Nor Badrul Anuar is an accomplished academic leader with a wealth of experience in various leadership positions. He currently serves as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Infrastructure and Information Services and acts as the Chief Information Officer at Universiti Malaya, where he leads various university services, including ICT, physical infrastructure, sports, and library services. As a senate member, he also chairs many ICT and infrastructure development committees. In addition, he leads the Centre of Research for Cyber Security & Network (CSNET). Nor Badrul Anuar began his academic journey at Universiti Malaya, earning his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Computer Science in 2001 and 2003, respectively. He obtained his PhD at the Centre for Information Security & Network Research, University of Plymouth, UK 2012. After joining Universiti Malaya as a tutor in 2001, he was promoted to lecturer in 2003, senior lecturer in 2008, and associate professor in 2017. In 2022, he was promoted to full professor at the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology at Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. In addition, he is also serving as a visiting professor at the Institute of Informatics and Computing in Energy (IICE), Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Malaysia. He has supervised numerous post-doctoral fellows and research students, including eighteen PhD and six master's research students, in the computer network security and applications domain between 2012 and 2022. He has published extensively on computer security and applications, with his work being featured in academic journals both domestically and internationally. As of January 2023, his 152 published papers have attracted 7,670 citations and obtained an H-index of 41, making him a highly cited scholar. He is recognised as an expert in several subject categories, including computer science, engineering, science & technology - other topics, telecommunications, and information science & library science, by Web of Science. In 2022, Stanford University recognised him as one of the world's top 2% scientists. Currently, he serves on the editorial board of two journals, including the Journal of Network and Computer Applications (JNCA), which has an impact factor of 7.574. He has received numerous honours and recognitions throughout his illustrious career. He was honoured by Universiti Malaya for eight consecutive years, from 2012 to 2019, for his outstanding service. In 2015, he was recognised as an outstanding lecturer in science at Universiti Malaya and was awarded the university's highest honour, the Universiti Malaya Excellence Award (Anugerah Cemerlang Universiti Malaya). His research interests are intrusion detection systems, high-speed networks, and management information systems. Specifically, he focuses on intrusion detection systems, intrusion response systems, security events and management, digital forensic and network security, switching, routing, IPv6, and multicast. His current research explores network traffic classification and its applications and the role of federated learning in enhancing network security.    

Dr Tan Boon Chin is an Associate Professor holding the position of Deputy Director at the Centre for Research in Biotechnology for Agriculture (CEBAR) at the University of Malaya (UM). He completed his BSc in Biotechnology at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and a PhD in Plant Biotechnology at the University of Nottingham. Dr Tan was employed by UM as a postdoctoral research fellow before taking up the senior lecturer role. Dr Tan's interests span the fields of plant molecular biology and biochemistry. His current research aims to combine omics and molecular approaches to understanding the regulatory mechanism of transcription factors in environmental-stressed crops, hoping to find ways to improve crop tolerance for near-future climates. These include (1) developing a product in the form of biostimulants to mitigate climate stress for these crops, (2) developing appropriate educational programmes for farmers to promote sustainable agriculture, and (3) making recommendations to policymakers. Dr Tan's research interests also encompass genetically manipulating biosynthetic pathways in plants to produce beneficial bioactive compounds. Additionally, he explores the potential of using plants as an alternative platform for producing high-value recombinant pharmaceutical proteins. He received several awards, including the Royal Society-Newton Advanced Fellowship (2017), the Travel Award for the Asia Pacific Biosafety Association Conference from the United States Department of State Biosecurity Engagement Program (2017), and the Alltech Young Scientist Award 2012/13. Dr Tan is currently the Lead Consultant for the National Biosafety Policy project. He is also an Associate Editor of the Journal of Plant Growth Regulation (JPGR) and an Editorial Board Member of BMC Plant Biology, Heliyon, Molecular Biotechnology (MOBI), Asia Pacific Journal of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (APJMBB), Discover Food, Discover Plants, and the Journal of Agribusiness Marketing (JAMA). Dr Tan is also the President of the Malaysian Society for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (MSMBB), an Honorary Secretary of the Asia Oceania Agricultural Proteomics Organization (AOAPO), a council member of the Malaysian Proteomics Society (MAPS), Malaysian Society of Plant Physiology (MSPP), and Malaysian Society of Systems and Synthetic Biology (MyBioSS), and an eLife Community Ambassador.  His research group is committed to dedicating their expertise and ideas to catalyse efforts toward achieving the second Sustainable Development Goal (SDG2). See the interview: https://www.springernature.com/gp/researchers/the-source/blog/blogposts-communicating-research/enhan...

Assoc. Prof. Sr Dr. Saipol Bari Abd Karim is a Consultant Quantity Surveyor (CQS), registered with the Board of Quantity Surveyors Malaysia (BQSM). Sr Dr. Saipol specialises in project, risk, and value management. He is the Deputy Dean (Student Affairs) at the Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Malaya. Previously, he headed the Department of Quantity Surveying from May 2019 to May 2021 and was formerly the programme coordinator for the Master of Project Management for 4 years. Besides lecturing and conducting research, Sr Dr. Saipol is also a quantity surveying consultant and a risk management consultant for several building and infrastructure projects through UM Consult, a professional consultancy company under the university's umbrella. Besides that, he has also been appointed as a member of the UM's advisory committee for the MRT3 project. Other appointments at the university include Deputy Protem Head of Centre of Excellence for Future Sustainable Energy, Chairman of Student's Disciplinary Committee, Member of Student's Disciplinary Appeal Committee for UM's Board of Directors, Associate Member of Risk and Business Continuity Management Office, Variation Order and Extension of Time committees and Consultant's Evaluation Panel for projects managed by the university. Sr Dr. Saipol has also been appointed as UM's focal person for the PETRONAS-UM Collaboration with Higher Education Strategic Initiatives (CHESS) for all activities and programmes involving the university. Before joining UM in 2005, he gained industry experience involving projects related to civil engineering, building, and oil and gas sectors upon graduating from Universiti Malaya with a Bachelor of Quantity Surveying (Hons) in 1999. He joined Gamuda Berhad as a quantity surveyor and moved to MCM Associates, a professional quantity surveying consultancy firm. Later, his career progressed as a contract administrator at Dialog Group Berhad, serving the oil and gas sector. Throughout his industry career, he was responsible for managing contracts with many clients such as SPRINT Highway, Malaysia Airlines Bhd., UiTM, PWD Malaysia, DBKL, PETRONAS, Shell, ExxonMobil, BP, Malaysian Oxygen, MLNG, Halliburton, Pertamina Indonesia, and Conoco Phillips. Sr Dr. Saipol has brought significant contributions to the academic field. He developed his research interest in the area of value engineering and value management during his undergraduate years. He became one of the founding members of the Institute of Value Management Malaysia (IVMM) in 2000. His passion for value management continues in the UK, where he continued his research in the same area, integrating it with risk management. Other organisations and researchers have also referenced his risk and value management integration research article. Sr Dr. Saipol completed his PhD in Business Administration from Manchester Business School, UK, majoring in project management and researching project risk management implementation by major engineering projects in the UK. He studied various best practices in managing risks for projects in construction, railways, aviation, nuclear power, oil and gas, mining, and the defence industries. He published a book entitled Project Risk Management- Principles and Procedures through UM Press, which is one of the outputs of this research. Sr Dr. Saipol was one of the pioneering teams in setting up the generic Master of Project Management programme in 2007. The programme is now fully accredited by the Global Accreditation Center, Project Management Institute, USA. It is ranked No. 1 in Malaysia and in the top 10 in Far East Asia for the innovation and project management category by Eduniversal since 2019. Additionally, Sr Dr. Saipol has successfully introduced a new subject called value and risk management for both the Bachelor of Quantity Surveying and Master of Project Management programmes at UM since 2016. Other QS programmes in Malaysia have also referenced and implemented such an idea. His recent book on project risk management has been used as the primary reference for these programmes and is also being referred to by others. Several organisations have also invited Sr Dr. Saipol to contribute his value and risk management expertise. He was given the opportunity by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), Prime Minister’s Department, to be part of the value management team for a government project. His MSc research findings on the integrated risk and value management (IRVM) framework have sparked the interest of the Public Works Department, Malaysia, in how it can be implemented to improve PWD’s projects. He was involved in risk management workshops for several projects and has led the project risk management consultancy team with UM Consult for a privatised highway project. He has also assisted UM’s risk management team in formulating its risk management guidelines, which the university recently introduced. The Honourable Minister of Works Malaysia has appointed Sr Dr. Saipol as the Board Member, Board of Quantity Surveyors Malaysia (BQSM) for the 2021/2023 session, where BQSM President also appointed him as the Chair of the QS Accreditation Council (QSAC) as well as a Member of the Registration and Qualification Committee. Before this appointment, he was actively serving BQSM for various committees and activities. He was also appointed by the Higher Education Director General, Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) as a permanent representative for the Early Screening Meeting (MSA) and Higher Education Committee (JPT) with the Department of Higher Education for the 2021/2022 session. He has been actively involved with IVMM since 2001, promoting and educating VM, and was elected a Fellow of IVMM in 2017. He has served as a Council Member for many years. He contributed to developing the National VM Manual and the VM Competencies Standard published by IVMM. He was elected as one of the QS Division committee members of the Royal Institution of Surveyors Malaysia (RISM) for the 2020/2021 session and elected as a Fellow of RISM in 2022. He has served the Building Cost Information Center (BCIC), the Education and Accreditation Board (AEB), the accreditation panel for the Diploma in QS programme, and the Chief Editor of QSComm; the bulletin of QS Division. Sr Dr. Saipol is currently elected as one of the Councillors of RISM, where he is tasked to chair the Partnering Universities for the 2023/2024 session. He was appointed by the Council of Deans in Built Environment to the Committee of Heads in the Construction Management area for the 2019-2021 term and was also a former Executive Council member of the Association of Construction Project Managers Malaysia (ACPM). He was then appointed by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) to the Construction Industry Standard for the National Housing Committee. Sr Dr. Saipol was also the programme External Examiner for BSc. Construction Management at Curtin University, Sarawak Campus, Bachelor of Quantity Surveying at Universiti Teknologi Sarawak (UTS) and Bachelor of Quantity Surveying at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. Sr Dr. Saipol has been frequently invited to deliver talks, seminars, and training organized by CIDB, Public Works Department (PWD), Contractor's Services Center (PKK) of the Ministry of Works Malaysia, Politeknik Malaysia, Authority for Building Control and Construction Industry (ABCI) of Brunei Darussalam, SAVE International (Australia/New Zealand + 4 Chapter), Value Analysis Canada and several NGOs and private organisations.