Dr. Azizah Mainal is an Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya.  She has been teaching physical chemistry courses at the department since 2007.  Her research interest is on liquid crystals which started with the studies on field-induced liquid crystal director alignment to presently, on the stability of naturally occurring liquid crystals. Her other interest is on science communication, and she was the editor of CONNECT, the first Faculty of Science’s newsletter (2017-2019.) She is currently a member of SEMARAK, a platform formed at the Faculty of Science to inform, excite, and influence the university community and the mass via various science communication activities. She also forms Artify Science which is a gathering of literature and art enthusiasts sharing their readings, creative writings, poetry, songs, paintings and, etc.

Started his research career in the think tank sector, Dr. Lee Chee Leong (Karl) is attracted to the rise of non-traditional diplomacy in the international order today. Such appeal has taken Dr. Lee into new research horizons that started with his Monash University's doctoral research on the Chinese sub-state diplomacy in China-ASEAN economic cooperation. With constructive supervision by Professor Helen Nesadurai and Associate Professor Kuik Cheng Chwee, Dr. Lee completed his doctoral thesis that unravels how a faraway and least developed sub-state of Guangxi managed to overcome its own hurdles, navigate the complexities within the Chinese state and become the frontline actor in China-ASEAN economic cooperation. Following his doctoral completion, Dr. Lee's research on non-traditional diplomacy has expanded into Taiwan’s quasi-state diplomacy in Southeast Asia. Such quest has led him spending at great length in comprehending the concept of soft power, a concept that finds its relevance to Taiwan, which has no official diplomatic with Southeast Asia but is heavily connected to the region and has to rely on soft power in its engagements with these Southeast Asian nations. Taking Malaysia as the first case study of Taiwan's soft power in the region, Dr. Lee is developing the third intervening variable correlating both Taiwanese soft power resources and outcomes, in his course of providing a dynamical explanation for such phenomenon. For the coming years, his research focus and publications will be on the different areas featuring Taiwan-Malaysia and Taiwan-Southeast Asia cooperation such as digital social innovation (DSI) for climate change, industry-based education/training programmes, smart cities, tourism, digital democracy, agriculture, public health and medicine, ornamental aquaculture and aquascape. To date, Dr. Lee was the recipient of several scholarships and fellowships in Malaysia and overseas: University of Malaya’s Graduate Fellowship (2010-2011); Monash University’s Merit Scholarship (2016-2019); Chinese Government Scholarship (2018-2019); and Taiwan Fellowship (2020). Prior to his appointment as Senior Lecturer at the Institute of China Studies (ICS), he was the Visiting Scholar at Guangxi University for Nationalities (GXUN) (2018-10992019), Taiwan Fellow at National Chengchi University (NCCU) (2020) and Associate Fellow at ICS UM (2016-2019).He welcomes any potential PhD candidate who would like to work on Taiwan-Southeast Asia relations, Taiwan's soft power in Southeast Asia and Taiwan-Malaysia DSI cooperation for climate change. He is also willing to discuss with potential doctoral candidates on proposals related to the Chinese sub-state (provincial) diplomacy toward ASEAN, China's soft power in ASEAN, Southeast Asian sub-state diplomacy, comparative cases of sub-state diplomacy around the world and conceptual innovation of sub-state diplomacy as well as soft power. 

Evelyn S. DEVADASON is a Professor at the Faculty of Business & Economics, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Her previous positions include Head, Centre for Latin American Studies (CLAS, 15/7/2013 - 31/12/2014) and Deputy Dean (Research and Development, 9/9/2012 - 14/7/2013), Faculty of Economics and Administration. She received her Ph.D. (Economics) from the University of Malaya in 2006 and M.Soc.Sci. (Economics) from the National University of Singapore in 1992. Her research focuses on international trade and regional integration. Her research work has seen print in international journals (indexed in SSCI and AHCI) such as the World Development, The China Review, India Review, The Pacific Review,  Journal of Contemporary Asia, Journal of Contemporary China, Journal of International Development, Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Asian Economic Journal, Global Economic Review, Singapore Economic Review, Asia Pacific Education Review, Social Indicators Research, Technological and Economic Development of Economy, Total Quality Management and Business Excellence and Environment Science and Pollution Research. In 2023, she received two prestigious appointments at the international level - Member to the Board of Directors, East Asian Economic Association (EAEA); and Malaysian Representative to the Pacific Trade and Development (PAFTAD) International Steering Committee (ISC). She currently serves as Associate Editor to the International Journal of Social Economics (Emerald) and Asian Economic Journal (Wiley). and member to the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Contemporary Asia (Taylor & Francis) and the International Journal of Rural Management (SAGE). She was also a member to the Editorial Boards of two local journals, the Institutions and Economies (previously a Deputy Editor, 17/3/2017 - 31/12/2020) and the International Journal of China Studies. She has been engaged in a number of international and local collaborative research projects, including the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions-Asian and Pacific Regional Organization (ICFTU-APRO, Singapore), Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI, Japan), the Asian Development Bank (ADB, Manila), World Bank (WB, Washington DC), the Malaysian Competition Commission (MyCC, Kuala Lumpur), ERIA-UNCTAD (Economic Research Institute of East Asia  - United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Jakarta), Open Economy and Trade Research Centre of Shanghai Lixin University of Commerce (People's Republic of China), Food Industry Asia (FIA, Singapore), United Nations Environment Programme-Denmark Technical University (UNEP-DTU) and the European Union H2020 Research and Innovation Framework Programme on Competing Regional Integration in Southeast Asia (CRISEA).