Professor Dr Hong Ching Goh is an interdisciplinary social scientist specialising in human-environment interactions, with a focus on sustainability, inclusion, and the ways diverse communities benefit from nature, including livelihoods, health and wellbeing, and intangible values. Grounded in urban planning, tourism planning, and geography, her research spans urbanised environments, resource-rich regions, and protected areas. It draws inspiration from her fieldwork in Sabah since 2005 and her coastal research across Southeast Asia. Currently with the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Built Environment, she is appointed Deputy Director of the Malaysia National Antarctic Research Centre starting January 2026. She is a registered town planner with the Malaysian Institute of Planners and the Board of Town Planners Malaysia. Since 2009, Prof. Goh has secured RM6.9 million in research grants. Of this, RM4.95 million was obtained from international sources. As a co-investigator, she also helped secure a GBP6.4 million Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) grant. This grant supported interdisciplinary research on marine environments and coastal communities. She has held prestigious fellowships, including the MIT-UTM Malaysian Sustainable Cities Program Fellowship and the DAAD Doctoral Scholarship attached to the Center of Development Research (ZEF). She serves as country coordinator for ForUm, a DAAD-funded network connecting Southeast Asian and German experts on Urban Futures since 2018. She is also a member of the ASEAN Science Leadership Program and the Global Young Academy (GYA). Prof. Goh's contributions have earned significant national and international recognition. In 2021, the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur highlighted her work in conjunction with International Women's Day and Commonwealth Day. She was also invited to join the UK Minister of Science, Amanda Solloway, and Professor Melanie Austen of the University of Plymouth, to discuss climate change impacts on marine environments in the Blue Communities program. She was featured among the 100 Women Scientists in Global Polar Research (2022) and among Women and Girls in Science by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) (2026). In 2024, she was appointed DAAD Research Ambassador in Malaysia and received the Top Research Scientists Malaysia Award from the Academy of Sciences Malaysia. She has published over 65 peer-reviewed articles, 30 book chapters and books, and 40 other publications. She has supervised 14 postgraduate students to completion and currently oversees 10 ongoing students.

Dr. Chui Ping Lei is a registered nurse, completed her Master of Medical Science (Nursing) in 2008, and joined the Department of Nursing Science in 2010. In 2015, she obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Malaya. Apart from teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students, she has been involved in curriculum development/review, coordinating the Master of Nursing Science Program, and serving as an external examiner for program improvement. She is active in research work. Her research interests are cancer care (quality of life, symptom burden/management, CAM, patient education), complementary integrative therapy (oral cryotherapy, mindful breathing, mind-body practices, kangaroo mother care), and issues related to nurses/ nursing education/ nursing management (health behavior, professional quality of life, workplace violence, information literacy, teaching-learning), stoma care, wound care, and adult/ neonatal nursing care. She has published extensively in international peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Chui has been awarded the Universiti Malaya Excellence Award for Ph.D. Graduated in 2015,  Certificate of Excellence Service 2022, Excellence Service Award 2019 & 2023, and Asian University Alliance Scholar in 2020.

She is the distinguished recipient of the highly prestigious Anugerah Tokoh Akademik Bahasa Melayu 2024, a remarkable honour bestowed by the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia. She currently holds the Sultan Ibrahim Chair of Malay Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University in China. The first milestone of her commendable journey began when she was conferred the Anugerah Penghargaan Makalah Jurnal Terbaik in the year 2021, a notable recognition by MAPIM-KPT.With a distinguished academic background, she holds a First Class Bachelor's Degree (Malay Language Programme) from the Department of Malay Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Malaya (1989). Subsequent to her undergraduate studies, she embarked on a journey to acquire a Diploma in Education from the Faculty of Education, University of Malaya (1990) and henceforth, served as a dedicated teacher in a full-boarding school (SBP) in Kuala Lumpur. Her illustrious career as a lecturer commenced in 1996 following the completion of her master's degree and was further amplified when she was granted the Hadiah Latihan Cuti Belajar, enabling her to pursue her Ph.D in 1999. During her remarkable Ph.D journey, she was accorded an opportunity to partake in a six-month training at Leiden University, Netherlands, to learn the PRAAT software, a vital tool in her field of study at the Ph.D level, Acoustic Phonetics. Her exemplary skills in the Malay language led her to be appointed as a visiting lecturer at the Yunnan University of Nationalities, Kunming, China, and as a visiting professor at Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia. Her profound expertise in the Malay Language, Malay Studies and the Malay World has been acknowledged by the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, leading her to be entrusted with roles such as Head of the Phonetics/Phonology Panel, Panel Penilai Buku Terbaik MAPIM-KPT, Penilai Buku Terbitan MAPIM, Malay Language Editor, Penilai Geran Penyelidikan Fundamental Research Grant Schemes (FRGS), and Penilai Artikel for Scopus-indexed, ESCI and MyCite journals. She was also appointed to the editorial board of two prestigious journals in Indonesia and often referred to as an expert in research instruments. She has been invited as a Keynote Speaker and Invited Speaker in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.From an administrative perspective, she has held notable positions such as Head of the Malay Language Department, Coordinator for the Academic Writing course, and Deputy Dean (Research, Value Creation, and Enterprise). Currently, she holds the esteemed position of Deputy Dean (Postgraduate Studies, Research & Innovation). She has also contributed significantly as a Course Developer for the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), University of Malaya for the course Introduction to Malay Language. In addition, she has taken on the responsibility as the Chairperson for the APM (Akademi Pengajian Melayu/ Academy of Malay Studies) social service for Sekolah Dalam Hospital (SDH), at the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC).