Professor Dr. Yvonne Lim Ai Lian is the Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and International) at Universiti Malaya and a Senior Professor in the Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine. She is also a member of the University Senate. A Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM), she co-chairs the APRU Asia Pacific Women in Leadership (APWiL) Programme and serves on the International Advisory Committee of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities. Throughout her distinguished career, she has held several key leadership roles at both university and national levels, including Deputy Dean (Research) at the Faculty of Medicine, Director of the International Relations Office, and Associate Vice-Chancellor of Global Engagement at Universiti Malaya. She has also served as President of the Malaysian Society of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine and as a Council Member of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia. Her research focuses on deciphering the intricate host-parasite-environment interactions that contribute to disease in indigenous and underserved communities, aiming to develop multi-targeted solutions. Additionally, she investigates the diversity of gut and skin microbiomes across populations spanning various socioeconomic and ecological landscapes, from traditional to industrialized societies. For nearly three decades, she has dedicated her work to studying infectious diseases among the Orang Asli (indigenous) communities of Peninsular Malaysia, collaborating closely with Hospital Orang Asli Gombak. Her contributions to national policy, including the Orang Asli Development Policy (DPOA), reflect her deep commitment to community welfare. Her collaboration with New York University led to a groundbreaking discovery, published in Science (2016), revealing how low levels of helminth (worm) infections promote the growth of probiotic gut microbiota. Her gut microbiome research has since expanded to studies among HIV and cancer patients. More recently, in partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the USA, she has deepened investigations into parasitic infections, gut microbiome dynamics, and the relationship between skin infections and the skin microbiome. Her work is supported by numerous national and international grants, including the prestigious US NIH R01 grants. She was recently awarded another NIH R01 grant as the principal investigator. She has published over 250 peer-reviewed scientific articles, contributed to nine book chapters, and authored three books. As a dedicated mentor, she has supervised more than 40 postgraduate students to completion and hosted researchers through extensive collaborations with institutions in the US, UK, Australia, Germany, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore. She has also held visiting research and academic positions at leading institutions, including the Scottish Parasite Diagnostic and Reference Laboratory in Glasgow, Scotland; the Department of Veterinary Science at the University of Melbourne, Australia; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA; and the Department of Molecular Parasitology and Tropical Diseases at Taipei Medical University, Taiwan. She has earned numerous accolades, including the MSPTM Medal (2008) for outstanding young scientists, the Universiti Malaya Excellent Lecturer Award for Science Disciplines (2015), and the Top Research Scientists of Malaysia Award (2016). In 2017, she was inducted as a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia. She has been consistently recognized in Stanford University's list of the top 2% of scientists globally in her field. In 2021, she was awarded the Fulbright Scholar Award (2021/2022) for a fellowship at the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases at NIAID, NIH, USA. Most recently, she received the prestigious Sandosham Gold Medal Award in 2024, the highest honour from the Malaysian Society of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to parasitology and tropical medicine. Deeply passionate about her work with the Orang Asli communities, she remains committed to inspiring and empowering her colleagues and students to reach their fullest potential.  

Prof. Lim is the leading scientist in the region on Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) research. His scholarly contributions extend beyond mere publications, encompassing groundbreaking scientific discoveries, capacity building, and impactful networking through his involvement in HAB-related national and international organizations. He has published over 170 scientific papers, including 111 ISI papers. His impressive H-index of 28 (Web of Science), and >2467 total citations (WoS) reflect the influence of his work.   Prof. Lim plays an active leadership role internationally in various HAB-related bodies. He has been the Vice President of the International Society for the Study of Harmful Algae (ISSHA) for three consecutive terms (2018-Present); a Council member of ISSHA (2016-2018); the Vice-chair and Committee member of UNESCO IOC SCOR GLOBALHAB Program (2016-2019, 2020-2023); the Co-chair of the UNESCO-IOC WESTPAC Harmful Algal Blooms Program (WESTPAC-HABs) (2010-Present).   To date, he has secured and completed over 20 research projects, with research grants amounting to more than 5 million received from national and international funding agencies. His research has led to the identification of more than 15 harmful algal species that are new to science and many new records in the country. Notably, several of these species are named after him to recognize his achievements in HABs research for the past two decades, including Pseudo-nitzschia limii, Heterocapsa limii, and Alexandrium limii, a testament to his enduring impact in this field. He contributes to various national and international working groups in his area of expertise, serving as a task team member of UNESCO IOC IPHAB, an expert panel in the National Technical Working Group of Biotoxins and HABs, and the Task Force of Import/Export Seafood Product and Safety (DOF Kelantan).  He is an international advisory committee member of T-SMART Marine Station of Xiamen University (2016-Present), and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Tokyo (2019-present). Dr. Lim's expertise extends to editorial responsibilities. He serves as an associate editor to ISI journals, Elsevier’s Journal of Harmful Algae (Q1) (2018-Present), and Plankton and Benthos Research (PBR). His outstanding contributions have garnered national and international acclaim. He was awarded the ASM Top Research Scientist of Malaysia (TRSM) in 2021; and recognized as a senior scientist under the Chinese Academy of Science, President International Fellowship Initiative (CAS-PIFI) in 2024. He was awarded the Senior Visiting Fellowship of the State Key Lab in Marine Environmental Sciences (MEL), by Xiamen University for three consecutive years (2018-2019, 2020-2021). Dr Lim has delivered >150 presentations at national and international conferences, including a plenary talk at the International Conference on Harmful Algae, Hiroshima Japan in 2023. He has also been invited to deliver an ASM Fascinate Talk, and numerous seafood safety and biosecurity outreach and educational talks to relevant authorities. In his academic career over the two decades, he has been responsible for teaching and course development at undergraduate to postgraduate levels. More than 60 final-year project (FYP) students, 37 MSc students, and 12 Ph.D. candidates have completed their studies under his supervision.    Po Teen is a registered consultant under the Natural Resources and Environmental Board (NREB) and a registered subject specialist under the Department of Environment Malaysia (DOE). He is actively involved in consultancy projects whenever his expertise in marine science is needed.    Dr. Lim Po Teen began his academic career at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) in 2000 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer (2008) and Associate Professor (2013).  He joined  UM in January 2014 to lead the newly established Bachok Marine Research Station at the Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences, UM, and was promoted to full Professor in 2024.    updated December 2024

Siti Zubaidah Ismail's field of expertise is Islamic criminal law and criminal justice. She graduated with Bachelor of Shariah from University of Malaya, Master of Comparative Laws from IIUM, LL.M from Birmingham University and PhD (Malaya). Her main research interest  is on the Islamic law and criminal justice in contemporary Muslim countries, particularly in Southeast Asia. She also focuses on the application of Islamic criminal law on the society  and on the development of Islamic criminal law implementation in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. Her current research is on the intersection between islamic punishment and human rights and the potential of diyat as an alternative to death penalty in Malaysia She is also active in research relating to interaction of Islamic law in society relating to new-Muslim reverts, inter-religious marriage and freedom of religion. She was Visiting Fellow at Asian Law Institute, National University of Singapore in 2010, Visiting Scholar at Faculty of Law Universitas Indonesia in 2016, Visiting Lecturer at UNISSA, Brunei and Visiting Fellow at IAIS in 2022 . She was one of the recipients for AUA Scholars Award 2019 and UI-Resolv Visiting Scholar Awards 2016. She has supervised 11 Phd and 25 masters students. She was Head of the Shariah and Law Department from 2011 until January 2016, Deputy Dean for Humanities and Ethics Research Cluster in 2018 and Deputy Director for Research and Development from 2019-2021. Her contribution in the society is also significant in the area of human rights activism. She is Senior Research Fellow with Centre for Human Rights Research and Advocacy (CENTHRA) since 2017 and Senior Fellow  for Malaysian Alliance of Civil Society Organisations in the UPR Process (MACSA). She has more than 130 articles published and the author of four books.  Her book Undang-Undang Kesalahan Jenayah Syariah di Malaysia won Anugerah Cemerlang Universiti Malaya 2018 and Hadiah Karya Ilmiah 2019 from Dewan Bahasa Pustaka. She also received "Anugerah Penulisan Artikel Terbaik dalam Jurnal Hukum 2019" by Jabatan Kehakiman Syariah Malaysia.  She is married with seven children.