Associate Professor Dr Rafidah Aga Mohd Jaladin (BSc. (Hons) Psych (UWA, Perth), M.Couns (Hons) (Malaya), PhD (Monash, Australia)) is a counselling psychologist at the Department of Educational Psychology and Counselling, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya. She was a recipient of Excellent Service Award (2018) and Excellent Service Certificate thrice (i.e., 2005, 2013, and 2015) during her service at the university. She has been executive member of the International Counselling Association of Malaysia (PERKAMA International) since 2015 and a mentor for University of Malaya Counselling Association (PERKUM) since 2013. She was a program coordinator for Bachelor of Counselling programme from 2012 to 2014. She was appointed Head of Department from 2014-2015, dealing with staff, students, human resource, curriculum and more. She was also appointed as a Director of UM Family Research and Development Centre in July 2020 to 30 June 2022. She is involved in curriculum review exercises, national and international networking, as well as community works. She was also a resident fellow at both private and public universities in Malaysia for a total of six years (1999 - 2005), thus has had hands-on residential experience on student affairs. Rafidah has more than 20 years of experience as a professional practitioner-cum-educator in psychology and counselling at various work settings. She has educated and trained diverse client populations including, school and college students, corporate staff, and local communities. Her publications comprise counselling and psychology books, book chapters, learning modules, journal articles, and magazine entries. Some of her published works are Professional Issues and Ethics in Counselling and Psychotherapy (2013, 2017), Introduction to Crisis Counselling (2016), Multicultural Counselling (2015), Group Dynamics (2016), Intervensi Krisis dalam Hubungan Menolong (2020, awarded as 50 Best Malaysian Titles), and Teori Kaunseling: Panduan Pemilihan dan Pembentukan Orientasi Teoritikal Kaunselor (2022). Her research areas include multicultural counselling, counsellor education, supervision and training; and mental health literacy and counselling. Rafidah has been involved in about 30 research projects. Her current projects are funded by the Ministry of Higher Education: Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) -  Development of Continuous Professional Development Training Module based on Multicultural Counselling Competencies for Professional Counsellors in Malaysia and Knowledge Transfer Programme (KTP) – Empowering Disabled Youths’ Psychological Wellbeing for Career Development (DiY-PsychKit).  Rafidah’s contribution to society involves giving numerous motivational and mental health awareness talks, conducting short courses, sharing psychology-related topics in media, and offering counselling and consultancy services for diverse populations in Malaysia. Her love for communities has resulted in her engagement with cultural minority groups such as at-risk teenagers (RU04I-2016), urban poor children (RU013-2017N), single mothers (RU013-2017H) and disabled youths (MRUN2019-1D). Fit as a fiddle, Rafidah is also active in sports and recreation activities. She has been representing Faculty of Education and University of Malaya in Inter- and Intra-Varsity Sports Carnivals since 2002, especially in Volleyball, Netball, Badminton, and Table Tennis. She was recipient of Highest Achievement in Sports Award by the Vice Chancellor in 2004. As a certified HRDF trainer (No. 5469), Rafidah is currently looking into exploring academia-corporate training and consultation through HRDF community network.

BIOGRAPHY : Dr. Chong Pan Pan is highly qualified with B.Sc. (Hons) in Microbiology (2001), M.Sc. in Biochemistry (2004) and completed her Ph.D. in Tissue Engineering (2013). After that, she worked as a post-doctoral research fellow (2013-2016) and was later inducted as a senior lecturer (2016-present) at the National Orthopaedic Centre of Excellence in Research and Learning (NOCERAL), Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya (UM), Malaysia. Additionally, she is in charge of setting up the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Laboratory in NOCERAL. She has also been put in charge of the newly provided clinical service using platelet-derived extracellular vesicles (P-EVs) to treat lateral epicondylitis, plantar fasciitis, osteochondral defect, delayed union, knee osteoarthritis, etc. The P-EVs service is provided in the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) and the University Malaya Specialist Centre (UMSC). Her research interest involves the current and innovative area of tissue engineering and manipulating adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for future use as biological therapies for poorly regenerating tissues. Her work focuses on driving the adult MSCs from bone marrow, peripheral blood, and adipose tissue along chondrogenic lineages for later transplantation to replace worn-out joint cartilage in patients suffering from joint disorders, including trauma or osteoarthritis. To attest to her work, Dr. Chong has published in several high-quality (Q1/high impact factor) peer-reviewed journals and presented her works extensively and globally at numerous international conferences. At that time, she also won several awards, including top prizes at the regional level, such as the Young Investigator Awards, Young Investigator Best Paper Award, L’Oréal Malaysia for Women in Science, Best Poster/Oral Presentations and travel fellowships, etc. In addition, she has participated in several biotechnology exhibitions and business idea competitions. Furthermore, she won many innovation awards for her work on MSCs and P-EVs as biological therapies for tissue regenerations. She has also developed intellectual property related to the novel work, which has been successfully patented.  

Firdaus Aziz serves as a Senior Lecturer and Deputy Dean of Research and Innovation at the Faculty of Law, Universiti Malaya. His research interests encompass medical law, biosafety law, and the legal and ethical implications of emerging technologies, including stem cell technology, biobanking, and gene editing. He earned his BSc (Hons) in Genetics and Molecular Biology from Universiti Malaya and subsequently received the National Science Fellowship to pursue an MA in Biotechnological Law and Ethics at the University of Sheffield. He later completed a DPhil in Public Health at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, where he focused on stem cell law and ethics at the Centre for Health, Law and Emerging Technologies (HeLEX). Since 2016, he has been actively involved in promoting bioethics in the region as a UNESCO Bioethics Trainer. Additionally, he is a co-investigator for the Southeast Asian Bioethics Network, supported by the UK Wellcome Trust, with the aim to establishing a bioethics network in the region, and a co-investigator for the NIH Fogarty grant to develop a Master's program in Health Research Ethics at the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya.