Speakers (Monash Malaysia)

Associate Professor Dr Mohd. Rushdan bin Mohd. Jailani Deputy Director, Center For Leadership, Higher Education Leadership Academy (AKEPT), Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia

Mohd Rushdan Mohd Jailani is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Leadership and Management, USIM. His area of specialization is Islamic Thought and Spirituality. Currently, he is Deputy Director, Centre for Academic Leadership (CAL) at the Higher Education Leadership Academy (AKEPT). Prior to this, he was Dean at USIM’s Faculty of Leadership and Management and Director for Asian Centre for Research on Drug Abuse (ACREDA), USIM. He contributed extensively to the writing of a chapter on Developing and Sustaining Leadership Excellence, in MOHE’s University Transformation Programme (UniTP) Playbook on Strengthening Academic Career Pathways and Leadership Development. He is also directly involved in conducting several academic leadership development training programmes at AKEPT and universities.

Professor Sureswaran Ramadass Professor Emeritus, Malaysia University of Science and Technology; IPv6 Chair, MYREN/ Emeritus Chair, Asia Pacific Advanced Network (APAN)

Professor Sureswaran Ramadass is the Emeritus Chair of APAN (Asia Pacific Advanced Network). He is also a Visiting Professor at the International University of Malaya Wales (IUMW) and Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of NLTVC Sdn Bhd. Prior to this, he was the founding Director and Professor at the National Advanced IPv6 Centre of Excellence (NAV6), Universiti Sains Malaysia. Prof Sureswaran’s academic contributions are vast and have attracted numerous academic and research ventures. He has published research papers in over 200 international and national level journals, research conferences and research presentations. Besides that, he has also chaired numerous international conferences and has reviewed papers for over 30 international and national level publications. He has also received over 40 International and National level awards for Innovation.

Dr Viswanathan Selvaratnam Former Higher Education Specialist, The World Bank

Viswanathan Selvaratnam was formerly the Director of the Regional Institute of Higher Education & Development in Singapore and a Higher Education Specialist at The World Bank. He has taught at the Faculty of Economics and Public Administration, University of Malaya and briefly at the National University of Singapore. He has authored and co-authored various publications such as 'From Dependence to Autonomy: The Development of Asian Universities', ‘Innovation in Higher Education: The Singapore Experience’ and ‘Higher Education in the Arab Republic of Yemen.’

Professor Dr. Glenda Crosling Head, Centre for Higher Education Research, Sunway University

Professor Glenda Crosling is currently the Head of the Centre for Higher Education Research at Sunway University, and previously Dean of Academic Enhancement, with responsibility for enhancing the quality of curriculum, teaching and learning, the student experience and student learning outcomes. Prior to this appointment, she was Director of Education Quality and Innovation at Monash University Malaysia. She has researched and published widely, and in her current role, promotes and engages in scholarly educational research including on topics such as managing student diversity and international higher education.

Dr Mahaletchumy Arujanan Executive Director, Malaysian Biotech Information Centre (MABIC)

Dr Mahaletchumy Arujanan is the Executive Director of Malaysian Biotechnology Information Centre (MABIC) and Editor-in-Chief of The Petri Dish ¬– the first science newspaper in Malaysia. She has a degree in Biochemistry and Microbiology from Universiti Putra Malaysia, Masters in Biotechnology and PhD in science communication from University of Malaya. Maha is listed as the world’s 100 most influential people in biotechnology by Scientific American Worldview 2015. She is actively involved in promoting public understanding of biotechnology locally and internationally including policies, regulations, ethics, religion and education. Maha sits on the National Bioethics Council, is a trainer for BiotechCorp and the Industry Cluster of Excellence (Ministry of Higher Education) which gives career guidance to graduates. She is an Adjunct Lecturer at Monash University Malaysia. Maha is a recipient of 2010 TWAS Regional Prize for Public Understanding of Science for East, Southeast Asia and Pacific Region and is also listed as a speaker on the Economic Bureau Biotechnology Outreach Fund under the US State Department Economic Bureau Agriculture Policy Office.

Dr Aliimran Nordin Research Fellow, Institute of Visual Informatics, UKM

Dr Aliimran Nordin is a research fellow at the Institute of Visual Informatics (IVI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. His research interests focus generally on Human Computer Interaction and in particular, player experience in digital games: the immersive experience in gaming. He received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of York, United Kingdom. During his PhD, he worked with Dr. Paul Cairns, a reader at the Department of Computer Science, the University of York and conducted several studies to investigate whether immersion whilst gaming alters player perception of time. Currently, his research projects focus on modelling users’ time perception while engaging with entertainment technologies such as digital games, films, and music. At the same time, he is working on understanding empowerment through engagement in digital games for paediatric cancer patients in Malaysia. He is now exploring on how digital games and gamification can be used in medical environment. He is also a member for several research projects that apply gamification such as “Visualisation based-Fusion Technologies through vison and mobile devices for Integrating Computational Thinking with English Across STEM (i-COMEL) to enhance open data readiness”, “Gamification of Mobile Application to Raise Public Awareness on Antibiotic Resistance” and “Development of games to increase awareness on bullying amongst school children”.

Dr Daniel Tan Chief Operating Officer, Advanced Global Innovations for Learning Excellence Sdn. Bhd. (AGILE)

Dr Daniel Tan is currently the Chief Operating Officer of the Advanced Global Innovations for Learning Excellence Sdn. Bhd. (AGILE) Malaysia. AGILE promote excellence in learning practices and technologies for the corporate and education community in Malaysia. It was established to understand and harness the opportunities to respond to the VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complex and Ambiguous) world of Industry 4.0, with rapid shifts and changes of expectations in: - a) education (new socio-constructive pedagogies); b) workforce (Gen Y, Z and alpha); c) workplace (collaborative, transnational, diverse, global); d) technology (AI, IoT, robotics, etc).His technical interests cover educational technology and infrastructure design, learning science, Internet and ICT security, cloud technologies, human factors design and usability. Previously, as Director of CELT (Centre for Excellence in Learning & Teaching) at the Nanyang Technological University, he led a team to develop and implement an eLearning campus eco-system. This environment, comprising a holistic approach towards learning and teaching supported by system design, learning platform, and server architecture had resulted in a paradigm shift of student learning culture and new pedagogies on campus. Dr Tan was conferred The Public Administration Medal (Silver) at the Singapore National Day Awards 2007 for his outstanding contributions to advancing the quality of educational development, instructional and media support services, student learning and professional teaching in the University as well as the educational community on a national level.

Professor Ganakumaran Subramaniam Head of School, School of Education, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus

Ganakumaran Subramaniam is the Head of School and Professor at the School of Education, University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus. He is the President of the Malaysian English Language Teaching Association and Vice President of AsiaTEFL. He holds a B.Ed. in TESL from Universiti Putra Malaysia. He read for his Master’s and Ph.D. at the University of Nottingham, UK, and is a recipient of the Fulbright Award. Prior to joining the University of Nottingham, he served as Deputy Director and Acting Director of International Relations at the National University of Malaysia. He has consulted on the Malaysian Ministry of Education advisory panels for curriculum, textbook selection and examinations. He was also a consultant for the National Trust School programme and the national literacy development programme (LINUS). In 2012, he was appointed as a member of the Malaysian Council for English Language Quality and Standards. He is a Fulbright Scholar with attachments in New York, Washington and New Mexico, USA. He is currently the Executive Director of the Bangladesh College Education Development Project (2016-2021). This project funded by the Government of Bangladesh and the World Bank is aimed at improving the quality and standards of the higher education sector in Bangladesh by training higher education college lecturers/teachers, principals, future leaders, managers and policy makers.