Dr. Sonia Kumari is Senior Lecturer at Department of Development Studies, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Malaya. She holds PhD (Financial Development and Economic Growth, UNIMAS, Malaysia), MEcon (Public Policy, UKM, Malaysia) and BEc (Management Economics, UKM, Malaysia).  Her research expertise includes, Financial Development ; Financial Integration; Financial Inclusion; Sustainable Finance; Climate Finance; and Financial management of small businesses, with main focus on multidisciplinary themes related to emerging and developing economies. Her previous work experience includes: Associate Economist at the Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM) ; Visiting Research Fellow at Bocconi University, Milan, Italy; Visiting Research Fellow at Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales (ICEI), Complutense University of Madrid, Spain; Lecturer at Help University, Malaysia.  She has taught several courses at Undergraduate level including:  Microfinance and Social Enterprise, Analysis of Development Projects, SME Development, Agriculture Business Management, Agriculture Development, Development Economics and Research Methodology (at University of Malaya); Principles of Business Management, Principles of Macroeconomics and Principles of Microeconomics (at Help University). Postgraduate courses: Sustainable Finance (Universiti Malaya).  She supervised over 50 UG projects including industrial placement projects (at University of Malaya); over 15 Masters Research Projects (at University of Malaya); and 1 Doctoral completion (current PhD supervision = 8).   Produced over 30 publications, including book chapters, articles in internationally refereed journals, policy briefs and reports. She has also reviewed several papers for journals and conferences.  She has led research projects on: "Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth" and "Government Supports And Food Operator's Performance In Klang Valley" (University Grant). She is also a co-researcher for projects such as "Role of Social Enterprise in Poverty Alleviation and Inclusive Development in Malaysia" (University Grants); Developing Environmental Reporting Framework for the Small and Medium Enterprises in Malaysia: Using Q-Methodological Approach" (FRGS, Government of Malaysia) and "Catching-up along the Global Value Chain: models, determinants and policy implications in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution" (European Commission Grant). She has research collaborative links in several countries including South Africa, China and Bangladesh.  She is an Associate Editor for Journal of Institutions and Economies.  

Professor Dr Hasniza Zaman Huri, currently the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Academic and International, is an accomplished academic pharmacist and the founding Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Universiti Malaya. Under her leadership, the faculty has achieved numerous accolades, including being a founding member of the Global Alliance for the Development of Pharmaceutical Science (GADPS), an alliance to spearhead the excellent teaching & learning and research of pharmacy/pharmaceutical sciences school around the globe, the top KPI achiever for academic centre in 2023, top faculty for graduate employability and for the first time, top 100 (#72) for Pharmacy subject ranking in the QS World University Rankings 2024. Professor Dr Hasniza was also appointed as the General Assembly Representative for GADPS.  As a leading clinical scientist in clinical pharmacy, precision medicine and targeted therapy, she was honoured with the World Class Professor Programme by the Indonesian Government in 2022, among 78 professors globally. Professor Dr Hasniza's research expertise focuses on targeted therapy, drug utilisation and precision medicine, especially in metabolic diseases. She has been invited by various countries such as the United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Turkey, China, India, Taiwan, and Indonesia as a Keynote or Plenary Speaker at conferences. She has published over 100 publications indexed in the Web of Science (WoS). Professor Dr Hasniza is also an expert in the clinical trial industry and is recognized for her exemplary leadership. She was the Manager and later Director of the Clinical Investigation Centre (CIC) at the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC). During her tenure, CIC UMMC gained a world-class reputation, winning multiple distinctions, including being the first Strategic Alliance Site for Parexel Inc. in Malaysia, Pfizer’s INSPIRE (Investigator Networks, Site Partnerships and Infrastructure for Research Excellence) Site in Malaysia, Best Clinical Trial Service Provider in Asia, Top-10 IQVIA Prime Sites in the world and many more. She was awarded Best Academic Administrator for Non-Academic Centre in 2015 by Universiti Malaya and recently, in 2024, was awarded the MPS Outstanding Leadership Award by the Malaysian Pharmacists Society (MPS), an excellence award due to her outstanding performance and exceptional achievement in pharmacy practice in Malaysia. She is also the Honorary Visiting Consultant at CIC and a member of the Drug Control Authority (DCA) Ministry of Health, Malaysia.    

Dr. Woo is an academic and researcher specializing in next generation advanced batteries (SIBs, LIBs) and energy storage (supercapacitors). He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at Universiti Malaya. He received his B.Sc. (First Class Honours), M.Sc. and Ph.D in Advanced Materials from Universiti Malaya (UM). Prior to joining UM in 2014, Dr. Woo gained valuable experience in industry, teaching, and research through his work in the private sector and two private universities in Malaysia. His research focuses on the design and development of advanced energy materials, which includes electrode (SIBs, LIBs, EDLC, hybrid supercapacitor, DSSCs, QDSSCs), ceramic and polymer electrolytes (ASSBs), circular clean energy (regeneration of spent batteries), the applications of plasma technology and radiation in materials science. Dr. Woo's scholarship record is impressive, with over 3000 citations, h-index of 25 (Google Scholar) and has published over 80 research papers. As the corresponding author, he has published in leading journals, including Advanced Functional Materials, ACS Nano, Chemical Engineering Journal, Journal of Energy Chemistry & ACS Materials Letters, and has secured 22 research funds from University of Malaya (RU grant), Malaysian government funding agencies (FRGS, PRGS), international fund from Asian Office of Aerospace Research & Development (AOARD), Japan and Southeast Asia and Taiwan Universities (SATU) JRS. Moreover, he has successfully supervised the completion of 6 Ph.D. and 4 Master's Degree research candidates. Owing to his expertise in the field, he has served as a Visiting Professor to Peking University, Harbin Engineering University, Hebei University of Science & Technology, Universitas Sebelas Maret and Sharda University. Dr. Woo is the winner of many awards such as best flash-talk presenter of ICFMD2015, diamond award of I-Idea 2016, gold medal of Iiidjohor 2017, gold medal of Indes 2017, gold medal of Iriise 2018, gold medal of ITEX2023 and silver medal of MTE2024. In addition to his research work, Dr. Woo is also an active member of the academic community. He has delivered more than 35 keynote/invited/oral talks at international conferences, serving as reviewer for over 40 international journals (eg. Advanced Functional Materials, Small, ACS Energy Letters, Chemical Engineering Journal, Energy & environment materials, Energy storage materials, Journal of Energy Chemistry & Nano-Micro letters), treasurer of Institut of Physics, Malaysia (2017-present), External Assessor (EA) for Physics Academic Program at private university. and has been involved in organizing international conferences such as ICFMD 2013, 2015, 2017, 2022, 2024; Solar Asia 2013; APPC 2019, ICFPAM 2019 & AAPPS-DPP2024.