Started his research career in the think tank sector, Dr. Lee Chee Leong (Karl) is attracted to the rise of non-traditional diplomacy in the international order today. Such appeal has taken Dr. Lee into new research horizons that started with his Monash University's doctoral research on the Chinese sub-state diplomacy in China-ASEAN economic cooperation. With constructive supervision by Professor Helen Nesadurai and Associate Professor Kuik Cheng Chwee, Dr. Lee completed his doctoral thesis that unravels how a faraway and least developed sub-state of Guangxi managed to overcome its own hurdles, navigate the complexities within the Chinese state and become the frontline actor in China-ASEAN economic cooperation.  Following his doctoral completion, Dr. Lee's research on non-traditional diplomacy has expanded into Taiwan’s quasi-state diplomacy in Southeast Asia. Such quest has led him spending at great length in comprehending the concept of soft power, a concept that finds its relevance to Taiwan, which has no official diplomatic with Southeast Asia but is heavily connected to the region and has to rely on soft power in its engagements with these Southeast Asian nations. By comparing different case studies of Taiwan's quasi-state engagement within Southeast Asia, Dr. Lee has developed the soft power diffusion process to explain how such phenomenon operates in the real world. His ongoing and incoming research projects include Unpacking ‘De-risking’ China in the Indo-Pacific Region: Economic Statecraft (ES) & Geoeconomics, Taiwan's New Southbound Policy (NSP) and NSP+: The Domestic-International Dichotomy, The Taiwanese Connections in Nvidia's Global AI Supply Chain and Taiwan and Ireland: The Story of Two Tech Powerhouses.  To date, Dr. Lee was the recipient of several scholarships and fellowships in Malaysia and overseas: University of Malaya’s Graduate Fellowship (2010-2011); Monash University’s Merit Scholarship (2016-2019); Chinese Government Scholarship (2018-2019); and Taiwan Fellowship (2020). Prior to his appointment as Senior Lecturer at the Institute of China Studies (ICS), he was the Visiting Scholar at Guangxi University for Nationalities (GXUN) (2018-2019), Taiwan Fellow at National Chengchi University (NCCU) (2020) and Associate Fellow at ICS UM (2016-2019). He welcomes any potential PhD candidate who would like to work on Taiwan-Southeast Asia relations, comparative cases of ES between Asia and Europe, US-China-ASEAN semiconductor geoeconomics and case studies of donut economies in Asia. He is also willing to discuss with potential doctoral candidates on proposals related to the Chinese sub-state (provincial and city) diplomacy toward ASEAN, comparative cases of sub-state diplomacy between Asia and Europe as well as conceptual innovations of sub-state diplomacy vis-a-vis soft power.     

PROFESSOR DR ISHAK SULIAMAN is currently a Head Department of Al-Quran and Al-Hadith at Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya and a Professor in the field of the Hadith Studies. He is a Chief Editor of Journal al-Bayan of which is indexed by Web of Science, Scopus and published by Brill Publishers. He received his Ph.D degree from The University of Wales, Lampeter UK in 2005 in the field of Hadith Muamalah. His interest also in Digital Hadith and Psycho Spiritual of Sunnah. In 2013, he awarded as a Visiting Researcher at Islamic University of Medinah, Saudi Arabia. He served as Director for the Department of Malaysian Studies, Cairo University, Egypt from the 1st January 2016 until the end of December 2018. Prior to that, he was a Deputy Director for Postgraduate Studies at Academy of Islamic Studies, UM from 2009 to 2011. He was also served as Acting Deputy Director for R&D at Academy of Islamic Studies, UM from September 2011 to January 2013. He was also served the country as a Deputy Chairman of Lajnah Tahqiq Hadith KDN (Hadith Review and Assessment Committee under the purview of the Home Ministry of Malaysia from 2019 to December 2022. He also serves as external accessor for Bachelor Degree of Al-Quran and Al-Sunnah of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM). For Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), he had served as Secretary General of Muslim Scholars Association of Malaysia in 2000. Besides, he served as a President of Muafakat for MRSM Ulul Albab, Negeri Sembilan in 2010 and as a Deputy President of Alumni Association of Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya. In terms of academic experiences, he received UMRG (University Malaya Research Grant) as a Project Leader for research project entitles ‘Preserving The Authenticity of The Digital Hadith’ in 2014 and completed in 2017. One of the outcomes for this project is android application namely ‘Digitalhadith’. This project awarded 1 Gold and 1 Silver in 2018 and 2019 at International Competition of Ideas, Inventions and Innovations (i-Fame) organised by UiTM. He has an ongoing collaboration research projects of Fundamental Research Grant (FRGS) in the field of Waqf of Infrastructure and in the field of Astrometry of Prayer Times. In 2022, he received Industrial Funding from Rimbunan Islamic Media Sdn.Bhd with the amount RM150,000 as a Project Leader for research project entitles 'Research on Translation of Sahih Muslim'.

 NAZLI CHE DIN PhD, P. Tech. , Arch. Tech. (LAM ATS/N1), Eng. Tech. (T16459)  Nazli Che Din is a senior lecturer in the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. He has been a faculty member since 2006 and holds a PhD from Oita University, Japan.  His research interests lie in environmental and architectural acoustics with a focus on improving quality strategies and related product realization. He has produced a few publications in ISI journals and over 200 technical publications in other refereed journals, proceedings, technical reports, acoustical letters, books, and book chapters. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief for the Scopus-indexed Journal of Design and Built Environment (JDBE), the Journal Acoustics and Vibration Research (JAVR) and is a member of the Editorial Board Member for the Web of Science-indexed journal, Acoustical Science and Technology (AST).  Dr. Nazli is a Professional Technologist of the Malaysia Board of Technologists (MBOT), a Registered Architectural Technologist Specialization (Architectural Acoustics) of the Board of Architects Malaysia (LAM), a Registered Engineering Technologist of the Board of Engineering Malaysia (BEM), a founding member and former President (2020-2024) and currently holds a position as Vice Presicent 1 (2024-2026) in Society of Vibration and Acoustics Malaysia (SVAM), a former member Acoustical Society of America (ASA), a member of International Institute Acoustics and Vibration (IIAV), UK, a former member Acoustical Society Japan (ASJ), a former member of Architectural Institute Japan (AIJ) and a graduate member of Board of Engineering Malaysia (BEM). He has held various responsibilities in academic administration, including Deputy Dean of Undergraduate, Deputy Dean of Research & Development, Head of Architecture Department, and Chairman of Council Head of Architectural School Malaysia (COHAS).   Research Interest: Room Acoustics, Building Acoustics, Architectural Acoustics, Environmental Noise, Soundscape, Material Characteristics along with any related fields regarding noise.