A Senior Lecturer at the Department of Drama, Faculty of Creative Arts. An alumnus of the Cultural Centre, University of Malaya with a background in dance and drama. Specialize in Drama/Theatre (in) education, Arts-Management and Cross/inter-Disciplinary Exchange. My research at the postgraduate level concentrated on the use of drama and performance for the second (English) language classroom which identified its related set of challenges and possibilities. I further obtained a PhD in Theatre Studies from the University of Warwick in which my thesis examined the nature of MAKUM Theatre Festival as a form of university theatre modelled by the Creative Campus. One of the aims of this endeavor was to document theatre as conceptualized and fashioned by the general division of arts and non-arts students. I thus engage in arts (theatre) management and drama for education at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and currently serves as Postgraduate Program Coordinator. My research interest lies in the application of drama and theatre as creative, innovative and alternative method to teaching and learning, as well as further developments in drama with technology for advancement. Central to my studies is the role of drama/theatre for human development, focusing on issues that relate to dramatic and theatrical application within and outside the field. Along this line is the significant impact of the performing arts on doers (performers) as well as observers (audience). Experienced in mixed-method research, instrumentation design, and continuously seeks opportunities for collaborative and cooperative efforts for the further expansion of drama/theatre application, both formal and informal, in and outside academia.

Danial is the Deputy Executive Director of Academic & Student Affairs at the International Institute of Public Policy and Management (INPUMA) at Universiti Malaya (UM). He teaches the Master of Public Policy (MPP) programme and previously worked as an Adjunct Professor at the Asia Pacific University (2022-2024). Additionally, he also delivered several policy lectures and seminars at the Royal Malaysian Police College (MPDRM), the Public Service Department (JPA) Policy Lab series, and a Purposeful and Principled Leadership Immersion (PPL-I) course hosted by the UM Centre for Leadership and Professional Development (UM LEAD). Previously, Danial served as the Secretary of the Malaysian International Studies Association (2023-2024) and was a Fellow at the Research Institute for Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore at Universiti Utara Malaysia (ITS-UUM) during the same period. He is also a member of several professional organisations, including the International Political Science Association (IPSA) in Montreal, Canada, the International Studies Association (ISA) in the US, the British International Studies Association (BISA), the Royal African Studies Association (RAS), the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA), and the African Studies Association (ASA) in the US. Additionally, he is also a lifetime member of the Malaysian Social Science Association (PSSM), Malaysian-Japan Studies Association (MAJAS), a Research Fellow at the Malaysia-Japan Research Centre (MJRC), and a former member of the Malaysian Association for American Studies (MAAS) and Malaysian Scholars on Korea (MASK) with Malaysia's International Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) In addition to his peer-reviewed tasks in Third World Quarterly, Comparative Politics, African Identities, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, SAGE Open, Kajian Malaysia (USM Press), and Journal of International Studies (UUM Press), Danial currently serves on the Editorial Boards of the Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities (UPM Press) the Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) Journal of Social and Political Science (JSP-FISIP), and JEBAT: Malaysian Journal of History, Politics and Strategic Studies (UKM Press) all indexed in Scopus and WOS. He has also served on the editorial boards of the Malaysian Journal of International Relations (MJIR), SINERGI: Journal of Strategic Studies & International Affairs (UKM Press), and WILAYAH: International Journal of East Asian Studies (UM Press). Alongside his internal supervision and examination duties, he has acted as a supervisor for the Malaysian Armed Forces Defence College-National University of Malaysia (MPAT-UKM) programme. Danial has also worked as an external examiner for PhD theses in politics, policy, and security at universities in Malaysia, Australia, Japan, India, Pakistan, and Singapore. Furthermore, he has been involved in various government and industry projects in roles including consultant, moderator, resource person, invited speaker, and public lecturer. Apart from his academic publications, Danial has contributed commentaries and participated in interviews addressing various issues for national and global media. Danial was also previously given invited lectures at the UUM, UNIZA, APU and UiTM. He also served as a founding advisor for the UM student association, Malaya Model United Nations (2016-2023). Danial holds a PhD in International Relations (Political Science) from the University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom. During his doctoral studies, he was mentored by the late Professor Ian Taylor, a prominent expert in Africa-Asia Politics and Relations and Critical Political Economy. He was awarded the UM Bright Spark Fellowship, facilitating his PhD studies. Moreover, Danial has conducted extensive fieldwork and study visits across several African and Asian countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Libya, Egypt, Sierra Leone, and in Europe: The Former Republic of Yugoslavia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany, Greece, and Cyprus. He has also travelled to Russia, Canada, Brazil, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. Danial also obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Distinction Honours), majoring in International and Strategic Studies and minoring in East Asian Studies. During the 2007 UM Graduation Ceremony, he received the Ghazali Shafie Book Prize and the Dato Panglima Kinta Yusuf Gold Medal. Danial is highly interested in conducting research, teaching, and supervising in the areas related to Global South or Africa-Asia Relations in Comparative Public Policy, Malaysia's Public and Foreign Policy Analysis, and Peace and Conflict Studies. He has been awarded various prestigious grants such as the European Union-Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (EU-SUHAKAM), the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS), the National Agency for Anti-Drug Research Grant, the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Malaysian government, and grants from the Sumito Foundation (Japan), Japan Foundation and Korea Foundation (South Korea).

Dr. Narsimlu Kemsaram is a Senior Lecturer with the Department of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He holds a Bachelor's, Master's, and PhD in Computer Science. During his PhD, he worked as an Assistant Researcher with the Aerospace Information Technology Group, Division of Space Technology, Department of Computer Science at the Julius Maximilian University, Würzburg, Germany, on the research project of "An Autonomous Sensor Network for the Detection and Observation of Meteors (ASMET)," funded by the European Union-Regional Development Fund (EU-RDF). After his PhD, he worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher with the Mobile Perception Systems (MPS) Research Lab, Signal Processing Systems Research Group, at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Eindhoven, Netherlands, on the research project of "integrated Cooperative Automated Vehicles (i-CAVE): Sensing, Mapping, and Localization," funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). Later, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Space Robotics (SpaceR) Research Group, SnT Research Centre, at the University of Luxembourg, Kirchberg Campus, Luxembourg, on the research projects of "Secure and Safe Multi-Robot Systems (SESAME)," funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 (EU-H2020), and "5G-Sky: Interconnecting the Sky in 5G and Beyond – A Joint Communication and Control Approach," funded by the Luxembourg National Research Fund CORE (FNR-CORE). Later, he worked as a Research Fellow in Multi-Robot Systems with the Department of Computer Science at the University College London (UCL), London, United Kingdom, on the research project of "Swarm Spatial Sound Modulators (Swarm SSMs)," funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Prosperity Partnership and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Research Interests: Multi-Robot Systems, Multi-Agent Systems, Swarm Robotics, Multi-UAVs, Autonomous Systems, Robotics and AI.