A biophysicist by interest, Dr. Vengadesh Periasamy is based in Low Dimensional Materials Research Centre (LDMRC), Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as a Senior Lecturer/ Research Fellow. His field of expertise and interest mainly involves DNA electronics, Langmuir-Blodgett (LB), Biophotovoltaics (BPV) and Nanomedicine (Riboflavin, Green Synthesis of Nanoparticles for Antipathogenic and Anticancer Properties). His current research groups consist of numerous final year projects, interns, research assistants, MSc. and PhD. students comprising of various disciplines and nationality. Resulting research outputs have been published in various high impact factor journal papers, proceedings, patent, book and book chapter. Research covers a comprehensive multi-disciplinary approach whereby underlying fundamentals are thoroughly investigated to enable possible applications by constructing, characterizing and testing prototype sensors/devices. Using LB technique to fabricate pure novel DNA films, we are actively pursuing frontier research into fundamental DNA electronics, which would ultimately enable DNA genomic sequencing for rapid DNA detection and also the fabrication of DNA based environmental sensors. LB method also allows flexibility in designing different types of graphene films either as porous anodes or highly transparent conducting material. These highly customized electrodes will then be utilized to investigate bio-signals or intrinsic cellular noises from antipathogenic/anticancer reactions and other biological pathways of interest. Current research directions are therefore directed towards understanding interfacial properties by deciphering extracted bio-signals to be applied in the fields of nano-bioelectronics, nano-medicine and biomedical technology. Dr. Vengadesh’s interest in BPV is partly as a result of an MOU between University of Malaya and Centre of Research for Electrochemical Science and Technology (CREST), Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge to undertake combined research efforts in algae biotechnology. He and his group is developing LB derived high porosity graphene films for application as an anodic material in BPV platforms. Initial results indicating an increased power output and open potential suggest the possibility of substituting the currently used conventional ITO anodes. The LB method utilized allows for attaining higher electrode surface area and better attachment of biofilms. Coupled with the presence of functional groups, the films fabricated enables easier and effective algae attachment onto the graphene anode surface resulting in superior biocompatibility and hence the improved power output. Dr. Vengadesh visited CREST as a Post-doc/Academic Visitor from 21 January until 20 October 2014 to facilitate the collaborative research further and to establish a roadmap in BPV research between the two research centers.

Tutut Herawan is an associate professor at the Department of Information Systems, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Malaya. He is also a research fellow at the Institute for Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (IBDAAI) of UiTM Shah Alam, Malaysia. He was named in the Top 2% World Scientists Ranking by Stanford University and Elsevier BV, since 2019-present and his mathematics Erdos number is 4. He is also named in the most prolific DBLP-computer science authors and one of the best computer scientists from Malaysia according to https://research.com/. He received a PhD degree in information technology from Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia in 2010. He was a visiting researcher at Parallel and Distributed Computing Research Lab of Deakin University, Australia. He has more than 18 years experiences as academic staff and has supervised many Master & PhD students. He has also examined many Master & PhD Theses from Malaysia, Indonesia, India, and China. He is the associate editor of Springer Nature Computer Science Journal (Scopus), editor of International Journal of Knowledge and Systems Science, IGI Global (Scopus), and editor-advisory board member of the book series “Information Systems Engineering and Management / ISEM” of Springer Nature. He has edited many Springer-series books and published more than 330 articles in various book chapters, international journals, and conference proceedings (with Scopus h-index 36 and ISI WoS h-index 29). He is a reviewer for international journals including top reputable journals e.g., Knowledge-Based Systems, IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, Information Sciences, IEEE Access, and many more. He delivered more than 50 keynote addresses, invited workshop and seminars, and has been actively served as a chair, co-chair, program committee member and co-organizer for numerous international conferences/workshops. He is the general chair of the 8th Asian Conference in Pattern Recognition /ACPR-2025, which will be held in Bali, Indonesia. His research area includes data science and big data, data engineering and information systems, soft computing and data mining, and information technology for tourism.

Professor Dr Maznah Dahlui is a Public Health Medicine Specialist who had served for several years with the Ministry of Health, Malaysia and was a General Practitioner before becoming an academician in the University of Malaya in 2007. Her specialty is health economics, with a major interest in the economic evaluation of health programs. She had evaluated many of the country’s health policies and programs, working with various ministries in Malaysia such as Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Science and Technology and Prime Minister’s Department. She has good linkages with international institutions such as the UNFPA, UNESCO, World Bank, WHO which have led to several consultancy projects centered on the evaluation and monitoring of health programs. Maznah’s research interest extends to cancer screening, infectious diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C, mental health and obesity prevention; applying the economic evaluation approaches. She has been actively engaging NGOs (such as Breast Cancer Welfare Society and MAKNA) and the communities (the urban poor community and rural populations) for breast cancer screening and combating chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. Her international research experiences include working with collaborators from Sanger Institute, University Cambridge, United Kingdom on the Salt Reduction Study, Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Australia on Return of Investment of Harm Reduction Program, University of Usmanu Danfodia, Sokoto, Nigeria on sexual reproductive health issues under the auspices of the Africa-Asia Development University Network (AADUN), and several others. Maznah has been the Regional Director of APACPH (Asia Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health) since 2013 and used this as an avenue for her to initiate research collaborations on community obesity prevention with several of the 47 active APACPH member institutions. With the backing of her university, in 2012 the APACPH Secretariat was successfully transferred to the University of Malaya where she had been the Vice President (Admin) until now. Her appointment as the Chair for the National Clearinghouse for Adolescent Health in Malaysia and as exclusive member of Technical Advisory Committee of Health Technology Economic Evaluation (TACHTEE), Malaysia are acknowledgments of her expertise and close working relationship with the Ministry of Health. Dr Maznah has several academic appointments by various local and international universities including as an Adjunct Professor at University of Airlangga (UA), Surabaya, Indonesia. Dr Maznah considers UA as her second workplace where she highly appreciates the shared experiences in teaching, research and publications with the faculty at Fakultas Public Health, UA. Her outstanding contributions to public health in such a short span of time contributed significantly to her election as a Fellow of the prestigious Academy Science Malaysia (2021), Fellow of Public Health Medicine Specialist Association (2019), Fellow of Public Health Physician Malaysia (2018) and Distinguished Fellow of Faculty of Public Health, Royal College of Physicians, United Kingdom (2016). Maznah’s leadership capabilities has been acknowledged by the university with her appointment as the head of Department of Social and Preventive Medicine (2011 to 2016), and as the Deputy Dean (Post-Graduate) of Faculty of Medicine (2016 to 2020). She was the senate representative of University Malaya for 2016 to 2018 and is sitting in Curriculum Review Committee of the university since 2019. Currently, Dr Maznah is the Head, Department of Research Development and Innovation at University Malaya Medical center, while leading the Case-Mix System implementation at the hospital. Dr Maznah is currently active in contributing her expertise as a Public Health specialist to curb Covid 19 pandemic where she is helping the country to assess the economic implications of the pandemic to the healthcare system and country at large. She is also in the Independent Advisory Committee for Covid 19 Vaccination of the country.