Md Faruk Abdullah is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Shariah and Economics, Academy of Islamic Studies, Universiti Malaya (UM). Prior to joining UM, he was a Senior Lecturer at the School of Banking and Finance, Faculty of Business and Management, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), where he served for eight years. He obtained his PhD in Islamic Economics from Universiti Malaya in 2016 and completed the Chartered Islamic Finance Professional (CIFP) program at INCEIF University in 2012. His academic background also includes a bachelor’s degree in Fiqh and Usul al-Fiqh (Islamic Law and Jurisprudence) from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) in 2010, where he was awarded the Best Student (Overall) in the faculty. Dr. Faruk has demonstrated expertise in teaching Islamic finance, wealth management, Shariah, and fiqh al-mu‘āmalāt at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He has published extensively in Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus-indexed journals, with an H-index of 4 (WoS) and 6 (Scopus). His research interests include the Shariah dimensions of business and finance, product innovation in Islamic finance, Islamic social finance, and Islamic wealth management. He previously served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Nusantara Studies (JONUS) and currently collaborates with the Accounting Research Institute (ARI) at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) as an Associate Fellow. In addition to his academic work, he shares insights on fiqh al-mu‘āmalāt, Islamic finance, and wealth management through his dedicated YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2mjMBd7f_AmnkyjtwIEeCA

Vilashini Somiah is an anthropologist who is a senior lecturer at the Gender Studies Programme at Universiti Malaya. She received her PhD from the National University of Singapore, an MA from Ohio University, an MRes from Universiti Malaya and a BA from the Universiti Malaya. She maintains a keen interest for underrepresented narratives of women, migrants and Borneans living in the interiors. She is the co-editor of “Sabah From the Ground: The 2020 Elections and the Politics of Survival (SIRD/ISEAS, 2021), and her first book, “Irregular Migrants and the Sea at the Borders of Sabah, Malaysia: Pelagic Alliance'' with Palgrave Macmillan (TBC 2022). Outside of academia, she writes ethnographic articles on the local socio-political landscape.

Dr Thamil Selvi Velayutham completed her PhD in 2010 from the Department of Physics, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia. Presently, she is an Associate Professor in the same department, specializing in material physics. Her research delves into various materials including polymers, ceramics, and their composites, exploring their functional traits like dielectric, ferroelectric, pyroelectric, and piezoelectric. Dr Velayutham is deeply engaged in investigating soft matter, employing a cohesive blend of experimental and theoretical approaches to understand their phase behaviour, structure, and statistical physics. Her contributions have been acknowledged through prestigious recognitions, including the Japan-Asia Youth Exchange Program in Science year 2020, the 22nd Journal of Oleo Science Editor's Impact Award, and honorary appointments as a Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen in 2018 and 2022. Additionally, she has held the role of Editor for the Rheology Journal since 2020.