Dr Nurul Shamsinah is currently a senior lecturer and a plant microbiologist at the Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya (UM). She graduated with Bac. in Agriculture Science from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in 2009 and obtained her PhD from UM in 2017. Currently, she is an active member of the Malaysian Agroecology Society for Sustainable Resource Intensification (SRI-Mas), Malaysia and the Malaysian Society for Microbiology. Her field of interest is in plant disease diagnostics which is rooted in the intention to contribute to the enhancements of farmers’ ability to properly detect, manage and recover from the devastating consequences of plant disease outbreaks. Besides that, she is also actively doing research on soil microbiome analysis to improve soil health which will subsequently increase agricultural productivity and sustainability.

  Professor Hany Ariffin  is  Professor of Paediatrics and Head of the Division of Paediatric Haematology-Oncology and Blood & Marrow Transplantation at the University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC). She also heads the Biobank Unit in the Faculty of Medicine, UM.  Her main research interest is childhood leukaemia and she has been the Malaysian lead for the Malaysia-Singapore (MASPORE) Leukaemia Study Group since 2003. Her other research areas include childhood cancer survivorship, stem cell transplantation and inherited cancers, particularly related to mutations in the tumour suppressor gene, TP53. In 2015, she won the Anugerah Akademik Negara award and in 2018 received the Distinguished Researcher Award from University Malaya. Professor Hany is chairperson of the paediatric oncology accreditation committee for the National Specialist Register and a past president of the Malaysian Society of Paediatric Haematology-Oncology. She is also the chairperson of the VIVA-Asia Bone Marrow Transplantation Consortium for 2023/2024.  As co-chair of the Asian Childhood Cancer Alliance, Professor Hany works with regional colleagues as well as StJude Children's Research Hospital  to support the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer (WHO-GICC). The project's tagline is: “60 by 30” - which refers to the aim of reaching at least a 60% survival rate for children with cancer by 2030, thereby saving an additional one million lives around the world.  Professor Hany has been a reviewer for many scientific journals and is currently an Associate Editor (Tumour Biology) for Technology in Cancer Reseach &Treatment.     

Siti Aisyah Alias is a Malaysian mycologist and Deputy Executive Director of the Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Universiti Malaya. Since 2001, she has been the Deputy Director of the National Antarctic Research Centre (NARC) and the Malaysian Antarctic Research Programme (MARP). In January 2023, she became the Director of the National Antarctic Research Centre (NARC) Malaysia. Her scientific research fields include fungal biodiversity of marine fungi and polar soil fungi, antimicrobial activity and cold-adapted enzymes, and biochemistry of polar microbes. She has described more than twenty new marine fungi to science and published more than 125 peer-reviewed articles. She is co-author and co-editor of 28 books, including two books, namely Checklist of Fungi of Malaysia and Marine Fungi from Mangroves of Malaysia. Under the Higher Institute of Centre of Excellence (HICoE), she is leading a project on Latitudinal Differences in Response and Adaptation of Microbes to Atmospheric Changes. She has significant field experience in the tropics, the Antarctic, and the Arctic, participating in eight polar research expeditions as a result of her strong international networking and collaboration and these include Australian Antarctic (AAD), Instituto Antarctico Chileno (INACH), Instituto Antarctico Equatoriano (INAE), Korean Polar Research Institute (KOPRI), Polish Polar Department and British Antarctic Survey.  She has helped the Malaysian Antarctica Program to develop through her international collaboration. She is also active in outreach activities to promote STEM and polar sciences. She participated in Malaysian Antarctic Research Program (MARP)’s outreach programmes to promote awareness of Antarctica among undergraduate students and secondary school pupils in Malaysia. This outreach activity is called Malaysia’s Journey to the Ice: Women in Antarctica, part of the MOSTI Social Innovation (MSI) grant (2015 – 2017). She has assisted in the development of Malaysia’s Antarctic policies and practices following the country’s accession to the Antarctic Treaty under a grant from the Ministry of Higher Education for the development of Science and Policy in Antarctica (2014- 2017).  Currently, she assists in developing Malaysia's Antarctic Bill. In recognition of her various achievements as a lecturer and researcher, Dr. Siti was awarded Saintis Muda Negara in 2000, CTI-CFF Women Leaders Forum Program and the only Malaysian represented in Wikipedia as recognition for women and their work in Antarctic Research (2016) and MOHE Women Across the World: “Saintis Wanita Terkemuka Dunia Dari 30 Negara Dalam Bidang Sains Antartika”, MOHE, 2018. In 2022, she was featured among the '100 Women Scientists in Global Polar Research'. She sits on various national and international panels such as the MOSTI Science Fund evaluation panel, Asia Forum of Polar Sciences (AFOPs) Panel and Academy of Science Malaysia (ASM) Taskforce Member on Antarctica, Selection Advisory Committee for Australian Research Council (ARC), Subject Matter Expert (SME) for Malaysia Education Blueprint, Academy Sciences of Malaysia and Board Member and Jury in Universal Scientific (USERN) in the field of Biological Sciences since 2019. She is also a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia.