Graduate of University College Dublin (National University Ireland) in 2005, she obtained Intercollegiate MRCS 2008 and completed Irish Basic Surgical Training (CCBST) in Royal College of Surgeons Ireland 2009. Upon returning to Malaysia, she completed Master of Surgery in University of Malaya 2013, whilst serving as trainee lecturer to University Malaya Medical Programme.  Upon appointment as specialist 2014, she continues as Consultant  General and Colorectal Surgeon and is an examiner for both undergraduate medical programme and Postgraduate Master of Surgery, National Conjoint Board Exams. She is also the Surgical Co-ordinator and Examiner for Dental Faculty, Universiti Malaya. She sub-specialised in Colorectal Surgery, training in UM, UKM and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney and is currently the Head of Colorectal Surgery Unit, Department of Surgery UM. She is also Committee Member and National Trainer for National Colorectal Surgery Fellowship Programme. She is actively involved in national and international surgical training, where she serves as Co-Director of CCrISP Course with College of Surgeons Malaysia and Royal College of Sugeons England and is a NOTSS Course Instructor with Royal College Of Surgeons Edinburgh. She is the local UM liason for co-ordination of RCS England MRCS examinations. She has a keen interest in advanced colorectal cancer surgery including Pelvic Exenteration, Cytoreductive Surgery and HIPEC as well as PIPAC and is Malaysian representative in PelvEx Collaborative. She has helped set up and continue the multidisciplinary, multicentre teamwork for extended resections in advanced GI malignancy in Universiti Malaya and in the country.  

Maria serves as a Senior Lecture in the Department of Political Science, Public Administration and Development Studies, Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya. She obtained her PhD in Public Policy from Universiti Malaya under the University's Scholarship Award (SLAB). Her research interests encompass several domains, including policy and governance, public administration and urbanization. She also engages in researching Artificial Intelligence (AI) in relation to emotions and behaviours. Maria specializes in qualitative research, where she emphasizes the significance of human-centric understanding, particularly in conducting research within the social sciences. 

Dr Sithi V Muniandy is currently a Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Department of Physics, Faculty of Science. He received his DPhil in Mathematics (Oxford, UK, 1998) for his work on wavelet multiscale theory of turbulence, MSc in Theoretical Physics (UKM) and BSc(Hons) in Physics. He is actively involved in basic research covering broad field of statistical physics and quantum dynamics, namely anomalous transport phenomena in complex fluids, fluctuation in classical and quantum systems, dusty plasmas, decoherence dynamics of noisy quantum walk and quantum entanglement in noisy environment. Having served as the Deputy Dean (Research) at the Faculty of Science, Frontier Science Research Cluster Dean and Universiti Malaya Senate Member,  Dr Sithi advocates the importance of interaction across the arts, humanities and sciences, and started to explore applications of theoretical models and analytical tools from physics to system biology and social dynamics, working with biologists to understand emergence dynamics in mycelium network, animal movement ecology, collective behaviors, thermodynamics of ecosystem and soundscape ecology. Dr Sithi founded the Learning Enrichment Committee (LearnX@2015) at the Department of Physics, Universiti Malaya, where students are empowered to explore physics outside the syllabus using artscience approaches and competition-based peer-group learning. These include Physics Theatre – Atomystics, Entropic SDG through poetry, GIS Visual Science, Robotic IoT Drone (RiOD) Competition, 'Quantum Debate in Wayang Kulit' (shadow puppet) and 'Quantum Revolutions in Wayang Kulit' in celebration of International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ2025). Dr Sithi enjoys exploring emergence dynamics in soundscape ecology and Nature/wildlife photography. He uses Nature as the sourcebook for LearnX and coursework activities, reflecting on the complexities of life and the environment, and its implications on the  anthropic universe.