Nurliana Kamaruddin is senior lecturer at the East Asian Studies Department, Faculty of Arts and Social Science, Universiti Malaya. She is also a fellow at the Centre for ASEAN Regionalism, AEI, UM. Previously she was Deputy Executive Director (Academic and Students Affairs) at the Asia-Europe Institute (2021-2024). Her recent publications include books by Routledge (Southward Bound: Examining the Regional Policies of Taiwan and South Korea, 2024) and Palgrave-Macmillan (The New Normal and Its Impact on Society: Perspectives from ASEAN and the European Union, 2024). Nurliana was a recipient of the Korea Foundation ASEAN Fellowship (2013-2015) and the POSCO TJ Park Foundation Asia Fellowship (2009-2011). Her research interest includes international security and development with a focus on East Asia and specifically Malaysia-Korea Relations.

Dr Reena Rajasuriar is a Clinical Pharmacist by training and an Associate Professor at the Department of Medicine, University Malaya (UM).  She also holds an adjunct position as a Fellow at the Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Melbourne, Australia.  She leads the research unit at the Department of Medicine, UM and is Head of the Immunotherapeutics Laboratory (ITL), a core immunology research laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine, UM.    Dr Rajasuriar completed her PhD in Immunogenetics at Monash University, Australia and now leads a translational research program in HIV and Aging at the Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA).  Her training as a clinical and basic scientist has afforded Dr Rajasuriar the expertise to perform multidisciplinary research spanning basic, clinical and implementation studies.  Her research focuses on understanding drivers of accelerated aging in people living with HIV and its interaction with functional aging outcomes.  She is also invested in understanding how integrated HIV care can best be implemented in resource limited settings to promote healthy aging.   Dr Rajasuriar has published extensively on the intersection of HIV and aging, and is an international leader in advancing the knowledge in this field, having delivered multiple plenaries at international forums, co-authored multiple opinion pieces and viewpoints as well as contributed to the development of consensus statements around this subject matter.  Together with members of her team, she was instrumental in developing the first ECHO training program on HIV and Aging for the Asia Pacific region to advance capacity building for health professionals providing care for people with HIV.  She is also the Principal Investigator of the only HIV and aging cohort in the Asia Pacific region studying aging from a multidimensional perspective, with over a decade of follow up (2014-2024).   Dr Rajasuriar’s work is funded by various national and international funding bodies including the National Institutes of Health, US, the American Foundation for AIDS Research and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Malaysia.  She has received multiple accolades including the Australia-APEC Women in Research Fellowship (2015), the Loreal-UNESCO For Women in Science Malaysia Fellowship (2016), the IAS Research-for-Cure Academy Fellowship (2018), the CIRA International Visiting Fellowship to Yale (2019), the Asian Universities Alliance (AUA) Scholars Award (2023) and most recently, the Fulbright Malaysian Scholar Award (2024). 

DR. ZURAIDAH ABDULLAH  is a senior lecturer in Faculty of Education, University of Malaya. She received her Ph.D. degree from the University of Malaya, in Principalship Studies in 2010. Her career began as a teacher in SMK (P) Methodist Malacca, SMK Victoria Kuala Lumpur, Kolej Sultan Abdul Hamid Kedah, SMK (P) Sri Aman Selangor,  and SMK USJ 23 Selangor  since 1989 until 2002. She was then appointed as a Senior Assistant (Academic) in SMK Seksyen 18 Selangor from 2002 until 2004 before she pursued her studies and becoming one of the lecturers in University of Malaya. She was also attached to University of Glasgow, United Kingdom for an academic internship in 2010.  Soon after, she was seconded to the  Centre For Civilisitional Dialogue, University of Malaya as a Deputy Director since 2011. In the year of 2014 to 2015, she has been appointed as a coordinator, representing Univerisity of Malaya in Outdoor Education And Leadership Programme with Providence University of Taiwan. Ever since she has been focusing on promoting  intercultural communication in civilisational dialogue. Her research is basically focusing on society from the perspective of education such as the issue of Professional Learning Community (PLC) in schools, Inclusive education programme, the National School Empowerment based on the PPPM 2013-2025, trans-genders, resiliency of university students and also promoting peace education to secondary level students in order to maintain peaceful and boosting unity. Currently, Dr. Zuraidah Abdullah involves in consultation project for social issues in collaboration with JAKIM, IPGM, BPSH, UNESCO Malaysia, DMDI and KPWPM. For her passion and great contribution in such critical areas, she has been conferred the Bintang Cemerlang Melaka  by TYT Yang di-Pertua Negeri Melaka and was awarded the Pingat Perkhidmatan Cemerlang (PPC) from the Ministry of Education (MOE) of YAB Tan Sri Dato ' Haji Muhyiddin Hj Mohd Yassin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister KPM (MOE). She received the medal for the high quality service based on her annual performance and contribution given which covers activities within and outside the Organization training, leadership and personal qualities.