Dr. Chua Kah Ooi is now a lecturer in the Centre for Research in Biotechnology for Agriculture (CEBAR), Universiti Malaya. He completed his Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology from the same university. He was awarded the MyBRAIN15 (MyPhD) Scholarship Award from the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) in 2016 for his Ph.D. study. In year 2021, he was appointed as a postdoctoral research fellow in CEBAR. His research interest focuses on bacterial genomics and microbiome study on a variety of biological and environmental samples. He has experience in taxonomic characterization of novel bacterial species including symbionts of insects and environmental bacteria. Currently, he is committed to research on bioinformatics analysis of plant and animal organelle genomes, plant-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal interaction and halotolerant plant growth promoting rhizobacteria from Malaysian mangroves.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rozalina Zakaria’s research is at the forefront of photonic materials and devices, with a strong focus on the development of optical fiber sensors, nonlinear optical phenomena, and advanced light–matter interactions. Her work explores the integration of plasmonic nanostructures and two-dimensional (2D) materials to enhance optoelectronic performance, particularly for sensing and signal-processing applications. She has made significant advancements in the design of nanostructured materials for enhanced light–matter interaction, especially in applications involving surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and magneto-optical phenomena.She was selected for an Honorable Mention in the Senior Scientist Category of the U.S.–ASEAN Science Prize for Women 2025 and has been recognized globally as a Top 2% Scientist by Stanford University in consecutive years (2024 and 2025) in the sub field of Optoelectronics and Photonics. She has published extensively in high-impact journals. Her key contributions include studies on the nonlinear optical behaviour of plasmonic metallic nanoparticles, optimization of SPR-based fiber sensors and the integration of 2D materials for broadband photonic applications. She has led numerous research projects on plasmon-enhanced photodetectors and ultrafast optical modulators, positioning her as a prominent research leader in Malaysia’s photonics landscape. Beyond her research, Dr. Zakaria actively mentors early-career researchers and contributes to academic leadership through national and international research initiatives.  

Hazim Hanif is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Software Engineering, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology at Universiti Malaya. He earned his Master of Computer Science (Research) - Information Security degree from Universiti Malaya in 2018 and his PhD in Computer Security and Artificial Intelligence from Imperial College London in 2023. His research interests focus on the analysis of the representation knowledge of source code and how it can enhance vulnerability detection models in identifying and localizing security vulnerabilities in source code. His published works and presentations have been featured across conferences and journals. He is also a core member of the Centre of Research for Cyber Security and Network (CSNET), Universiti Malaya. Additionally, he is a registered professional member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and a member of the ACM Special Interest Group on Security, Audit and Control (SIGSAC). He is currently serving as the Coordinator of the Data Intensive Computing Centre (DICC) under the portfolio of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research & Innovation) at Universiti Malaya.