Afizan Azman is an Associate Professor and a Director for Impact Lab Digital Innovation & Smart Society at Taylor’s University, Selangor. He was a former Deputy Vice Chancelor (DVC) at University College of Islam Melaka (KUIM), Malaysia now known as Universiti Melaka (UniMel). Previously he was a President/Chief of Executive at Melaka International College of Science and Technology (MiCoST), Melaka and a former Deputy Dean at Multimedia University, Malaysia.
Afizan Azman has completed his PhD in Computer Science from Loughborough University, United Kingdom and his Masters of IT from University College of London (UCL), United Kingdom. He has been in the academia for more than 15 years and always has interest the field of Digital and Technology focusing on Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Analytics and Machine Learning, Vehicle System and Technology and Internet of Things. To achieve his goal to create an efficient ecosystem in Malaysia with digital and technology, he has been involved with many research activities as a project leader and project member either for the government or universities. Some of his projects are: Development of Sistem UPU online for Melaka, Establishing Universiti Melaka with a concept of Digitalising Human, Connected Car Services - Automatic Facial Expression Recognition for Driver Satisfaction Detection and for Vehicle Data Analytics, Fatigue Attentive System for Driver (FATs), A Real Time Multilingual Customer Sentiment Mining, A Framework for Vehicle Mobility Communications in Urban Environment and more.
Until today, Afizan Azman is actively involved in State Government of Melaka by giving his consultation and advocacy. Previously he was appointed as the Think-Tank Member under Portfolio Exco Pendidikan dan Teknologi Negeri Melaka. His responsibilities were to align Pelan Strategik Melakaku Maju Jaya 2035 in education with the digital and technology.
Dr Benjamin YH Loh is currently a senior lecturer at Taylor’s University School of Media and Communication and the Impact Lab Director for Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.
He is a media scholar who employs digital ethnography in studying online cultures and the digital public sphere. His areas of interest include minority communities and their use of online spaces and digital activism.
Using his research, he has a strong focus on public engagement through his many op-ed publications in Malaysiakini, Nikkei Asia Review, South China Morning Post, Free Malaysia Today, Malay Mail and the Vibes. He regularly speaks about media issues on BFM radio and Astro Awani.
His works include co-edited books “Sabah from the Ground: The 2020 Elections and the Politics of Survival” (ISEAS/SIRD 2021) with Bridget Welsh and Vilashini Somiah, and “New Media in the Margins: Lived Realities and Experiences from the Malaysian Peripheries” (Palgrave 2023) with James Chin.
Aravind is currently the Clean Technology Impact Lab Director and Programme Director for Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Taylor’s University.
Being in the academia for more than 20 years, Aravind believes in value enabled research through innovation that inform the classroom engagements.
Dr. Aravind is a Professional Technologists with the Malaysian Board of Technologists, a member with the Society of Engineering Education Malaysia, a Senior member with IEEE and member of IET UK.
Dr Aravind also heads VERTICALS, a high impact research cluster and holds multiple filed patents in energy applications with the more recent on hybrid low-cost solar energy harvester in 2021. He has published over 150 indexed dissemination and have acquired grant value of USD 336,365 of which 49% as Principal Investigator since 2007. Projects involved majoring on clean energy technology with focus on developing affordable and low-cost solutions.
Aravind is also developer of multiple award-winning CODE design thinking enterprise framework which he used to develop teaching, learning, research, teaching and consulting solutions.
Associate Professor Dr Chong Li Choo is currently the Food Security & Nutrition Impact Lab Director and the programme Director for Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Culinology, School of Food Studies & Gastronomy, Taylor’s University. Dr Chong’s purpose is to transform future foods to be better in nutrition, sustainable, safe yet indulgent. As an accomplished academician, her aim is to educate and empower the new generation to advocates for child’s health, transforming the current food industry towards a healthier and more sustainable food future.
In seeking to bridge between education, practice, and research, she curated and led several distinctive collaborative projects in collaboration with Food Aids Foundation, Though for Food Foundation, various food MNC and Ministry of Agriculture & Food Industry (MAFI), working on national food & nutrition sustainable and tackling food waste issue though research and education.
Dr Chong Li Choo is an active researcher who has ventured into the field of healthy and functional food product development through sustainable local agriculture produces for almost two decades. She is currently also engaged in various research grants on green technology approach in providing solution for obesity and hypertension issue caused by unhealthy food and eating habit, also the pesticide issue in post-harvest processing.
Dr Chong Li Choo is very concern on children health and nutrition. To ensure children and future generation able to access the nutritious foods and create healthy eating habits, she is actively engaged in educating children in healthy eating & nutrition through community projects and primary school activities. She strongly believes in children’s health, the nation’s wealth.
In recognizing as the expert and advocate in healthy & sustainable food product development, she received several national & international awards in the field of sustainable food product development Her persistent in inspiring students and making significant impact to the Dr Chong Li Choo is honored to be awarded the President Award by The Research Chefs Association (RCA), United States in 2020.
Prof. Dr. Chong Pei Pei is currently the Lab Director for the Digital Health and Innovations Impact lab cum the Head of Research at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Taylor’s University.
Upon graduating from the United Kingdom, she began her career as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Microbiology, National University of Singapore. The following year, she returned to Malaysia and served as a lecturer in University Putra Malaysia, following her inner calling to nurture and educate the next generation of biomedical and health sciences practitioners.
Over the years, she was successful in securing many research grants from government ministries of education, and science & technology and private organizations such as MAKNA (Malaysian National Cancer Council) totalling more than 2 million cumulatively to realize some of her research initiatives. Several patents were also granted both at national and international level, along with innovative research awards at national level.
Science is forever evolving, and the pace of discovery of new knowledge and development of new technologies is tremendous especially with the advent of the digital era. Hence, since joining Taylor’s University (TU), she began to engage in not only health and medical research but also trans-disciplinary research which adopt state-of-the-art technologies in computer sciences as well as engineering in collaboration with my colleagues from other schools to devise innovative solutions to health problems.
This is reflected by the number of research grants she won since 2019 after joining TU, whereby she is the project leader of a Fundamental Research Grant (FRGS) and a Prototype Research Grant (PRGS), as well as co-researcher of 7 other FRGS grants from the Ministry of Higher Education. Three of the grants involve multi-disciplinary projects such as Profiling of Pornography Addiction among Children using Neuro-Physiological Computational Model (NCM), Innovating an Improved Cervical Cell Sampling Device via 3D Printing Prototyping, and Developing a Framework for Automated Cancer Cells Detection using Computer Vision and Deep Learning Algorithms.
In addition to teaching of undergraduate courses, Pei Pei is also a Module Leader for a postgraduate core module known as Research Methods for Science, where she not only imparts basic knowledge on research methodology to Masters and PhD students from biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences, engineering and computer science disciplines, but also instils in them the motivation to do research that will bring impact to humanity.
Dr Hiran Shanake Perera is a Cognitive Neuroscientist, and a Senior Lecturer of Psychology at Taylor’s University. He is also the Deputy Director of the Mental Health and Well-being Impact Lab.
He is passionate about exploring complexities of the human brain functions that underlie human behaviours and psychopathological disorders. His current research is focused on understanding the neurobiological basis of Executive Function Disorders (Executive Dysfunction) by using non-invasive neuroimaging methods such as Electroencephalography (EEG). He is a member of the British Neuroscience Association (BNA), and the Federation of the European Neuroscience Association (FENS).
His aim is to uncover the neurobiological underpinnings of human behaviours with implications extending beyond basic psychological science. Foremost among his aims is the identification oftransdiagnostic biomarkers to facilitate development of targeted treatment interventions. He is also deeply involved in educating the public of the importance of studying brain mechanisms, as this can significantly enhance our understanding of psychological conditions and human behaviours.
Con Nee is the Deputy Director of Active Ageing Impact Lab at Taylor’s University. She started her teaching career in 2005 and has never had a more gratifying job than being able to impart her skills and knowledge to the younger generation. She is also a TTT Certified Trainer.
She has about two decades of experience in both administrative and academic roles. At Taylor’s University, she has taught many marketing-related subjects across different levels of students from Foundation, Diploma, and Degree programmes. Throughout her teaching career at Taylor’s University, she has consistently received “Excellent Teaching Engagement” scores. She has also been awarded as one of Taylor’s Distinguished e-Learning Educators (DoE) for the Class of 2021 as she exemplifies innovative and engaging learning practices in her teaching and delivery. Her research areas include social media marketing, online shopping, and digital marketing. Her services in the early years revolved around community work, charity drives, and field visits. Recently, she contributed to two successful major events organised under the Active Ageing Impact Lab, known as the “Active Ageing Festival” in 2023 and 2024. Her grit and determination, as well as a love for people of all ages, has kept her in high spirits to continue to serve in any capacity that champions healthy living, especially in the golden years. Looking into the well-being of the young and old, particularly the senior communities, brings her tremendous joy.
She is also a passionate educator who loves using new technology to teach and share skills with her students and adult learners via workshops. In her interactive classes, she inspires them to use technology in creative ways. She also firmly believes that learning is a lifelong process and as a passionate facilitator/coach/mentor to the young generation and adult learners, she will continue to give her utmost to provide a safe, fun, dynamic and exciting learning environment.
Dr Joseph Velarde is the Deputy Director of the Education for All Impact Lab at Taylor’s University and is also a lecturer from School of Education, Taylor’s University. He holds a PhD in Education and Master of Educational Leadership from the University of Malaya, Malaysia, while his undergraduate degree of Communication Arts is from the University of the Philippines.
For almost 20 years, Dr Joseph has taught in various educational institutions across all levels (primary, secondary, and tertiary) in the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia, primarily focusing on the teaching of English language and literature. He has published several articles in high-indexed publications on school leadership and management. Also, he wrote a book entitled, “Leading in Multicultural Schools,” published by Routledge.
Dr Joseph’s passion for teaching and advocacies for inclusive education led him to commit to projects on cross-cultural communications training of student teachers at Taylor’s University and body positivity programs in local schools in Subang Jaya, Malaysia. These initiatives led him to win several awards in local conferences and be a finalist in AKRI2022.
Dr Malarvilly Ramayah is the Deputy Director of the Liveable Urban Communities Impact Lab. Prior to this, she held the role as Hub Leader of Socially Inclusive Spaces – promoting inclusive and accessible urban spaces, including advocating for safe and affordable housing.
Dr Malarvilly is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Accounting and Finance, Faculty of Business and Law, and holds a PhD in Business. She developed her teaching skills through lecturing in twinning programmes; being appointed as an Associate of the Faculty of Business, University of Technology Sydney, Australia from 2003 to 2006. She then led the programme structure development team for Banking, Finance and Economics programmes under the dual award degrees with University of the West of England and became Programme Director of these programmes from 2012 to 2015.
As a multi award-winning educator, Dr Malarvilly won a Silver medal in the International University Carnival on e-Learning (IUCEL) Competition, Ministry of Higher Education 2022 (Creativity) and "Leading Innovation Towards Digitalised Community“ 2021 (Creativity). She also won an award at The Virtual International e-Content Development Competition 2021.
Dr Nagathisen Katahenggam (Dr Naga) is the Deputy Director of the Sustainable Tourism Impact Lab and is also a senior lecturer with the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events. He holds a PhD in Tourism and Hospitality from Taylor’s University. He obtained his Masters and Undergraduate degree from Universiti Utara Malaysia as a part time student while working as a civil servant. With 20 years of experience in government service, he is well versed with the intricacies of engagement with the public sector.
Dr Naga is passionate about empowering heritage cities and towns to tap into the potential benefits of heritage tourism, in turn benefiting local communities. He has also published several articles on tourism, ranging from heritage tourism to climate change. Dr Naga firmly believes in building bridges between academics, the government and industry to further empower communities through sustainable tourism.
Eradicating Poverty Impact Lab Deputy Director
Norshahila is the Eradicating Poverty Impact Lab Director, and the Programme Director for the Centre for Languages and Liberal Studies at the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences (SLAS), Taylor’s University.
Her expertise is in Malay linguistics, and her research interests are phonetics, phonology, and morphology. She obtained a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Malay Language Studies. She is pursuing a Ph.D. at Universiti Putra Malaysia in Malay Language Studies and working on a phonology thesis at Hulu Tembeling, Pahang. She has been involved with an NGO named Persatuan Seni Silat Cekak Malaysia (PSSCM) as a freelance proofreader and editor for almost 8 years. Her most recent editing work is titled “Dari Dapur Srikandi dan Nikmat yang Agung”.
Community work has always been her passion. During her tenure as the Hub Leader for Meeting Basic Needs under the Eradicating Poverty Impact Lab, she led a project titled “My Period Story” to promote cost-effective period products for B40 women and girls through expert guidance, and to help girls be more confident during menstruation.
Dr. Phang is currently serving as the Digital Innovation and Smart Society Impact Lab Deputy Director and a Senior Lecturer at Taylor’s University's School of Engineering. He has received his Bachelor of Engineering and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the National University of Singapore (NUS).
As an academic, Dr. Phang has been involved in a range of multidisciplinary industry-based projects, working with companies such as Alphaswift Industries, Daikin Malaysia, and HSS Engineers to cultivate and inspire creativity and innovation in young engineers. He is an expert in automation and robotics, with a particular focus on autonomous vehicles.
He has presented at numerous international conferences and published over 70 peer-reviewed articles with a Scopus Citation h-index of 14. Additionally, he currently serves on the Board of Editors for Unmanned Systems, a Q1 journal indexed in Web of Science, and has served as an editor for multiple international conference proceedings in the past five years.
Dr. Phang is also a Corporate Member of the Institute of Engineers Malaysia (MIEM), a registered Professional Engineer (PEng) with the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM), and a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) from the United States. These professional affiliations reflect his ongoing commitment to staying up-to-date with the latest developments and best practices in engineering.
Dr. Praveena is a dedicated academician, researcher, and educator with over 10 years of experience in clean technology. Currently serving as the Deputy Director of Clean Technology Impact Lab, she is passionate about promoting sustainable solutions and environmentalism.
As a social entrepreneur, she has established her own enterprise focusing on green solutions. Dr. Praveena collaborates with local authorities to organize seminars on plastic overuse and conducts workshops to teach communities how to repurpose cooking oil. She actively engages with government authorities on waste plastic disposal initiatives.
With expertise in green materials and biomimicry, she contributes to research and education in clean technology. Driven by her commitment to animal welfare, she serves as the Vice-President of the Malaysian Animal Welfare Association (MAWA). Her accomplishments have earned her recognition as a successful leader and women's advocate. Through her multifaceted roles, Dr. Praveena continues to inspire and empower communities towards a sustainable and greener future.
Dr Siti Norzaini Zainal Abidin is the Liveable Urban Communities Impact Lab Director, and a Senior Lecturer at Taylor’s University with 23 years of experience teaching Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Design Management. Her expertise spans a wide range of areas, including passive design for green buildings, integrated design processes, sustainable living, energy and architecture, and daylighting in airport design.
Dr Siti has contributed to several notable publications, such as The Resilience of Tradition, Modernity, Nation and Urban-Architectural Form: The Dynamics and Dialectics of National Identity vs Regionalism in a Tropical City and the Handbook of Research on Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities in Sustainable Architecture. She has been involved in impactful research projects, including Taylor’s University’s Sustainable Living Module, which focuses on architectural strategies to mitigate environmental impacts and enhance community well-being through Flood Mitigation for Community Resilience in the year 2023 and Biodiversity Awareness and Community Engagement in collaboration with GEC and Majlis Perbandaran Sepang in 2024.
Her research endeavors are supported by prominent grants, including Taylor’s Internal Research Grant Scheme and Impact Labs Grant Scheme, with projects addressing climate-responsive design for housing and sustainable e-waste management. Dr Siti’s commitment to innovative education is demonstrated through her award-winning projects on e-learning and project-based learning and innovative solutions, which earned Silver Awards at IUCEL 2021 and 2023, and eCondev 2024 prior to the recent MyFlood App for flood mitigation and community resilience project.
Associate Professor Ts Dr Goh Wei Wei is currently the Digital Health and Innovations Impact Lab Deputy Director and Programme Director of Bachelor of Information Technology, senior lecturer at the School of Computer Science at Taylor’s University. She received her Ph.D. major in E-learning from the University of Derby, UK. She has been in the academic for the past 20 years. Associate Professor Ts Dr Goh Wei Wei has been working on learning, teaching and assessment design strategies, online learning technologies, social media technologies, knowledge management, Machine Learning and Internet of Things research. She emphasised her familiarity with online technologies due to her experience of using them in teaching as she likes to develop technology-rich classrooms. She has been working on various multi-disciplinary projects with the Design School too.
Associate Professor Ts Dr Goh Wei Wei has recently won 2 gold medal awards, and 1 bronze medal award in International University Carnival on E-learning (IUCEL) 2022, 1 bronze medal award in Econdev 2022 for her experience in developing technology-rich classrooms initiatives. She introduced Engage VR platform to create an immersive presence in the virtual learning environment to her students. She also let her students have the hands-on experience of using the Oculus Quest 2 and HoloLens to experience Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality.
Associate Professor Ts Dr Goh Wei Wei also won a total of 4 silver medals award in Malaysia Technology Expo (MTE) in year 2021 and 2022 for her innovative Internet of Things prototype development related to digital health and innovations. She also won silver medal for Smart Medication Management and Medicine Delivery System in 32nd International Invention, Innovation and Technology Exhibition in 2021.
Associate Professor Ts Dr Goh Wei Wei has the practical skills, the hands-on experience and the educational credentials to make a significant difference to the university.
Associate Professor Dr Yau Weng Keong, an elected Fellow of Royal College of Physicians London, is a graduate from Universiti Sains Malaysia. He has extensive and diverse clinical experience as a physician with almost three decades in Internal Medicine and more than 25 years in Geriatric Medicine as a geriatrician. After 33 years with the Ministry of Health (MOH) Malaysia, he is now continuing his mission in elderly care by concentrating on teaching, mentoring and fostering the younger generation to be advocates for the welfare and future of older adults. Dr Yau also seeks to make an impact on the academic and research front. He was Principal Investigator for a few dementia-related clinical studies done in Malaysia and has written chapters in handbooks on various elderly care topics.
Dr Yau is recognised as one of the pioneering geriatricians who was instrumental in establishing a solid foundation for Geriatric Services in MOH Malaysia. As the former Head of Geriatric Services in MOH for 5 years, Dr Yau sat in various elderly care committees including Private Aged Healthcare Facilities and Service Act’s (Act 802) regulation committee. He was actively involved in the clinical administration, training, planning, development and expansion of various geriatrics services from just four geriatricians and two centres in 1997, to over 60 geriatricians nationwide in 2023. Special dementia, delirium, falls, orthogeriatric, geriatric rehabilitation and seamless integrated geriatric care are some examples of services started by Dr Yau.
He has also been an organising chairperson, scientific chairperson, plenary speaker and invited speaker for multiple national and international geriatric and dementia courses, workshops, seminars, conferences and congresses over the years.
Dr Yeo Siok Koon has a Bachelor of Technology and PhD degree from Universiti Sains Malaysia, and is now a senior lecturer in Taylor’s University, Malaysia. Her passion in teaching and research is recognised through her attainment of various national and international awards for excellence in teaching and research. She has accumulated more than 10 years of experience in academia, and before she joined as an academician, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Korea. Her research work focuses on probiotics and prebiotics. She has vast experience in food microbiology and developing food products with probiotics and food waste. To date, she has published more than 40 indexed journals and book chapters. She has also shared her findings and knowledge in various national and international conferences. She is an active member in the Malaysian Institute of Food Technology (MIFT), having served the institute as an Exco for more than 6 years.
