Dr. Thanalachime Perumal joined academic life as a senior lecturer in Faculty Languages and Linguistics at  The University of Malaya since 15 July 2016. Currently, she is a lecturer for Tamil Program at the Department of Malaysian Languages and Applied Linguistics. She completed her Doctoral degree  (Discourse Analysis) at University Putra Malaysia; her Masters of Modern Languages at the University of Malaya,  her Diploma in Language & Culture at University Malaya and completed teaching certificate  (Tamil) at Raja Melewer Teaching College. Her main research interests are Discourse Analysis, Tamil teaching, and learning, Media discourse, and translations. Her teaching interests are broadly within Discourse Analysis (esp Media discourse), Sociolinguistic and Translation. She welcomes proposal for Ph.D. or Master research project on any aspect of Global Tamil, areas of particular interest include: Tamil language in higher education, Language ideological debates relating to global Tamil, Intelligibility issues relating to the spread of Tamil, Attitudes towards Tamil Language, Tamil language in higher education contexts around the world, Tamil Special Purpose (CSP) in Mass Media and Language structure-Tamil syntax. 

Dr. Melasutra is a Registered Town Planner under the Town Planner Act (Act 538) and also a member of the Malaysian Association of Social Impact Assessment. She has 30 years of experience at the University Malaya as a lecturer at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and currently in the Faculty of Built Environment. Her teaching subjects are related to urban land use planning, social planning, planning theory, and recreational planning. She has carried out collaborative research with the Nippon Foundation under the purview  of Asean University Network- Disability and Public Policy on research related to the inclusivity learning environment.  The inclusive learning environment study was further extended for the Ministry of Higher Education,Malaysia.  She has published in books, book chapters, and journals and involved in consultation works related to urban planning issues, sustainable development planning, and social impact assessment studies. She has supervised a number of Ph.D. students in the field of sustainable urban governance and planning. Professional Recognition: While serving UM, she was also involved in several state and local agencies planning related matters such as Social Impact Assessment study, Urban Redevelopment, Development Plan studies. She has been appointed as Council Member for Petaling Jaya City Council in 2008-2012 and be part of the One Stop Center committee for planning approval matters.  She has been appointed as Local Agenda 21 committee member and Panel Evaluation member for Anugerah Perdana Komuniti Petaling Jaya.  She also has been appointed as the Public Hearing Panel Committee for City Hall of Kuala Lumpur for the Structure and Local Plan - Review and Alteration process. Currently, she is a Panel Review Member of Melaka Social Impact Study- appointed by PlanMalaysia  Melaka.  In recognition of her involvement and contribution in sustainable planning-related matters at the local level i.e City Council of Petaling Jaya- she has been awarded as one of the recipients of 10 Thematic Champion of Petaling Jaya Sustainable, Smart and Resilient  2030 awards for Learning City  (2022).   

Afiq received his First-Class Honors Degree in Biotechnology from the Malaysia University of Science and Technology (MUST) in 2013. He received the MUST President's Award for academic excellence and being the most accomplished student in his class. In 2014, he decided to follow his passion for research and enrolled in an MSc program in Genetic Manipulation and Molecular Cell Biology at the University of Sussex, UK. After completing his MSc program, Afiq gained valuable research experience by working as a research assistant at the Cancer Research Center (CaRC), Institute for Medical Research (IMR) in Kuala Lumpur. In 2015, he was awarded an Academic Training Fellowship (SLAB/SLAI) by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education to pursue his PhD at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. His doctoral research focuses on the discovery of new antiviral HIV-1 and VSV restriction factors. His findings have been published in reputable scientific journals and have gained the interest of the global scientific community. After completing his PhD in 2019, he worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the MRC-Centre for Virus Research (CVR) at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK. In 2020, he returned to Malaysia to work as a senior lecturer in the microbiology program at the Institute of Biological Sciences, Universiti Malaya (UM), Kuala Lumpur. He currently teaches public health microbiology, diagnostic microbiology, microbial pathogenesis, and virology to undergraduate students. In addition to teaching, he also conducts research on various aspects of microbiology, with a particular focus on viral diseases. His research aims to understand the mechanisms of viral replication and pathogenesis as well as develop novel strategies for the prevention and treatment of viral infections. He actively collaborates with other researchers, both locally and internationally, to contribute to the global understanding of infectious diseases. In 2023, he was awarded a prestigious ASEAN-India Research & Training (A-IRTF) Fellowship from the Department of Science & Technology, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India for 3-month research attachment at the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi (IIIT-Delhi).