Academician Datuk Professor Dr Lai-Meng Looi is Malaysia’s inaugural National Distinguished Professor, positioned at  the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya (UM).  She holds a concurrent appointment as senior consultant histopathologist at the University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC).    Professor Looi studied medicine as a Malaysian Federal Scholar at the University of Singapore (1970-1975), where she was a medalist in Pathology and Social Medicine, and won King Edward VII Hall awards for literary works, art forms and poetry.  She trained in Surgical Pathology at UM, Royal Postgraduate Medical School (UK) and Brigham and Woman’s Hospital, Boston, (USA) and defended her research doctorate (on amyloidosis) at UM.  She assumed the Chair of Pathology, UM at the age of 36 years and during her long academic career at UM has served as Department Head, Deputy Dean (Postgraduate), Chair of the Medical Centre Research Committee, representative to the Malaysian Medical Council, Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee of UMMC and UM’s Committee for External Academic Evaluators.  She continues to chair the UMMC-Medical Research Ethics Committee/ Institutional Review Board.  She has more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, mainly on amyloidosis, nephropathology and oncopathology, is devoted to promoting a research and ethical culture among researchers, has delivered >500 guest lectures and conducts scientific writing workshops nationally and internationally. Professor Looi is a Foundation Fellow and Academician of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) and has served as Chief Censor and Scribe of the Academy of Medicine Malaysia.   She has served as  Editor-in-Chief of the Malaysian Journal of Pathology, on the International Editorial Advisory Boards of Pathology, Journal of Pathology, Human Pathology and Histopathology, is Founding Vice-President of the Association of Malaysian Medical Journal Editors, and chaired the Ethics and Editorial Policies Committee of Asia-Pacific Association of Medical Editors.   A Fellow of both Royal Colleges of Pathologists, UK (RCPath) and Australasia (RCPA), she served as Examiner and Advisor to both.  She is the Founding President of the College of Pathologists, Academy of Medicine Malaysia, and was instrumental in developing pathology laboratory accreditation for Malaysia, the Pathology Act and several National guidelines on medical laboratory practices.  In 2010 she was honoured RCPA Distinguished Fellow and Inaugural National Distinguished Professor (Profesor Ulung Negara).  She was President of the World Association of Societies of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (WASPaLM) from 2013-2016, and chaired its Education Committee which focusses on capacity-building in countries-in-need.   She co-chaired the InterAcademy Medical Panel (now the InterAcademy Partnership for Health) for two elected terms (2010-2016) and currently represents ASM in its Executive Committee.   During her chairmanship, this global network of National Sciences and Medical Academies extended its initiatives into global health, the social determinants of health, urban health, and young physician leadership capacity-building. She chaired the ASM Newton-Ungku Omar Fund Committee for Bilateral Research Programmes with the Medical Research Council, UK. (2015-2018) and the 2019 MRC-Malaysia Joint Panel on Non-Communicable Diseases. She is a Member of the MRC (UK) Applied Global Health Research Board, and the InterAcademy Partnership Expert Working Group on Harnessing the World's Academies to combat predatory journals and conferences.  She is a Commissioner for the Lancet Commission on Diagnostics. Her contributions to research, education and medical science have been recognised with several accolades including the Panglima Jasa Negara (Datuk), Sri Indera Mahkota Pahang (Dato Indera), National Science Award, ASEAN Outstanding Scientist Award,  Merdeka Award 2016 (Health, Science and Technology category),  WASPaLM’s Gold-Headed Cane and Honorary Professor of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences-Peking Union Medical College. She was named in Stanford University's list of the World Top 2% Scientists 2022. 

Awanis is an Associate Professor majoring in membrane technology and fabrication at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Malaya. She started working at UM as a lecturer since November 2004 and became a senior lecturer in 2011. She pioneered membrane fabrication research using phase inversion process in UM since 2011. Prior to that, she worked as a Plant Engineer at Hitachi Semiconductor Penang upon  completion of her Bachelor Degree sponsored by Monbusho Scholarship (currently known as MEXT Japan). She received a PhD from Imperial College London, Masters in Environmental Biotechnology from University of Manchester (UMIST) and a Bachelor Degree in Chemical Engineering from Osaka University, Japan. Sekolah Tun Fatimah, Johor Bahru is her alma mater. Awanis represented Malaysia in the ASEAN-US Science Prize for Women competition in 2014 due to her work in improving the availability and safe drinking water in ASEAN region through novel membranes. She was awarded Hitachi Research Fellowship by Hitachi Global Foundation in 2016 to perform research in collaboration with Membrane Research Centre, Kobe University and she received Yamaguchi University Visiting Scholar award and MEXT Global Networking award in partnership with Osaka University, both in 2019. Awanis was awarded the JSPS Bridge Fellowship Award in 2023 hosted by Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan. She was awarded a special grant in 2015 by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia through Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) special grant for disaster mitigation and prevention during flood using membrane technology. Awanis has been extensively involved in 16 research projects, in which she has been the Principal Investigator for 12 internal and external grants worth of more than RM1.5 million.  Awanis is a Chartered Engineer of Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), UK and a Professional Engineer of Board of Engineers Malaysia. She is currently an Exco of JSPS-JAAM and the member of the Board of Engineers Malaysia. Since 2004, Awanis served in a number of administrative positions including; chemical engineering undergraduate program coordinator, faculty auditor, undergraduate curriculum review committee, design project coordinator, lab coordinator, departmental quality manager, and the timetable coordinator. She has been the Head for the Center of Separation Science and Technology from January 2020 until December 2021.  Her recent research activities include 1. Membrane fabrication and modification 2. Membrane technology and separation 3. Separation processes 4. Water and wastewater treatment using membranes 5. Carbon dioxide capture using a membrane gas absorption process. Awanis has more than fifty published articles in ISI-indexed journals and she has presented papers in national and international conferences and seminars as a plenary speaker, invited speakers and oral presenters. Awanis is currently seconded at the Policy and Research Division, Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, where she can be reached via nurawanis.hashim@mohe.gov.my.  

Dr. Kishneth Palaniveloo received his early education in Kedah (1991–2003) before obtaining his Bachelor of Science in Marine Science (2007) from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). He is a trained PADI Divemaster and actively participated in teaching, recreational diving, and scientific diving activities that supported educational and research programmes. Thereafter he was briefly attached to the Kota Kinabalu Fisheries Department and Marine Research Foundation (MRF), contributing to research on marine resource management and conservation. He later completed a Master’s degree in Fermentation Biochemistry (2008–2010), followed by a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Advancement of Biodiversity with a focus on Marine Ecological Chemistry at UMS. His doctoral research centred on the isolation, characterization, and structural elucidation of secondary metabolites from marine invertebrates. His work discovered novel compounds and chemical skeletons from soft corals (Alcyonacea) and the sea hare Aplysia dactylomela. During his PhD, he isolated nearly 80 secondary metabolites from both marine and terrestrial sources. His training, which included a research attachment at Jeju National University (Korea), emphasized advanced analytical and spectroscopic techniques, linking natural products chemistry with ecological function and pharmaceutical potential. After completing his PhD, Dr. Kishneth joined a Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) project as a researcher for a research training at Kyushu University (Japan) where he investigated the structure and diversity of soil microbial communities, expanding his expertise from marine chemical ecology to terrestrial microbial ecology and strengthening his capabilities in environmental molecular biology and natural products research. In 2017, Dr. Kishneth joined the Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences (IOES), Universiti Malaya as a Senior Lecturer. He was appointed Laboratory Coordinator in 2020 and, since 2023, as the Head of the Marine Biotechnology Unit. His research integrates biodiversity, marine chemical ecology, and biogeochemistry, focusing on: (1) soft coral species and chemical diversity; (2) algal metabolites; (3) microbial community profiling using next-generation sequencing (NGS); and (4) carbon stock assessment and mangrove adaptation under environmental and climatic changes, contributing to blue carbon and conservation initiatives. His passion for chemical diversity supports collaborations with pharmaceutical scientists and drives his interest in product development. Dr. Kishneth publishes and reviews for numerous indexed scientific journals, including Ecological Indicators, Journal of Applied Phycology, and 3Biotech, reflecting his multidisciplinary reach across marine biodiversity, chemical ecology, and sustainable bioprospecting. He has secured approximately RM5 million in total research funding as principal investigator and co-researcher. His projects cover soft coral chemotaxonomy, mangrove genetic diversity, bioactive compound discovery, and composting technology, aligning with national priorities for marine resource sustainability. He currently has 25 ISI-indexed publications and an H-index of 12 with over 540 citations. He actively supervises MSc and PhD students and teaches Marine Biotechnology annually. He is also involved in developing the Master’s curriculum for IOES. Beyond academia, Dr. Kishneth plays an active role in professional societies and scientific advocacy. He served three terms as the Honorary Secretary of the Malaysian Society of Marine Sciences (MSMS), contributing to national task forces and committees on biodiversity conservation with the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Fisheries Department, resulting to the gazettement of marine protected areas in Melaka. He is also a member of the International Association for Biological Oceanography, the Malaysian Society of Natural Products, and an associate of the Centre for Natural Products Research and Drug Discovery (CENAR), Universiti Malaya. His achievements are recognized through various local and international collaborations and awards, including the Universiti Malaya Excellence Service Award (2022), the JICA Training Award on OTEC and DSW Applications (2022), and several gold awards at research innovation competitions (2009, 2012, 2025). Dr. Kishneth Palaniveloo aims to continue advancing research and teaching in marine science, natural product chemistry, and ecosystem sustainability in line with national and university aspirations for scientific innovation and marine resource stewardship.