals under Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia (KKM) as House Officer and Medical Officer. After working for 5 years in KKM, she underwent Ophthalmology Specialist training at the University of Malaya. Subsequently she pursued sub specialization in Cornea and Anterior Segment at L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India and also the Malaysian cornea fellowship programme withexit Certification in December 2015. She worked as a Cornea specialist at Hospital Sungai Buloh and currently practising at University of Malaya. Her particular interests are in management of cornea and anterior segment diseases.  

Abrizah Abdullah is currently an Honorary Professor in the Department of Library & Information Science, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, Universiti Malaya (UM). Her substantial academic and research experience is enhanced by her profound dedication to teaching, particularly to postgraduates. Notably, she has successfully supervised 22 PhD students in the field of Library and Information Science (LIS), contributing significantly to their academic or professional journeys. Abrizah graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Engineering from Temple University, Philadelphia. She continued her pursuit of knowledge at UM, where she earned both her Masters and PhD degrees in LIS. Her remarkable journey in UM began in 2000, after a decade of teaching experience and as a teacher librarian at the secondary school level. Before transitioning to her academic career at UM, she worked as a librarian at the Educational Planning and Research Division (EPRD) of the Ministry of Education. Her LIS research interests are notably diverse, encompassing digital libraries, information behavior, scholarly communication, bibliometrics and scientometrics. Prof. Abrizah's dedication to research is evident through her leadership of her own research group in Informetrics and Scholarly Publishing. Under the mentorship of Professor Zainab Awang Ngah, her earlier work with this research group played a pivotal role in the establishment of significant academic platforms and digital repositories. Notably, their collaborative efforts gave birth to the Malaysian journal hosting platform, MyJurnal, and the national citation indexing system, MyCite, in 2011. Her contributions in this domain earned her the position of Deputy Director of the Malaysian Citation Centre (MCC) and advisory panel membership at the MCC, within the Department of Higher Education. She is presently engaged in the planning of the National Knowledge Infrastructure for the Ministry and is a member of the Advisory Board of the National Library of Malaysia. In addition to her academic roles, Abrizah serves as a Senior Academic Associate at CIBER Research Ltd., UK. She is also currently a Principal Investigator in an international research project funded by the Alfred Sloan Foundation. This groundbreaking research (Harbingers project) examines the scholarly communication behaviors of Early Career Researchers across nine countries, including China, France, Malaysia, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, the UK, and the USA. Abrizah's editorial leadership shines through as the Chief Editor of the Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science, a publication indexed in both the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) and Scopus. She actively participates in the scholarly community as an author, member of international advisory boards, and a reviewer for influential journals in LIS. With about 120 SSCI-indexed articles to her name, her expertise in scholarly publishing has made her a sought-after speaker at numerous talks and seminars. Her contributions have been instrumental in deepening the understanding of how scholarly publishing impacts research and education. As a strong supporter of Open Science, she is actively involved in important roles both in Malaysia and internationally. In Malaysia, she leads the Working Group on Capacity Building and Awareness for the Malaysian Open Science Platform (MOSP) within the Malaysian Open Science Alliance. On a global scale, she is in the Steering Committee for the International Science Council's project on Open Science and the Future of Scientific Publishing. She is also a member of the DOAB (Directory of Open Access Book) Scientific Committee and contributes her expertise to the ASEAN Citation Index (ACI) Steering Committee. Prof. Abrizah served as the Dean of the Institute for Advanced Studies UM, a position she had held since January 2022 until she officially retired from public services in September 2024. Her previous leadership experience includes serving as the Dean at the Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology and the Dean of the Institute of Postgraduate Studies, where she and her team were responsible for the management of postgraduate education and the oversight of full research programs at the university. Abrizah's expertise and unwavering dedication to advancing scholarly communication in Malaysia have earned her recognition in academia. Her commitment to LIS education, leadership, and research has had a profound impact on the field, not only in Malaysia but also globally.