Associate Professor Dr Afizan Azman

Digital Innovation and Smart Society Lab Director

afizan.azman@taylors.edu.my

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.

Professor Dato' Dr Andrew Mohanraj

Mental and Health and Well-being Impact Lab Director

Dato Dr Andrew is a Consultant Psychiatrist, President of the Malaysian Mental Health Association, the Board of Directors of the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) and formerly Mental Health and Substance Abuse Consultant for World Health Organization (WHO) South East Asia & Pacific Regional Office.

His main achievement and purpose are to remove physical restraints in people with chronic mental illness. He has done pioneering work in the establishment of sustainable psychosocial rehabilitation services in Indonesia (post disaster, post conflict) , The Philippines (post disaster) and Timor Leste (post conflict).

He is engaged in periodic consultancy to provide mental health services to refugees and asylum seekers whose intended destination is Australia.

Dr Benjamin Loh Yew Hoong

Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions Impact Lab Director

benjaminyewhoong.loh@taylors.edu.my

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.

Associate Professor Ts Dr Chockalingam Aravind Vaithilingam

Clean Technology Impact Lab Director

chockalingamaravind.vaithilingam@taylors.edu.my

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 Ts Dr Chong Li Choo

Food Security and Nutrition Impact Lab Director

lichoo.chong@taylors.edu.my

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.

Associate Professor Dr Chong Wei Ying

Active Ageing Impact Lab Director

weiying.chong@taylors.edu.my

Dr. Chong Wei Ying is an accomplished Associate Professor who currently serves as the Director of the Active Ageing Impact Lab at Taylor's University.

With over 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship, education, and research, Dr. Chong has honed her administrative and research skills and has a wide range of research interests, including innovation in small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurial strategies.

Her work centres around advancing the understanding and performance of entrepreneurs through the application of motivational theories, statistics, and performance evaluation.

Professor Dr Chong Pei Pei

Digital Health and Innovations Impact Lab Director

peipei.chong@taylors.edu.my

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

Mental Health and Well-being Impact Lab Deputy Director

hiran.perera@taylors.edu.my

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.

Dr Joann P. S. Lim

Liveable Urban Communities Impact Lab Director

joann.lim@taylors.edu.my

Dr Joann is currently the Director of Liveable Urban Communities Impact Lab and a Senior Lecturer at the School of Hospitality, Tourism & Events (SHTE), Taylor’s University.

Prior to joining academia in 2014, Dr Joann has over 2 decades of diverse corporate experience from the oil and gas industry to banking, education and hospitality sector. She gravitates towards other like-minded people who believes that "doing good" and "running a business" can go hand in hand. She believes in making a difference with fresh and dynamic approaches to entrepreneurial thinking, blending with environmental care for the planet, in addition to business pragmatics.

Dr Joann had the privilege to be part of several notable projects related to environmental sustainability, such as:

• The “Green Frontier - A Malaysian Journey” coffee table book produced as part of IGEM 2011 - Awareness Zone, endorsed by the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water Malaysia (KeTTHA). The book documents the journey of Malaysians in the green industry and provides insights to the impact and direction their businesses would have on the planet and, perhaps, future generations. Joann’s contributions in this project includes research, photos and interviews of the selected personalities.

• Consultant on Green Marketing Training Module for the Malaysian Green Technology Corporation (2013)

• KL 2017 29th SEA Games – Coordinator for Green Volunteers’ recruitment, training and duty schedule to promote environmentally-sustainable practices during KL 2017 at Bukit Jalil Sport City.

Dr Joann is a strong advocate that education changes lives and continues to learn from everyone and anything she encounters. She is eager to collaborate in development of pedagogical activities that infuses experiential learning and community engagement through environmental care.

Dr Joseph Malaluan Velarde

Education For All Impact Lab Deputy Director

joseph.velarde@taylors.edu.my

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.

Norshahila Binti Mohamad Razak

Eradicating Poverty Impact Lab Deputy Director

norshahila.mohamadrazak@taylors.edu.my

Norshahila is the Eradicating Poverty Impact Lab Deputy 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.

Ir Dr Phang Swee King

Digital Innovation and Smart Society Impact Lab Deputy Director

sweeking.phang@taylors.edu.my

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 Nair Sivasankaran

Clean Technology Impact Lab Deputy Director

praveena.nair@taylors.edu.my

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. 

Prema Ponnudurai

Education for All Impact Lab Director

prema.ponnudurai@taylors.edu.my

Prema Ponnudurai is the Director of the Education for All Impact Lab at Taylor’s University and is also the Head of School, School of Media and Communication at Taylor’s University. A graduate of English Literature (Hons) from the University of Buckingham, England, she has also a Masters in English as a Second Language (MESL) from the University of Malaya, Malaysia and is currently pursuing her PhD in Education focusing on work-based learning.  

She has over two decades of knowledge and hands-on experience in the fields of teaching and learning, leadership, administration and has numerous publications, book chapters and news articles to her name. She is an alumna of the US State Department, Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs and completed a Fellowship as a Visiting Scholar at New York University (NYU, US). She has recently been appointed as a Consultant for Educational Conventions with Conference Partners. 

Her passion lies in bringing education to the forefront in order to reduce inequalities, support communities and individuals in need to achieve socioeconomical mobility and improve the quality of life. Seeped in this commitment, she continuously works with various local and international organisations and individuals such as Yayasan Chow Kit, Tenaganita and was on the feedback committee of the United Nations Development Program to promote and touch lives through education. She firmly believes in the words of Nelson Mandela, ‘it is not beyond our power to create a world in which all children have access to a good education’.

Associate Professor Ts Dr Goh Wei Wei

Digital Health and Innovations Impact Lab Deputy Director

weiwei.goh@taylors.edu.my

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.

Dr Yeo Siok Koon

Food Security and Nutrition Impact Lab Deputy Director

siokkoon.yeo@taylors.edu.my

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.