Kasturi Dewi Varathan, is currently an associate professor at the Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of Malaya, Malaysia. She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the National University of Malaysia. Her main research focus is in the field of Data Analytics, Text Mining and Information Retrieval. Dr.Kasturi has published in several high-ranked journals and conferences. Her research on data analytics won several awards in international and national level competitions. Research institutions too have gained from her expertise. She has served as visiting scientist to the Information Systems Research Group of the Faculty of Informatics, University of Lugano, Switzerland as well as research fellow at the Institute of Visual Informatics, National University of Malaysia. She has been appointed as Adjunct Professor at Veltech University, India. Dr.Kasturi has also secured national and international grants. Some of the prominent grants that she has received are Applied Research Partnership Grant funded by ETH Zurich(Switzerland), People Exchange Grant funded by Swiss Education, Research and Innovation Grant(Switzerland) and Prototype Research Grant from the Ministry of Higher Education (Malaysia).  She is also a recipient of the prestigious Leadership in Innovation Fellowship award by the United Kingdom and Malaysian Government.   

Professor Dr Hasniza Zaman Huri, currently the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Academic and International, is an accomplished academic pharmacist and the founding Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Universiti Malaya. Under her leadership, the faculty has achieved numerous accolades, including being a founding member of the Global Alliance for the Development of Pharmaceutical Science (GADPS), an alliance to spearhead the excellent teaching & learning and research of pharmacy/pharmaceutical sciences school around the globe, the top KPI achiever for academic centre in 2023, top faculty for graduate employability and for the first time, top 100 (#72) for Pharmacy subject ranking in the QS World University Rankings 2024. Professor Dr Hasniza was also appointed as the General Assembly Representative for GADPS.  As a leading clinical scientist in clinical pharmacy, precision medicine and targeted therapy, she was honoured with the World Class Professor Programme by the Indonesian Government in 2022, among 78 professors globally. Professor Dr Hasniza's research expertise focuses on targeted therapy, drug utilisation and precision medicine, especially in metabolic diseases. She has been invited by various countries such as the United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Turkey, China, India, Taiwan, and Indonesia as a Keynote or Plenary Speaker at conferences. She has published over 100 publications indexed in the Web of Science (WoS). Professor Dr Hasniza is also an expert in the clinical trial industry and is recognized for her exemplary leadership. She was the Manager and later Director of the Clinical Investigation Centre (CIC) at the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC). During her tenure, CIC UMMC gained a world-class reputation, winning multiple distinctions, including being the first Strategic Alliance Site for Parexel Inc. in Malaysia, Pfizer’s INSPIRE (Investigator Networks, Site Partnerships and Infrastructure for Research Excellence) Site in Malaysia, Best Clinical Trial Service Provider in Asia, Top-10 IQVIA Prime Sites in the world and many more. She was awarded Best Academic Administrator for Non-Academic Centre in 2015 by Universiti Malaya and recently, in 2024, was awarded the MPS Outstanding Leadership Award by the Malaysian Pharmacists Society (MPS), an excellence award due to her outstanding performance and exceptional achievement in pharmacy practice in Malaysia. She is also the Honorary Visiting Consultant at CIC and a member of the Drug Control Authority (DCA) Ministry of Health, Malaysia.    

I am an associate professor at the Department of Asian and European Languages, Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, University of Malaya. Much of my research focuses on the psychological and emotional dimensions of learning additional languages. My broader academic interests include quantitative methods in applied linguistics and natural language processing. I am also increasingly interested in the study of the human sensorium—particularly how sensory perceptions, such as olfaction, intersect with language, cognition, and emotion. In my research on language learning, one of the directions I pursue is exploring how language learners perceive and imagine the cultures of their target language communities. This interest led to the publication of my book, Stereotypes and Language Learning Motivation: A Study of L2 Learners of Asian Languages (Routledge, 2020). I actively engage with theoretical perspectives and seek innovative methodologies that help explain the psychological phenomena involved in learning a new language. This line of inquiry resulted in my most recent book, Emotions and Affect in Language Learning: A Photovoice Study of Learning in Lockdown (Routledge, 2025). In this work, Lev Vygotsky’s concept of perezhivanie provides the theoretical grounding for exploring language learners’ lived experiences during the COVID-19 lockdown. My work has appeared in journals such as Applied Linguistics, Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, System, and Journal of English for Academic Purposes. I welcome opportunities for collaboration with researchers working in related areas.