Dr. Nadirah Mat Pozian is a feminist public health scholar passionate about advancing gender equity and women’s well-being in Southeast Asia. She explores how gendered structures, social norms, and systemic inequalities shape women’s participation in work, access to health services, and overall life outcomes. Her work turns feminist research into practical solutions that improve policies, workplaces, and community programs. She collaborates with policymakers, NGOs, community groups, and global health stakeholders to design research that is inclusive, participatory, and transformative. She has led multi-country studies, facilitated stakeholder dialogues, and contributed to regional and UN-level policy initiatives on gender-responsive health systems and workplace equity. Nadirah’s research uses qualitative and quantitative methods, including interviews, surveys, focus groups, and co-design workshops. She focuses on sensitive issues such as gender-based violence, maternal and reproductive health, and workplace inequities, ensuring women’s voices guide policy and practice. Her work bridges research, advocacy, and policy, advancing inclusive, feminist-centred approaches that centre women’s rights, agency, and care in health and social systems. Her publications include Family-Friendly Work Conditions and Well-Being Among Malaysian Women (2024) and Barriers Faced by Australian and New Zealand Women When Sharing Experiences of Family Violence with Primary Healthcare Providers (2023). She is currently writing her first book on family-friendly policies and family planning, focusing on Malaysia and Southeast Asia. She is interested in supervising PhD students in these topics: Gender equality and women’s health Feminist approaches to public health Women’s experiences at work and in workplaces Gender-based violence and access to healthcare Maternal and reproductive health issues Other topics of student interest related to gender, health, and equity (open for discussion) Please feel free to contact her at nadirahmatpozian@um.edu.my

Khoo Ying Hooi, PhD, is an Associate Professor of International Relations and Human Rights at Universiti Malaya (UM). Her research centres on human rights and democracy in Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on civil society, Southeast Asian politics, and the domestic politics of Malaysia and Timor-Leste. She also examines how the geopolitics of Southeast Asia shapes domestic political developments, rights discourses, civic spaces, and institutional contestations. In addition, she works extensively on human rights education and academic freedom. She is the author of “The Bersih Movement and Democratisation in Malaysia” (SIRD/ ISEAS/ Lexington Books, 2020) and “Seeds of Dissent (Gerakbudaya, 2015). Furthermore, Ying Hooi has also co-edited several volumes, such as “Social and Political Deglobalisation: Covid-19, Conflict and Uncertainties in Malaysia (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023), “Marginalisation and Human Rights in Southeast Asia” (Routledge, 2022) and “Rethinking Human Rights and Peace in the Post-Independence Timor-Leste through Local Perspectives” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022). Her co-author paper (with C. Leong, I. Faik, F. Tan and B. Tan, 2020), “Digital organising of a global social movement: from connective to collective action," won the 2021 Best Paper Award at the Information and Organization and was Runner-Up in the 2021 Special Interest Group-Grounded Theory Methodology (SIG-GTM).  Ying Hooi is the Editor-in-Chief of the Malaysian Journal of International Relations (MJIR) and sits on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, the Journal of Southeast Asian Human Rights (JSEAHR), and the Indonesian Law Review (ILREV).  Ying Hooi has been appointed to the International Advisory Council by the Timor-Leste government for Centro Nacional Chega! (CNC), a public institute tasked to institutionalise memory and promote human rights. She is also a founding member of the Southeast Asian Coalition for Academic Freedom (SEA-CAF). She received several fellowships, including the Mellon/ SAR Academic Freedom Fellowship by Scholars at Risk (SAR), the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) Curriculum Fellowship, and visiting fellowships at Kyushu University, Mahidol University, Humboldt University of Berlin and Beijing Foreign Studies University. She has served as a judge in several local and international human rights awards, including the Amnesty International Philippines Ignite Awards and Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) Human Rights Awards. Between 2013 and 2016, Ying Hooi was involved in the diplomatic training course for the Institute of Diplomatic Studies (IDS), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in Timor-Leste. Additionally, she has contributed to consultancies for organisations like the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), the Democracy Academy of Malaysia, and Strengthening Human Rights and Peace Research and Education in Southeast Asia (SHAPE-SEA). In addition to her academic roles, Ying Hooi has extensive experience in the field of human rights and democracy in Southeast Asia. These roles include serving as a Scientific Member in the Observatory of Political Alternatives in Southeast Asia (ALTERSEA), Vice-Chair in the Society for the Promotion of Human Rights (PROHAM), and Board Member in the Innovation of Change - East Asia Governance Circle (EAGC). Before entering academia, Ying Hooi garnered experience in corporate sectors and served as the Head of International Issues and Cooperation at the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM). Her involvements include the ASEAN human rights body (now AICHR) in the ASEAN Charter, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Malaysia in Geneva and the SUHAKAM Amendment Bill 2009.  

Prof Dr Siti Nursheena is a parasitologist in the Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science. Her expert area is in the field of mammalian helminthology and molecular parasitology to which she obtained her PhD from Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. Her research interests covers host-parasite interactions and epidemiology of a wide range of zoonotic parasites from protozoans, helminth and ectoparasites especially from stray animals, rodents and more recently human. Presently, she is the team leader for an epidemiological investigation into the incidence of parasitic infections among vulnerable community particularly among migrant workers, refugees and the urban poor. Dr Sheena also actively contributes to the Malaysian Society of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine, and was the vice president in 2016-2018 and president in 2018-2020. She contributes her time also on  2 editorial boards; the Tropical Biomedicine (Q3) as chief-in-editor and the editorial board member for Parasitology (Q1).