Dr. Firdaus Sahran is currently a senior lecturer at the Department of Computer System and Technology, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, Universiti Malaya. He received his PhD in Computer Science from Universiti Malaya in 2024. Firdaus Sahran's research focuses on computer networking, specifically software-defined networking (SDN), security, and analytics. He is dedicated to teaching and has taught courses in computer networks and computer systems to undergraduate and postgraduate students. He strives to make complex networking concepts understandable and applicable for students. In addition, he is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of computer network researchers.

Professor Ir. Dr. U. Johnson Alengaram is the Director of the Centre for Innovative Construction Technology (CICT), a Research Centre under the Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is listed among the top 2% world’s scientists by Stanford University through Elsevier Data Repository, and also the recipient of outstanding achievement awards in most of the Institutions he served. He has been serving as a research fund evaluator of different countries that include, South American, Asian, and European countries. He is also recognized external examiner for doctoral theses and evaluator for promotional exercises. His industrial collaboration resulted in bringing research projects from industries to solve some of the imperative issues in material, mechanical, durability and structural properties.   He is a Chartered Civil Engineer of the world-renowned Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE, UK) and the Engineering Council (UK); he is also a Companion Member of the Institution of Engineers Malaysia (CIEM), and a member of the American Concrete Society (ACI-Kuala Lumpur Chapter) and a life member of the Concrete Society of Malaysia (CSM). His current Web of Science (WoS) h-index stands at 51 based on the publication of over 190 journal articles from the Web of Science Core Collection. He started the University of Malaya's Institution of Civil Engineers Student Chapter (UMICESC) in 2014 and currently, he is the staff Advisor; UMICESC serves as the professional student body for the undergraduate students to enhance their professional attributes, so they can strive towards becoming CEng MICE after graduation and appropriate training. In his Master of Engineering in Structural Engineering, as part of his MEng thesis, he utilized jute as a sustainable replacement material for conventional wood. His MEng research project was acclaimed as one of the best innovative works and the specimens of his research project Sandwiched Plywood were displayed at the International Exhibition held in Delhi, India. Dr Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister of India (then Union Finance Minister) who inaugurated the exhibition had a special word for his work on jute; he continued his research for his doctoral research using sustainable industrial by-products and investigated mechanical and structural behaviour that provided in-sight into vital characteristics on the ductility behaviour of oil palm shells-that he went on to develop as a blast-resistant concrete-using oil palm shell as a whole replacement for normal aggregate. Professor Ir. Dr. U. Johnson Alengaram has been in academic, consultancy, research, and administration for over twenty-five years and contributed to society in different capacities in India, Bahrain, and Malaysia. His current research involves the utilization of industrial by-products, low-carbon footprint materials, and waste materials in the development of one-part geopolymer, low-carbon cement, limestone calcinated clay cement (LC3) in mortar and concrete; other research aspects include lightweight aggregate, material characteristics, crack-healing mortar using microalgae, lightweight aggregate concrete, foamed concrete, geopolymer concrete and impact & blast-resistant concrete; his experimental works revolve around investigations on the microstructural behaviour, mechanical properties and durability characteristics, structural behaviour, functional behaviour etc. He has supervised many Master of Engineering Science (MEng Sci-Research Mode) and Doctoral candidates to the successful completion of their degrees. He is the recipient of outstanding achievement awards in most of the Institutions he served. He and his research team won gold and silver medals at international and national exhibitions on concrete engineering & technology. He was the Project Director of two housing projects at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that utilized industrial by-products. His decade-long research work on geopolymer concrete enabled him and his team to construct the first cement-free house (superstructure) in Malaysia with the collaboration of Vinci Construction, a French-based construction conglomerate; this house is currently being used by bus drivers and serves as a research hub. He is the Principal Investigator of many research projects and received numerous research grants from the University of Malaya research fund, the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, and national and international grants including the prestigious Newton-Ungku Omar Coordination Fund: UK-Malaysia Research & Innovation Bridges Competition. He has a research collaboration with various universities in Malaysia, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, China, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, India, Japan, Jordan, Oman, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam. He has been invited by various Universities in different countries to give keynote lectures at international conferences, seminars, and research workshops.  Prof. Ir. Dr U. Johnson Alengaram serves as an Associate Editor in the Journal of Sustainable Cement-Based Material, Australian Journal of Civil Engineering, and Editorial Board Member of the Jordanian Journal of Civil Engineering (JJCE); he also served as Chairperson of the SIRIM Committee for "Eco Labelling of Criteria for Reused By-Products Aggregates", and reviewer of multiple international journals. He has organized workshops, conferences, and seminars and trained school students to win local and international awards; further, as the Director of CICT, he has pioneered the activities of the centre to contribute to society and thus many national and international researchers and students are being trained regularly in the centre.  He has been Organizing Secretary, Co-Chair, Chair and Advisor of International Conferences and Workshops.  

Rajah Rasiah is Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Asia Europe Institute, University of Malaya. He obtained his doctorate in Economics from Cambridge University in 1992, and was a Rajawali fellow at Harvard University in 2014. He was the first holder of the Khazanah Nasional Chair of Regulatory Studies, and served as Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya in 2009-2010 and 2013-2014. He was a member of the GLOBELICS scientific board over the period 2012-2017, Professorial Fellow at UNU-MERIT since 2004, Senior Research Associate at the Technology Management and Development Centre at Oxford University, Professorial Fellow at the Centre for Rising Powers, Cambridge University, an advisory member of the Industrial Development Research Centre, Zhejiang University over the period 2010-2015,  Member of the Advisory Board of University of Cambodia over the period 2005-2015, Visiting Professor at Lahore School of Economics (2019), Visiting Professor at UNIMAS (since 2018). He has delivered public lectures, policy talks and keynote speeches at several universities, including Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, Columbia, University of California (Berkeley), Emory, American University, George Mason University, University College London, Meijo University, Zhejiang University, National University of Singapore, Monash, Melbourne, Australian National University, University of Capetown, Witswaterand, Murdoch, Latrobe, Macquarie, Sydney, Wollongong, University of Philippines (Diliman), Jawaharlal Nehru, Culcutta, Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore), Lahore School of Economics, Mohamad Ali Jinnah, University of Malaya, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Chulalongkorn University, Chiengmai University, Beijing University, UNIKAMP (Sao Paolo), University of Buenos Aires, Manchester, National Taiwan University, Soeul National University, Bocconi University, University of Rome, UNU-MERIT (Maastricht), Adama, Copenhagen Business School, Aolborg, Lund, University of Indonesia, University Padjajaran, Agricultural University of Bogor, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Sunway University, University Institute of MARA (Shah Alam), and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. His policy-oriented work includes research in several countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Among the major contributions he has made for the benefit of society include the conceptualization of technology, and its link to development, and methodologies designed to capture clustering, technological capabilities and industrial policies. In recognition of his competence the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, World Bank, International Labour Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, United Nations Development Programme, the Asian Development Bank and the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia have commissioned the writing of several reports for guiding industrial policy in the developing economies. He was also one of the principal authors of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization’s (UNIDO) 2009 flagship report, and one of the editors of the 2015 UNESCO Science Report. His research and policy work has produced over 280 publications in international journals and prestigious presses.   While the prime focus of his research is on technology and international development, he has also worked extensively on foreign investment, human capital, public health and environment. He is the 2014 recipient of the Celso Furtado prize from the World Academy of Sciences for advancing the frontiers of social science (economics) thought. In light of his outstanding impactful contributions to scholarship, Malaysia's Ministry of Higher Education conferred him the award of Distinguished Professor in the field of Economics in 2017. He was conferred the Merdeka (Independence) Award for academic excellence in 2018.