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.

Associate Professor Dr Anthony Ho Siong Hock

Active Ageing Impact Lab Director

anthony.ho@taylors.edu.my

Anthony is the Director of Active Ageing Impact Lab and has been the Pro Vice Chancellor for Research & Enterprise for the past 5 years.

Prior to that he was the Dean of the School of Biosciences teaching Pharmacology, Physiology and Cell Biology.  He has supervised many postgraduate students and published over 25 papers pursuing Research in Cancer Biology and Natural Bioactive compounds.  

He is the current President of the Malaysian Society for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and aspires to bridge his professional advocacy role with the goals of Purpose Learning at Taylor's to inspire and challenge students, young academics and peers to better the world and enrich the communities in which they live in through responsible science.  

He intends to build a platform for multidisciplinary stakeholders to identify, articulate and develop solutions for challenges affecting the daily lives of older persons.

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 Deputy Director

weiying.chong@taylors.edu.my

Dr. Chong Wei Ying is an accomplished Associate Professor who currently serves as the Deputy 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 centers 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.

Associate Professor Dr Guido Benny

Peace, Justice, and Strong Institution Impact Lab Deputy Director

guido.benny@taylors.edu.my

Guido Benny is currently the Deputy Director of Impact Lab - Peace, Justice, and Strong Institution. He is also the Programme Director for Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) in International Relations; Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) in Social Innovation and Change; and Doctor of Philosophy in Social Science. He is also an Associate Professor at the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Taylor's University since March 2018. He obtained Ph.D. in Strategic and Security Analysis from the National University of Malaysia in 2013 and has conducted a Postdoctoral Study at the Institute for Malaysia and International Studies (IKMAS) at the National University of Malaysia.

Previously, he has been studying for a Bachelor of Social and Political Sciences (1994-1998) and a Master in Management Science at the University of Indonesia (2001-2003). Anchored by his Ph.D. thesis, His initial research focus was on non-traditional international security issues and regional integration initiatives in East and Southeast Asia; specifically, studies related to ASEAN regionalism and regionalization. His focus shifted to public perception of US-China Great Power Competition in Southeast Asia. His most recent study is on the current teaching and research of International Relations scholarship in Malaysia.

Associate Professor Dr Hamdan Amer Ali Al-Jaifi

Digital Economy and Business Transformation Impact Lab Deputy Director

hamdanamerali.al-jaifi@taylors.edu.my

Associate Professor Hamdan is currently the Digital Economy and Business Transformation Impact Lab Deputy Director. He was appointed in December 2021 as a Director of Centre for Industrial Revolution and Innovation (CIRI). During 2019 and 2020, he held the position of Director for dual awards programmes (Banking and Finance programme & Finance and Economics programme).

Hamdan has been in the academia for more than a decade and his passion and purpose is to bridge the gap between theory and practice. He is dedicated to the culture of excellence, and this is reflected by his close connection with the professional bodies and industry players.

During Hamdan’s tenure as director of the research center and programme director for dual award programmes, he has proven his mettle with every stepping stone he overleaf with his excellent leadership qualities. He has strong dedication and takes incredible initiative to do work effectively. In terms of research and scholarly activities, Hamdan has national and university grants and currently leading an international grant. In addition, he has maintained excellent standing in research by publishing continuously in high reputable and top tier journals.

Associate Professor Dr Harmahinder Singh Iqbal Singh

Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions Impact Lab Director

harmahinder.singh@taylors.edu.my

Dr Harmahinder Singh currently serves as the Head of Taylor’s Law School and the Director for Impact Lab, Peace Justice and Strong Institutions.

He has continuously served 18 years in higher education in Malaysia in the areas of academic leadership and administration, teaching and research.

During the years as Academic leader, he has formulated various teaching approaches for transformational legal education to groom students who would see themselves as individuals who could effectively and meaningfully contribute to the society and recently, he has taken of the impact lab directorship to further live this purpose.

His research interests are primarily in the area of Equity and Trusts, particularly constructive trusts as a tool against unauthorized gain in business transactions; legal education; and Art as a tool to promote the layman’s understanding of the law as he believes in sharing one’s knowledge and experience to reach and help stakeholders understand the law and the meaning of justice.   

Dr Joann P. S. Lim

Liveable Urban Communities Impact Lab Deputy Director

joann.lim@taylors.edu.my

Dr Joann is currently the Deputy 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.

Associate Professor Dr Kandappan Balasubramanian

Sustainable Tourism Impact Lab Deputy Director

kandappan.balasubramanian@taylors.edu.my

Dr Kandappan Balasubramanian (Dr Kandy) is an Associate Professor from the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events and Associate Director-Human Capital Development of the Centre for Research and Innovation in Tourism (CRiT), Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management (FSLM), Taylor's University, Malaysia who has embraced technology as part of his teaching and learning pedagogy and continuously empowers to innovate himself with the latest developments of technology in order to meet the changing needs of today's learners.

He has taken the mandate and made it as personal aspiration on, striving to broaden his ability in technology integration in the classroom. Dr Kandappan innovation and transformation in teaching and learning during the pandemic is well-recognised by awarding him as one of the “Taylor’s Distinguished e-Learning Educator (DeE) Class of 2021”.

Associate Professor Dr Logendra Ponniah

Education for All Impact Lab Director

logendrastanley.ponniah@taylors.edu.my

Education and Dr. Logendra Ponniah are synonymous as he has been rooted in the field of education driven from his passion for teaching and learning. He was one of the pioneers in teaching and learning at Taylor’s and obtained his Bachelor of Science (Mathematics), University of North Alabama, United States, followed by a Master Of Education, Deakin University, Australia and further to his PhD in Education from International Islamic University of Malaysia.

Before the establishment of the School of Education where he is currently the Head of School, he initiated and led the centre of teaching and learning at Taylor's College and Taylor’s University for over 3 decades ago. Through the years, he has been actively involved in research and has been involved in numerous grants and research projects such as Theory of Situated Indigenous Literacy and Numeracy Practices, the waterfront settlements in Malaysia project, Techno-pedagogical knowledge to name a few. Through such projects, he is in touch at ground level on the situations and challenges faced by various communities.

Through the years, driven by the purpose of making change, he developed various innovative teaching and learning strategies to enhance academic performance in student learning and knowledge transfer to educators in order to make shifts in their teaching repertoire. He has initiated curriculum designs and fostered service learning in collaboration with government and non-governmental organisations touching lives of all strata’s of society. He believes that with access to quality education, the impossible becomes possible. 

Dr Momoko Hue Chi Yin

Mental Health and Well-being Impact Lab Deputy Director

chiyin.hue@taylors.edu.my

Hue Chi Yin is an accomplished educational psychologist with over 7 years of experience in tertiary education teaching. She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and currently serves as a psychology lecturer at Taylor's University Lakeside Campus.

With a focus on teaching, research, and training, Hue has actively participated in various research projects related to cognitive executive functioning, music training, technology in learning and teaching, and students with learning disabilities.

She is also a certified (Human Resources Development Fund) HRDF trainer, demonstrating her commitment to professional development.

Hue is a co-founder of the Malaysia Educational Psychology Society (MEPS) and has served as its president in 2022. MEPS is a professional organisation that promotes the advancement of education and educational psychology in Malaysia.

Hue's passion for education is evident through her development of a music-based app to enhance the working memory performance of students. Her innovative approach to teaching and learning has received recognition, and she has received several awards for her research, including the first-runner award in the social science category of the 2022 National Level 3 Minute Thesis competition and a silver award in the International University Carnival of E-Learning (IUCEL).

Dr Neo Yun Ping

Food Security and Nutrition Impact Lab Deputy Director

yunping.neo@taylors.edu.my

Dr Neo is currently the Food Security & Nutrition Impact Lab Deputy Director and the Programme Director of Food Science Bachelor, School of Biosciences, Taylor’s University.

As an academic, she focuses on designing and implementing active learning activities through multidisciplinary and collaborative networked platform. She is currently facilitating multidisciplinary as well as industry-based projects by working with companies such as Novozymes and Kawan Food. Neo aims to making exciting advances in food science by considering some of the big issues such as food security, reduction of food waste, food sustainability, and creation of healthier tastier foods.

She has given several invited talks at international conferences on topics related to electrospinning nanofabrication techniques and alternative protein sources. Her research areas include food contact material, food nanotechnology, food hydrocolloids and development of functional food, which she has secured a few humble research grants. She lives her purpose by working on real-world projects that could gain insights into industry operations in food science and contributing potential solutions that solve the food crisis problem through her research outcomes.

She authored/co-authored various peer reviewed publications as chapters in books or articles in international journals. She is also in the editorial board for Frontiers in Nutrition (Food Chemistry), and appointed as a co-opted council member of Malaysian Institute of Food Technology (MIFT) since 2020.

Professor Dr Ong Kian Ming

Digital Economy and Business Transformation Impact Lab Director

kianming.ong@taylors.edu.my

Professor Dr. Ong Kian-Ming is Program Director, Philosophy Politics & Economics, at Taylor’s University, Malaysia.

He is a Senior Visiting Senior Fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute from March 2023 to September 2023.

He is a former two-term Member of Parliament (MP) in Malaysia from 2013 to 2022 (MP for Serdang from 2013 to 2018 and MP for Bangi from 2018 to 2022) representing the Democratic Action Party (DAP). He was the Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI) from July 2018 to February 2020.

He was a former Fulbright Scholar and holds a PhD in Political Science from Duke University, an MPhil in Economics from the University of Cambridge, and a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics. Prior to his political life, he was formerly a lecturer at UCSI University, a researcher at the Socio-Economic Development and Research (SEDAR) Institute and the Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Studies (INSAP) and a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in the Kuala Lumpur office.

He was an ASEAN Scholar in Singapore and completed his “O” and “A” levels in Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College respectively. He attended primary and secondary school in La Salle Petaling Jaya, Selangor. 

He enjoys jogging, watching movies, and listening to podcasts in his spare time.

Ir Dr Phang Swee King

Digital Innovation and Smart Society Impact Lab Deputy Director

sweeking.phang@taylors.edu.my

Education and Dr. Logendra Ponniah are synonymous as he has been rooted in the field of education driven from his passion for teaching and learning. He was one of the pioneers in teaching and learning at Taylor’s and obtained his Bachelor of Science (Mathematics), University of North Alabama, United States, followed by a Master Of Education, Deakin University, Australia and further to his PhD in Education from International Islamic University of Malaysia.

Before the establishment of the School of Education where he is currently the Head of School, he initiated and led the centre of teaching and learning at Taylor's College and Taylor’s University for over 3 decades ago. Through the years, he has been actively involved in research and has been involved in numerous grants and research projects such as Theory of Situated Indigenous Literacy and Numeracy Practices, the waterfront settlements in Malaysia project, Techno-pedagogical knowledge to name a few. Through such projects, he is in touch at ground level on the situations and challenges faced by various communities.

Through the years, driven by the purpose of making change, he developed various innovative teaching and learning strategies to enhance academic performance in student learning and knowledge transfer to educators in order to make shifts in their teaching repertoire. He has initiated curriculum designs and fostered service learning in collaboration with government and non-governmental organisations touching lives of all strata’s of society. He believes that with access to quality education, the impossible becomes possible. 

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 Deputy Director

prema.ponnudurai@taylors.edu.my

Prema Ponnudurai is the Deputy 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’.

Professor Dr Seyyed Mostafa Rasoolimanesh

Sustainable Tourism Impact Lab Director

mostafa.rasoolimanesh@taylors.edu.my

S. Mostafa Rasoolimanesh is the Director of Sustainable Tourism Impact Lab, and Head of Research for the Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management, in Taylor's University. Mostafa is a passionate educator and researcher and his aspiration is to do impactful activities for society and community. Due to this aspiration, always “Sustainability” and “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” have been his moto and direction on his academic activities.  He led the Centre for Research and Innovation in Tourism (CRiT) for past two years, and with his team has organized several activities on “Sustainable Tourism” and “Tourism and SDGs” including two successful CRiT Summer School.

Dr. Mostafa’s research interest areas contain sustainable tourism, heritage tourism, community participation, residents’ perceptions, and urban sustainability. He has secured and participated in several national grants on sustainability and in one of his grants, he with his colleagues developed “Sustainable Tourism Index”, which can be an effective tool to measure and monitor sustainable tourism in urban destinations in Malaysia. He has published more than 120 articles in refereed journals including high impact journals such as Tourism Management, Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, and International Journal of Contemporaneity Hospitality Management among others.

Mostafa is an editorial board member of more than 20 reputed tourism and hospitality journals such as Journal of Sustainable Tourism, International Journal of Tourism Research, International Journal of Contemporaneity Hospitality Management, Tourism Management Perspectives, Journal of Destination Marketing and Management, and Journal of Heritage Tourism. He serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology and Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, and Regional Editor Asia for the Service Industries Journal and  International Journal of Tourism Policy. Dr. Mostafa has edited and published several special issues on “Tourism and SDGs” for top tier tourism journals and several books on different tourism and hospitality topics.  

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 Tang Yin Quan

Medical Advancement for Better Quality of Life Impact Lab Deputy Director

yinquan.tang@taylors.edu.my

Dr Tang Yin Quan is currently the Deputy Director of Impact Lab - Medical Advancement for better quality of life and senior lecturer from School of Biosciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Taylor’s University.

Prior to joining the Faculty, Yin Quan has accumulated four years of postdoctoral experience in multidisciplinary research fields including cancer theragnostics, regenerative medicine, medical pharmacology, genetic engineering, bioinformatics, virology, and cardiovascular biology, at the University of Malaya, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (U.S.) and ICGEB (Italy).

Being a biomedical scientist more than 10 years, Yin-Quan’s research interest is quite wide-ranging under the general umbrella of biomedical sciences with the aim to develop advanced diagnostic tools and new therapeutic strategies to find new ways to cure or treat human diseases. However, his main interests are using bioinformatics approaches for anti-cancer drug discovery.

He lives his purpose through collaborative projects with different national and international institutes like University of Malaya (Malaysia), Sunway University (Malaysia), Monash University Malaysia, ICGEB (Italy), Mae Fah Luang University (Thailand). His projects are currently sponsored by MOHE-FRGS, MAKNA (Majlis Kanser Nasional) and MTSF (Malaysia Toray Science Foundation).

Associate Professor Dr Veronica Ng Foong Peng

Liveable Urban Communities Impact Lab Director

foongpeng.ng@taylors.edu.my

Veronica is currently the Liveable Urban Communities Impact Lab Director and the Head of School of Architecture, Building and Design (SABD), Taylor’s University. Being in the academia for more than 15 years, Veronica’s purpose, as an educator, is to use empathetic design thinking to deliver impactful learning beyond the four walls of the “classroom”. In seeking to bridge between education, practice and research, she curated and led several distinctive collaborative projects in collaboration with Better Ctiies, YTL, Shalini Ganendra Advisory, and Vernadoc Malaysia.

Veronica is a researcher and a writer. Anchored by her PhD thesis titled “Re-thinking Place”, her research focusses on the notion of place and place-making, and contemporary Malaysian architecture. She received several humble research grants to study small villages in Malaysia. She authors books and contributes to architecture magazines. Her active role in the Malaysian Institute of Architects through the Education, Media and Publication committees has landed her numerous appointments as convenor and moderator of international and national events. She is currently engaged in the institutional initiative on purpose learning, while engaging in research grants on socio-spatial framework for temporary migrant worker housing in Malaysia, urban resilience in relation to flood disasters in Kuantan, developing design pedagogy framework for post-covid architecture education and conceptualising participatory community engagement in architecture.

Professor Dr Yeong Chai Hong

Medical Advancement for Better Quality of Life Impact Lab Director

chaihong.yeong@taylors.edu.my

Dr. Yeong is a medical physicist, a certified Radiation Protection Officer and a Professor at the School of Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Taylor’s University.

She is the current President of the South-East Asia Federation of Organizations for Medical Physics (SEAFOMP) 2022-2025, and Vice President of the Malaysian Association of Medical Physics (MAMP). She is also the Chair of the Medical Physics World Board, International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP) 2022-2025, and Chair of the Professional Relations Committee of the Asia-Oceania Federation of Organizations for Medical Physics (AFOMP) 2019-2022.

She has more than 14 years of teaching and research experience in the fields of medical physics and radiology. She has supervised 2 post-doctoral fellows, 8 PhD students, 3 MSc students, and more than 45 clinical Master’s projects. Her research teams have won several local and international awards, including the most recent Medical Grand Challenge 2022 (Second Prize) and Engineering Grand Challenge 2021 (First Prize) in Singapore. To date, she has published more than 70 peer-reviewed journal papers, 2 academic books, 2 book chapters, and she currently owns 4 patents to her name. She also serves as a reviewer for multiple world renowned journals. 

Her contribution in medical physics has led her to be the first South-East Asian who received the prestigious IUPAP Young Scientist Award in 2021. She was also the first Malaysian who received the SEAFOMP Young Leaders Award in 2017. In 2019, she was presented the President’s Award by Taylor’s University in recognition of her outstanding contribution in research and innovation.

Associate Professor Dr Wan Puspa Melati

Eradicating Poverty Impact Lab Deputy Director

wanmelati.wanah@taylors.edu.my

Wan Puspa Melati is the Deputy Director for Eradicating Poverty Impact Lab and the Head of the Department at the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences (SLAS), Taylor’s University, Malaysia.

Identifies herself as a Clinical Sociologist and passionate about the community, Wan Puspa Melati has worked with both local and international NGOs as well as managed grassroots empowerment programmes for various target groups. This includes community work with children of low-income households, single mothers, abused women and children, high-risk youths, transgendered individuals, senior citizens as well as the Deaf community.

She has also led national and international research grants as well as published in these areas. She is the Honorary Secretary of the Malaysian Social Science Association. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology and Anthropology from International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). She completed her MSc in Sociology from the University of Oxford, UK (Oxford) and her BA in Sociology and Psychology from the University of San Francisco, US (USF). She is also the regional representative for International Sociological Association Research Committee for Clinical Sociology (RC-46).

Melati has recently published a book entitled "Clinical Sociology: Moving from Theory to Practice" by Springer International through which she champions the need for sociologists to engage in applied work and work collaboratively with other experts to ensure impactful effort in the community.