QS Higher Ed Pre-Summit: Asia Pacific 2024

Prof. Dato’ Mohd Ekhwan Hj. Toriman graduated with a Ph.D in Environmental Hydrology, Water Quality Modelling & Geographical Information System (GIS) application from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK. He specialises in environment hydrology, river modelling and GIS Application. He was recipient of multiple awards throughout his career and his most recent of which was an award to acknowledge his Contribution to Society – The Asia HRD Award 2022. Prof. Dato’ Toriman was former Deputy Director General (Academic and Development) Department of Higher Education in the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia before taking on his current role as Vice Chancellor in the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Professor Edward Peck joined Nottingham Trent University as Vice-Chancellor in August 2014. The university educates around 40,000 students from a wide range of backgrounds and employs circa 5,000 staff across six campuses. Previously, he worked at the University of Birmingham as Pro Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Social Sciences. His academic interests encompassed public policy and organisational leadership; he is a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences.

Professor Peck is Deputy Chair of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). He was a member of the UK Government’s Post-18 Fees and Funding – aka Augar – Review Panel. In May 2022 he was appointed as the Department for Education’s initial Higher Education Student Support Champion and is currently chairing the Ministerial Taskforce on Student Mental Health.

In July 2020 he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire and was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours List for Services to Higher Education.

A former civil servant with over 33 years in the Government, she has held various portfolios under six different ministers, most notably in higher education and science, technology and innovation.

Datuk Dr Siti played an instrumental role in overseeing the rollout of the National Immunization Programme (PICK) as the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), which was mandated to implement PICK in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MOH). Under her leadership, the national vaccination programme exceeded expectations by inoculating at least 80% of the adult population in Malaysia by September 2021.

In 2019, Datuk Dr Siti was appointed as the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change (MESTECC), where she led the policy development and strategic management in science, technology and innovation as well as the environment and climate change.

Datuk Dr Siti is also known for her service as the Director-General of the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) from 2017 to 2019. She played a crucial role in the implementation of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015 – 2025, where she contributed key initiatives such as the introduction of the Integrated Cumulative Grade Point Average (iCGPA), the CEO@Faculty programme and the 2u2i programme, among others. During her stint as Director-General, Datuk Dr Siti also introduced Malaysian Quality Evaluation System for Private Colleges, also known as the MyQuest rating system, to evaluate and subsequently improve the performance of private higher education institutions of college status in Malaysia. Prior to that, she served as the Deputy Director-General for both public and private universities at MOHE from 2009 to 2017.

Diploma in Civil Engineering in Institute Teknologi Mara; Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the New England College in the United States; Master’s Degree in Engineering at the University of Lowell in Massachusetts, PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Leeds in 1994.

lecturer at University Technology Malaysia (UTM) in 1987. Her interest and dedication to the field led to her appointment as a Dean, and subsequently Deputy-Vice Chancellor in charge of academic matters and internalization at UTM.

Novie previously was the CEO of The Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA) and brought with him a wealth of experience in the education industry and commercial. Before MICPA, Novie served as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of EMGS and as a Director, Strategy & Engagement for Yayasan Peneraju, an agency under the Prime Minister’s office. Novie has been appointed as the Education Committee Member of MARA since 2020. He was conferred as Adjunct Professor by UNITAR International University in January 2022 and appointed as the Ambassador for Faculty of Accountancy, UiTM recently.

On the commercial side, he used to be the Regional Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Getronics Asia Pacific & Japan (Dutch Company) which oversaw operations globally including SEAs, India, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. He held key positions in various entities such as Abeam Consulting (Japanese Company), The IA Group, MIMOS Berhad and the Board of Director of Technology Park Malaysia (TPM) (2017-2020).

He holds a Bachelor in Accounting and Finance (Hons) from De Montfort University, Leicester, UK and a Diploma in Accountancy (UiTM). He is a member of Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) and Fellow member of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

With over 26 years of experience in General Management, Accounting & Finance, Operations, Business Development, Strategic Planning & Strategic Engagement and also in IT, Consulting & Outsourcing industry, Novie is well-versed in the area of Planning, Strategy, Engagement, Business Process, Financial Planning & Analysis, Accounting, HR & Payroll outsourcing. Novie brings unique composition of experience in multi-nationals and local conglomerates.

Datuk Muhammad Azmi Zulkifli is the Chief Executive Officer of InvestKL.

In his current role as Chief Executive Officer, he leads the teams to identify, facilitate, and develop solutions for MNCs to locate their high-value regional hubs in Greater KL and Malaysia. The focus sectors include oil & gas, healthcare, FMCG, business and financial services. To date, the InvestKL team led by Datuk Muhammad Azmi has successfully brought in more than 130 MNCs to set up regional headquarters or hubs within Greater KL.

He joined InvestKL in 2012 as Director of Investor Relations for Europe.

Prior to InvestKL, he has over 16 years of experience in leadership and management positions spanning commercial business, business transformation and operations with MISC Berhad, a subsidiary of Petronas. He participated in MISC’s business transformation initiatives and was part of a leadership team to re-engineer, develop and commission a global ICT system throughout MISC offices globally.

Datuk Muhammad Azmi holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Marketing) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA. Azmi has attended Petronas Management Training programs as well as participated in several Executive Management programs under Harvard Business School and Dale Carnegie Training.

Si-Zhao Joe Qin, Ph.D., is President of Lingnan University in Hong Kong and was Acting Dean and Chair Professor of Data Science at City University of Hong Kong. He served on the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin and University of Southern California (USC) for 24 years. Qin is the recipient of the U.S. National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Northrop Grumman Best Teaching Award at USC Viterbi School of Engineering, IEEE CSS Transition to Practice Award, AIChE CAST Computing Award, and IFAC Best Paper Prize. He holds over a dozen U.S. patents that have been commercially practiced by four U.S. companies. He has published around 400 peer-reviewed journal or conference articles, book chapters, and plenary, keynote, or regular conference talks, and has a SCOPUS h-index of 73. Qin is a Fellow of US National Academy of Inventors, AIChE, IEEE, and International Federation of Automatic Control.

Professor Aaron Thean is Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Provost at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He is also Director of the National Research Foundation’s SHINE centre, a next-generation microelectronics research facility, and the A*STAR SIMTech–NUS Joint Laboratory for Large-Area Flexible Hybrid Electronics.

Aaron received multiple accolades in recognition of his research excellence in the microelectronics field, including the 2014 Compound Semiconductor Industry Innovation Award for his research group’s breakthrough work in III-V finFETs and the 2001 Gregory Stillman Semiconductor Research Award for his PhD work. In 2016, he joined NUS under the prestigious Returning Singapore Scientists scheme. In 2018, he was the Director of Applied Materials-NUS Corporate Laboratory for Advanced Materials. He served as Dean of NUS Faculty of Engineering from 2019 and was the Founding Dean of NUS College of Design and Engineering from 2022 to 2023. Known for his translational research in state-of-the-art semiconductor technologies, Aaron also holds more than 50 US patents.

Before joining NUS, he was Vice President of Logic Technologies at IMEC, where he forged partnerships with the industry’s foremost companies such as Intel, Apple and Samsung, and directed R&D operations in areas such as materials research, process technology and system-technology co-design.

Professor Tao Tang obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Peking University in 1984, followed by a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Leeds in 1989. He was the Dean of Science and Associate Vice-President of Hong Kong Baptist University, the Vice-President and Provost of the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech). From 2019 to present, he has been the President of Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College (UIC).

Professor Tang was widely known for his expertise in the fields of computational mathematics and computational fluid dynamics. He was awarded the Leslie Fox Prize in Numerical Analysis, the Feng Kang Prize for Scientific Computing, the Natural Science Award by the Ministry of Education of China, and the National Natural Science Award of China. In 2018, he was invited to deliver an invited lecture at the International Congress of Mathematicians.

Professor Tang was elected as a Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2017 and a Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences in 2022. He was also elected as a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society (AMS), and a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM).

Professor Shoichiro Iwakiri was born in 1959 in Japan. He acquired his master’s degree in literature from the University of Tokyo Graduate School, and DEA from the Université Paris 7.

His specialty is modern and contemporary French poetry and drama. His research is focused especially on Baudelaire (19^th century French poet). He published a monography on him (Chrysalis and Imago : poetics of Baudelaire, Shinsui Editions, Japan, 2006, 382 pages (in Japanese)) and many refereed articles on poetry, drama and literature in general.

He has translated more than 20 French classic and contemporary plays from Racine to Yasmina Reza, and is also a poet.

He started teaching at ICU as assistant professor in 1996 and became professor in 2007.

Prior to becoming President in 2020, he was Assistant Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Director of the Admissions Center and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts.

Shalendra D. Sharma is the Lee Shau Kee Foundation Chair Professor of Political Science. A political-economist by training, Sharma is the author of: Prosperity with Inequality: A Comparative Political Economy of the United States, China and India (New York: Cambridge University Press 2018); Global Financial Contagion: The Great Recession and the World Economy (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013); China and India in the Age of Globalization (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009), which was the winner of the 2010 Alpha Sigma Nu Book Award; Achieving Economic Development in the Era of Globalization (Routledge, 2007); The Asian Financial Crisis: Meltdown, Reform and Recovery (Manchester University Press, 2003); Democracy and Development in India (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1999), which won the Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 1999; and editor of Asia in the New Millennium: Geopolitics, Security and Foreign Policy (Institute of East Asian Studies, UC Berkeley, 2000).

Professor Michael K. Hui obtained his BBA (First Class Honors) from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 1980, his CAAE from IAE Aix-en-Provence in 1983, and his PhD from London Business School in 1988. Prior to joining the University of Macau, Professor Hui was Head of the Department of Marketing and Choh-Ming Li Professor of Marketing at the CUHK. Professor Hui joined the CUHK as an Associate Professor in 1996 after holding academic appointments at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (1994–1996) and Concordia University in Canada (1989–1996). At the CUHK, he was promoted to the rank of Professor in 1999 and to the rank of Chair Professor in 2004. Concurrent with his professorial appointments, Professor Hui has also served as Associate Dean and Director of BBA programme of the Faculty of Business Administration (1999–2002), Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor (2004–2008), and Pro-Vice-Chancellor/Vice-President (2009–2017) during his twenty-three years of services at the CUHK.

Professor Hui’s teaching and research interests include services marketing, consumer behavior, and cross-cultural marketing. His articles have appeared in many top-ranked journals, including, among others, the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of International Business Studies, and Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. One of his early papers (Hui and Bateson, 1991) has been widely recognized as the first services marketing paper published by the Journal of Consumer Research, one of the top journals in the field of marketing. Another paper, co-authored by Professor Hui and three colleagues (Hui, Zhao, Fan, and Au, 2004) is the first ever article published by the Journal of Consumer Research by an author who is affiliated with a business school in Mainland China. He is currently an Editorial Review Board member of the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Psychology and Marketing, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, and Journal of Business Research. After Professor Hui was appointed an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Retailing in 2003, on three occasions he was awarded the Outstanding Reviewer Award.

Professor Hui has taught in every major business program including the BBA, MBA, EMBA and PhD. The quality of his teaching is evidenced by the number of teaching awards he won at the CUHK, such as the first Outstanding Teacher Award presented by the CUHK Business School in 2003 and the campus-wide Vice-Chancellor Exemplary Teaching Award in 2004.

Professor Hui has rendered consultancy and training services to many public and private organizations in Hong Kong and beyond. He is also active in community services and is currently the chairperson of the Consumer Relations Panel appointed by the Tourism Commission of HKSAR, a member of the Board of Governors of Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, and a member of the Insurance Appeals Tribunal of Hong Kong. Between 2012 and 2017, he served as a member of the Hong Kong Consumer Council and spokesperson of Choice magazine, the Council’s flagship publication. In 2017, he was awarded the Medal of Honor by the Hong Kong SAR Government for his contributions to the local community, especially in the area of consumer education and protection.

Chulathida Chomchai is a Professor of Pediatrics and is the dean of Mahidol University International College since October 2018 – present. She is also an adjunct instructor in Pediatrics and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital since 2010-present. Prof. Chulathida served as MUIC-SGU Doctor of Medicine Pathway Liaison since 2012-present and assistant dean for research from 2010-2014.

Tim Dunne is Provost & Senior Vice-President at the University of Surrey.  In collaboration with the Executive Deans and Institute Directors, he has responsibility for the institution’s academic performance.  Additionally, he has been the change lead in the research and innovation portfolio, and currently has line-management of the Surrey’s on-line learning strategy.  Prior to his move to Surrey, Tim had a number of leadership roles at The University of Queensland (UQ), including Deputy Provost.  He is recognised for his research on human rights protection and foreign policy-making in a changing world order.  He has written and co-edited fourteen books, including Terror in our Time (2012), The Globalization of International Society (2017), and The Rise of the International (2023 in press).  He is an elected Fellow of the Academic of Social Sciences, Australia and holds an Emeritus Professorship at The University of Queensland.

Satoshi INABA was born in Saitama, Japan in 1969. He received Bachelor’s degree (1993), Master’s degree (1995), and Ph.D. (1999) in Applied Physics from Tokyo Institute of Technology. He spent three years (1999-2002) as a JSPS overseas research fellow and a postdoctoral researcher at Carnegie Institution of Washington, and three years (2002-2005) as a JSPS Research Fellow at Tokyo Institute of Technology and Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille. He joined the School of International Liberal Studies at Waseda University in 2005, where he is now a Professor and the Dean of the school. His prime research interest has been in the formation of stars and planets. His recent interests include chemical reactions in aqueous solution and the origin of life. 

Mingming Leng is the Chair Professor of Computing and Decision Sciences and the Dean of the Faculty of Business. He also served the University as the Head of Department of Computing and Decision Sciences in August 2014–August 2017, the Founding Director of the Doctor of Business Administration in Global Digital Economy and Governance Programme (January–August 2021), and the Founding Director of the Master of Science Programme in eBusiness and Supply Chain management at Lingnan University (August 2015–August 2017).

Professor Leng holds a Ph.D. degree in Management Science/System from McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business, Canada. His research interests are centered on game theory (with a focus on cooperative game theory), operations and supply chain management, and interface between operations and other disciplines. Professor Leng has published over 50 papers in top-tier or highly-respected journals such as Management Science, Operations Research, Production and Operations Management, Naval Research Logistics, IISE Transactions, and others. Moreover, he has obtained a number of General Research Fund (GRF) grants from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC).

Professor Leng is an RGC Council member and also serves the RGC Business Studies Panel (Joint Research Schemes) as a panel member. He has contributed to the National Natural Science Foundation of China as an assessor for a variety of research grants schemes. Professor Leng is also a member in the Editorial Review Board of Production and Operations Management. In addition to academic experiences, he has five years working experience in industry.

Professor Abhi Veerakumarasivam is a geneticist, educator and science communicator. Before taking on his current role as the Provost of Sunway University, he was the Dean of the School of Medical and Life Sciences. His research in genetics involves the elucidation of components of the regulatory pathways that drive tumour recurrence and invasion.

He also currently chairs the International Network for Government Science Advice Asia that aims to support the use of scientific evidence in informing policy at all levels of government; including pandemic/crises responses. He also co-chairs the ASEAN Young Scientists Network that represents top young scientists in the region who not only demonstrate academic excellence but also contribute towards nation-building through STEM promotion and advocacy. He sits on various national and regional science and educational policy committees and has co-authored various policy papers and reports. He co-initiated and led Malaysia’s first nationwide programme on Responsible Conduct of Research.

Professor William Hayward is Chair Professor of Psychology and Dean of Social Sciences at Lingnan University. He has a BA and MA from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and a PhD in Psychology from Yale University. He has held academic positions at the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Auckland, and the University of Wollongong. Professor Hayward’s research focuses on how we achieve understanding of the world around us through our use of visual information; in particular, he measures both behaviour and neural activity in response to faces and objects, and to shifts of visual attention. He is Associate Editor of the British Journal of Psychology and was formerly the Associate Editor of Visual Cognition. His research has been published in leading international journals such as Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Psychological Science, Cerebral Cortex, Nature Neuroscience, and the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance.

Wan Kamal Mujani has 30 years of experience in academic fields such as History and Islamic Civilization, Muslim Historiography and Arabic Texts and Sources in Islamic History. His main research interest has been in the areas of Islamic Historiography and Economic History in the Middle East, Levant & Mediterranean. Wan Kamal received a degree (B.A Hons.) from al-Azhar (Egypt), a M.A from The National University of Malaysia and a Ph.D. in Economic History from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Currently, he is actively conducting research on Muslim Contemporaries such as Muslim Middle Class, Dinar Coins and Currency, Extremism and Terrorism, Moderation/Wasatiyyah, The Bottom 40, Arab Spring, Waqf for Higher Education, Federalism in Malaysia, Sharia Index, Sustainable Well-being Society and Crypto Currency.

Professor Dato’ Dr. Norazah Mohd. Nordin is currently a Deputy Vice Chancellor of Industrial Network and Community Affairs and she was the Dean of the Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Her research areas include Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC), Mobile Learning, ICT in Lifelong Learning, and Instructional Design in Online Learning and Futuristic Learning. Her current projects are the development of MOOCs, Learning Design in the 4th Industrial Revolution, the 4IR Cross-Creative Learning Innovation for Autism and Learning Spaces. She is an active member of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Lifelong Learning Hub, representing Malaysia for Research Network 1, ICT Culture. Presently, she is an Editorial Board Member of The Internet and Higher Education, an Elsevier Journal, a Q1 in the Web of Science.

Professor Kevin Dunn is Pro Vice-Chancellor Research (2019-) and Professor in Human Geography and Urban Studies (2008-) at Western Sydney University. He was the Dean of the School of Social Sciences & Psychology at Western (2011-19). He is responsible for global rankings, research quality, systems, research infrastructure and research integrity. He leads the national Challenging Racism Project based from Western, delivering impactful research that has underpinned national racism strategies, as well as award winning interventions. His research has highlighted the culturally and spatially uneven distribution of citizenship in Australia.

Dr Nigel Healey is Professor of International Higher Education and Vice President (Global and Community Engagement) at the University of Limerick. He is currently serving as Interim Provost and Deputy President. Prior to his appointment at the University of Limerick in April 2020, he held senior academic positions at Fiji National University, Nottingham Trent University, the University of Canterbury and Manchester Metropolitan University, as well as teaching positions at the University of Leicester and Leeds Beckett University.

Dr Healey has served as an economic policy advisor to the prime minister of Belarus and the deputy minister of economy of the Russian Federation and managed a number of multinational research and economic development projects in Europe and Asia. His current research interests are in the internationalization of higher education, transnational education and higher education policy and management.

Professor Joshua Mok Ka-ho is the Vice-President and concurrently Lam Man Tsan Chair Professor of Comparative Policy of Lingnan University. Professor Mok is no narrow disciplinary specialist but has worked creatively across the academic worlds of sociology, political science, and public and social policy while building up his wide knowledge of China and the region. He has published extensively in the fields of comparative education policy, comparative development and policy studies, and social development in contemporary China and East Asia. In particular, he has contributed to the field of social change and education policy in a variety of ways, not the least of which has been his leadership and entrepreneurial approach to the organisation of the field. His recent published works have focused on comparative social development and social policy responses in the Greater China region and East Asia. 

Dr. Marcia B. France earned her S.B. in chemistry from MIT, where she did research under 2001 and 2022 Nobel Laureate K. Barry Sharpless, and her M.S. in chemistry from Yale University. She was a National Science Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellow at Caltech, where she earned her Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1995. Her work on the development of ruthenium catalysts for olefin metathesis was cited in the 2005 Nobel Prize Address by her research mentor, Robert H. Grubbs.

She joined Duke Kunshan University in August 2018 as the inaugural Dean of Undergraduate Studies. She is responsible for the strategic development of undergraduate academic programs at DKU, developing and implementing undergraduate academic policies and procedures, undergraduate academic advising, undergraduate program assessment, and Global Education.  Previously, Dr. France was the John T. Herwick, M.D. Professor of Chemistry at Washington and Lee University, where she also served as Associate Dean and Associate Provost.

Kirsten’s teams work across Australia and around the world to connect talented students with Sydney, and to advocate for the impact and benefit of the University on the communities it serves. Together they are working on delivering the University’s 2032 ambition, outlined in its ten-year strategy, to ensure that the work of the University is more compelling, and more important to society, than at any other time in its history.

Prior to joining the University, Kirsten held senior positions in government and the not-for-profit sector, including at the National Heart Foundation, as Chief of Staff to a federal minister, and Deputy Director of Communications to the Premier of New South Wales.

Datuk Dr Habibah Abdul Rahim is currently Director at the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Secretariat. She is also Honourary Fellow at MASA Institute, Senior Advisor of Edvolution, and Board Member of Teach for Malaysia Foundation and Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka.

Datuk Habibah is the former Director General of Education Malaysia and has served the Ministry of Education Malaysia for more than 34 years before retiring on 6 April 2021. She began her career as a secondary school teacher and among posts held are the Head of the Delivery Management Office, Executive Director of the Education Performance and Delivery Unit, Director of the Educational Planning and Research Division, and Deputy Director General of Education (Policy and Curriculum). She has extensive experience in policy development, macro planning, programme implementation and evaluation. She played an instrumental role in the development of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025, Education Development Master Plan 2006-2010 and Education Development 2001-2010.

Her publications (with other authors) include: 21st Century Competencies and Structural Education Reform, in APEC 2018 Report on Education and Economic Development (2019); Model, Instruments and Unity Index and their Impact on the Unity Policy, in Creative Education 2019, 10(12); and Formulating Policies for Gender-Responsive STEM Education, in IBE-UNESCO (2017), A Resource Pack for Gender-Responsive STEM Education.

Heather Hamilton the Executive Director for the Council For Advancement and Support of Education in Asia Pacific and a global leader in education advancement. With a career spanning three decades she has worked with and advised organisations in education (secondary and higher education), member associations, not for profit, and corporate sectors, on managing stakeholder relationships, reputation, and strategic planning. As a Vincent Fairfax Fellow, Heather is committed to ethical leadership and making an impact in our communities.

While working throughout Asia Pacific and Canada, Heather developed expertise in education related international and local stakeholder relations including industry and research partnerships, community relations, volunteer leadership management, fundraising, marketing, communications, and change management. 

Heather has served on various boards and committees including St Hilda’s Girls School Foundation in Perth, Western Australia and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Commission. She has been a Chair for four CASE Asia Pacific conferences, a conference host, a regular speaker for masterclasses, and a judge for the CASE Circle of Excellence Awards.

Diana Laurillard, Professor of Learning with Digital Technology at UCL Knowledge Lab, University College London. Formerly: Head of the e-Learning Strategy Unit at the government’s Department for Education and Skills; Pro-Vice-Chancellor Learning Technology and Teaching at the Open University. Previously served on: the Governing Board of the UNESCO Institute for IT in Education, Moscow; Visiting Committee on IT, Harvard University; currently on McGraw-Hill Editorial Advisory Board. Researching: ‘The Transformational Potential of MOOCs’ (Centre for Global HE, UCL-Oxford); ‘Future Education’ (RELIEF Centre, UCL-IGP); the Learning Designer tool. Leading the Blended and Online Learning Design course, free and open to all; adaptive games for low numeracy . Currently supervising MA and doctoral students researching educational technology. Recent book: Teaching as a Design Science, Routledge. Lifetime Contribution Award, E-Assessment Association; Honorary Life Membership for Association for Learning Technology and Club Fondation Universitaire, Belgium; Honorary Fellow UCL. Named in top 2% world scientists, Stanford University Jan 2022.

As the Executive Director of the Malaysian-American Commission of Educational Exchange his mandate is to “Build Bridges and Transform Lives” through what he calls “Educational Diplomacy” between the United States and Malaysia, primarily through the management of the prestigious William J. Fulbright Scholarship program. Curtis has an extensive background in Government Relations and Public Affairs working on Capitol Hill for a member of Congress  as well as a Presidential Appointment during the Obama Administration.

Serving abroad, Curtis promoted U.S. businesses, educational institutions, American history and culture as the Senior Manager of @america, the U.S. Department of State’s one of a kind culture center in Jakarta, Indonesia from 2011-2012 and 2016-2020 as well as chairing the AmCham Indonesia Young Professionals Committee while living in Jakarta.

Curtis is a graduate of Morehouse College and American University with degrees in both business and public administration.

Harsha is the co-founder and CEO of the International Youth Organization, Ascendance. Ascendance has impacted over 50,000 students from 26 different countries over the past 8 years. She received the Diana Award in 2019 for her work. She is also the voice of Gen Z, sharing Gen Zs perspective at conferences and in companies looking at bringing out the best in Gen Z leaders. She is also a 3x Tedx Speaker and author of the book ‘The Makings of A Teenage Entrepreneur’ which to-date has sold over 6,000 copies.

Eklavya Bhave is an experienced business and technology executive. He currently serves as Head of Asia in Coursera. He leads a team that is committed to providing equal access to the world’s best education. His responsibilities include driving Sales and GTM strategy for Coursera’s enterprise business in the APAC region. This includes working closely with enterprises & universities in the region.

Eklavya has close to two decades of experience in Sales and Business Development in the technology space. He has held leadership positions in companies such as Citrix, Oracle, Microsoft etc. Prior to Coursera, Eklavya was the Head of Channels and Alliances for South Asia for Citrix. In this role, he was responsible for building and executing business strategy for the region by leading cross-functional teams.

Eklavya is an Engineering graduate with a masters in Management.

Prof Ngai Pun is a Chair Professor in the Department of Cultural Studies, Lingnan University. She was honored as the winner of the C. Wright Mills Award for her first book Made in China: Women Factory Workers in a Global Workplace (2005), which has been translated into French and Chinese. Her co-authored book, Dying for iPhone: Foxconn and the Lives of Chinese Workers (2020) has also been translated into German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish and Chinese. She is the sole author of Migrant Labor in China: Post Socialist Transformation (2016, Polity Press), editor of seven book volumes in Chinese and English. She has published widely in leading international journals such as positions, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Cultural Anthropology, Dialectical Anthropology, Mobilities, Sociology, British Journal of Sociology of Education, Sociological Review, Work, Employment and Society, Modern China, China Quarterly and China Journal, etc.

Dr Ant Bagshaw is an expert on higher education and lead for L.E.K. Consulting’s education practice in Australia. He has worked in leading universities including LSE and UCL, in media, and in edtech, and he brings creativity and passion to support clients in the education sector. He consults to universities, governments and businesses globally on strategy, policy and regulation. Ant has published on policymaking in higher education and he is a thought leader on the topical issues affecting the sector and its institutions. He teaches on the University of Pennsylvania’s Master’s in Global Higher Education Management.

Timothy Yap is an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company, based out of the Singapore office. His expertise includes higher education and K-12 transformations, digital government transformations, and business building to address gaps in education and SME development.

In McKinsey, Tim is a leader of our workforce development work in Southeast Asia. He has worked with a SEA government to refine its national workforce development strategy, as well as one of SEA’s top private universities on reforming its programs to meet future workforce demands. Tim has also worked with companies and governments across the Middle East and Asia on their workforce attraction and development practices, with a particular focus on attracting and developing digital talent.

Prior to joining McKinsey, Tim was Chief Data Officer and the Director of Strategic Planning & HR Policy in the Public Service Division of Singapore’s Prime Minister’s Office. He was also Head of Economic Programmes at the Ministry of Finance, a delegate to Singapore’s Mission to the UN, and worked on education and defence policy. He was also Chief of Staff and led Strategy and Operations in Singtel Group Digital Life.

Timothy holds a MSc in Management Research with Distinction and a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, both from Oxford University (UK).

Mock Yi Jun is Co-Founder and President of Advisory Singapore, a fully youth-led charity dedicated to empowering young people from all walks of life to make informed career and further education choices. Since its establishment in 2016, Advisory has worked with over 207,000 students and youth, raised over $140,000 for its work, and runs Singapore’s largest pro bono careers-based mentorship for students with over 12,000 hours of mentorship delivered since 2020.
For his work, Yi Jun received the Queen’s Young Leaders Award, the Diana Award, a Deloitte-One Young World Scholarship, and was named a Generation17 Young Leader by UNDP and Samsung. Outside of Advisory, Yi Jun serves as an Advisor to the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust, 

Yi Jun holds a Master of Global Affairs from Tsinghua University, where he studied as a Schwarzman Scholar, and a Bachelor of Politics and International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Andrew is QS Future17 Academic Lead for the University of Auckland, and serves as Deputy Dean and Professional Teaching Fellow at the University of Auckland Business School (UABS). He has 19 years of experience in higher education and has led the development of various teaching innovations including large scale core undergraduate offerings, a virtual reality negotiation learning environment, and the implementation of QS Future17 at the University of Auckland.

His specialist areas are negotiation, conflict resolution, general management, teaching & learning, and learning technologies. He is the recipient of a QS-Wharton Reimagine Education Award, three UABS teaching excellence awards, and has been invited to share his work and participate in forums including at Renmin University of China, Griffith University, and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Outside of the university he has contributed to the education and professional accreditation portfolio of the Arbitrators’ and Mediators’ Institute of New Zealand. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand with his partner and two young daughters.

Dirk Hopfl is an experienced higher education professional with 25 years involved in international student recruitment and partnership building.

Dirk is the Executive Director of Education at Asaya, and the founder of eduALTO and Speechsquare, an AI Speech Analytics company.

Dirk led the APAC region for Proeduca Group, the largest online education provider in the Spanish-speaking hemisphere.

Prior, he was instrumental in the growth of IE University in APAC by establishing regional offices in India, China, and Singapore. He was primarily responsible for Southeast Asia, ANZ, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Dirk holds an MBA from IE Business School, Spain, and a BBA from Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany.

Jazreel first joined the British Council in June 2004 where she led on the UK’s largest education marketing and partnership initiatives in mainland China.

Prior to that, Jazreel Goh worked in various organisations in Malaysia, Australia, as well as Hong Kong in the areas of brand management, corporate planning and investment, international education consultancy, as well as in intellectual property licensing.

In 2011 she set up the British Council’s Education Intelligence Unit – the first e-marketing platform dedicated to international education research for the industry globally. In 2013, she led the development and launched the UK’s flagship outward mobility programme – Generation UK which has since led to a 104% growth in British students to China. During her tenure, the UK became one of the largest providers of transnational education in China and the first country to initiate a multi-lateral education collaboration platform bringing together institutional partners from UK, China, Sub-Saharan Africa and ASEAN countries on co-funded projects.

Jazreel Goh was born in Malaysia and after completing her secondary school in Malaysia and senior secondary school in Singapore, left for further studies in Melbourne, Australia. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Monash University and was awarded the Equity and Merit Scholarship by the Australian Government to undertake her Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics. She was awarded an MBE in 2017 for her services to UK education in China.

Jazreel returned to Malaysia in September 2020 to take up the roles as Director Malaysia and Head of East Asia Insights Hub for the British Council. She was listed as one of the top 50 Voices in the Australia-ASEAN international education sector by The PIE Insider Leadership Digest 2023.

Dr Jingwen Mu is the Director of Institutional Research and Strategic Planning at Hong Kong Baptist University. She leads the effort to spearhead the use of business intelligence and analytics to support the advancement of the University and the implementation of its strategic plan. She is a university rankings expert and has been closely involved in a wide array of ranking and benchmarking initiatives. She is currently a member of the QS Rankings Advisory Board and a member of the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings Advisory Board. She has been consulting for the World Bank on the Sub-Saharan Africa Benchmarking Initiative since 2015. Prior to her current role, Jingwen served as the Senior Global Strategy Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor and Strategic Planning Manager at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and led the Auckland Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) mapping initiative. She headed the consulting team at ShanghaiRanking Consultancy from 2015 to 2018, and was responsible for developing ShanghaiRanking’s consulting frameworks and leading the consulting initiatives across universities in China and overseas.

Caroline Sutton, PhD is CEO at STM. Prior to joining STM Caroline served as Director of Open Research for Taylor & Francis. She co-founded Co-Action Publishing, was one of the founders and first President of OASPA and served on the board between 2008-2021. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Dryad, the Advisory Board of China’s Open Science Promotion Consortium, and is Director with Infrastructure Services for Open Access (IS4OA), the managing organization of the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). She has held numerous honorary positions related to Open Science including: the OpenAIRE Advisory Board in 2013, SPARC Europe (2010-2013) and the Lund University Library Board (2008-2010).

Dr Susanne Rentzow-Vasu is the Regional (ASEAN) Project Director for the European Commission-funded EURAXESS Worldwide network, a role she has held since 2012. EURAXESS Worldwide facilitates interdisciplinary scientific collaboration & researcher mobility between Europe and the world.

She is based in Singapore where she also runs her own consultancy providing political analyses and risk assessments as well as project management services to her clients. She has previously headed the Information Centre Singapore of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) as its director from 2008 to 2012. Susanne also held the post of Senior Policy Officer with the European Union Delegation to Singapore with responsibility for the portfolios higher education and international cooperation. She holds a Master’s degree in European Union Studies from the University of Newcastle (UK) and a Ph.D in International Relations from the University of Wales Aberystwyth (UK).

Sumana Rajarethnam is the South-east Asia Director of the Economist Intelligence Corporate Network based in Singapore. Sumana works closely with network members to help inform their business strategies through political, economic and operational insight and to connect them with their senior leadership peers. Sumana is a senior policy professional with 17 years of business advisory experience, nine of those as an analyst, principal and director with the EIU from 2011-2020. He has most recently been working in the Chinese technology sector, including stints at Kuaishou Technology and ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. Sumana holds a BA in political science from UCLA and a Master’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan.

Liz is Director of Strategic Initiatives at F1000, part of the Taylor & Francis Group, and involved in shaping new initiatives and partnerships to promote and foster open access and open research publishing.

Prior to joining F1000 in 2015, she spent over a decade leading the Evaluation Team at the Wellcome Trust. Liz is a Crossref Board Director, co-founder of CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy), and serves on the Advisory Board for the Software Sustainability Institute. Liz was also one of the first Board Directors at ORCID and involved in its establishment from 2010.

Since 2015, Liz has been a Visiting Senior Research Fellow in the Policy Institute at King’s College London, with a particular interest in science policy and research-related indicators.

Liz Allen – http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9298-3168

Ai Rene, Country Manager at Robert Walters Malaysia, began her journey as a Consultant in 2010, playing a pivotal role in shaping the firm’s legacy. Her career saw her rise from Sales & Marketing Manager in 2013 to Associate Director in 2016, and subsequently to Director in 2018. Leading additional significant portfolios such as Commerce Finance, Technology, and Transformation, she exemplifies innovative leadership.

With a career marked by outstanding achievements, Ai Rene fosters growth and empowerment within her team, guiding them to become global achievers. Her commitment transcends professional accomplishments, demonstrated by roles such as APAC Co-Chair of the Family Employee Resource Group and her position as a Mental Health First Aider within the Robert Walters Group. She also contributes as an Industry Advisory Board member of International Medical University. Ai Rene’s influence underscores her role in shaping the recruitment industry and fostering a culture of inclusivity and support.

Ann Campbell serves as a Technical Solutions Manager with Digital Science, where she specializes in Dimensions & Altmetric data extractions and integrations. With a background spanning 16 years in the university sector, Ann has expertly implemented several research information and management systems and has successfully integrated data from these systems, creating key data ecosystems that have provided holistic and comprehensive views of the institution’s research landscape. Ann has extensive working knowledge in identifying and using data to evidence research impact, research assessment, diversity and inclusion, and contribution towards the UN SDGs. She has played a lead role in data preparation for a number of REF Assessments, Diversity and Inclusion charters and other mandatory submissions.

Engr. Nestor Rubio Ong is a full-time faculty member and is presently the Deputy Director of the University of Santo Tomas’ Office of QS/THE Rankings. Previously, he served as Assistant Director of the University of Santo Tomas’ Quality Management Office, chair of the IE Department and dean of the College of Engineering of Lyceum of the Philippines-Laguna, and as senior manager of INTEL Philippines.

Engr. Ong is a Professional Industrial Engineer and an ASEAN Engineer. He was the very first to join the ASEAN Engineer registry in 2012 from the UST Faculty of Engineering. The recognition is given to engineers in the Southeast Asian region who have achieved “operational excellence in the field of engineering.”

With his more than two decades of accomplishment-laden experience in several multinational manufacturing companies by assuming various senior and technical management positions, Engr. Ong successfully turned around every manufacturing arena into delivering the necessary factory systems to enable World Class Manufacturing. His excellent leadership efforts won for him several recognitions/awards. One of his notable achievements, when he was named as INTEL Key Employee in Year 2000 in recognition of his valuable services and contributions to INTEL’s operation. This is Intel’s highest recognition award given to a deserving and consistently rated outstanding employee. INTEL Philippines was the nation’s leading exporter for many years past.

With his strong background in various key areas of expertise, he is the prime mover in the successful ISO Certification of UST. He is being considered to be a high caliber consultant that can be tapped in both the industry and academia. Moreover, Engr. Ong crafted a framework of the UST’s EQMS (Educational Quality Management System) for excellence which became his research paper as accepted in two international conferences in the same year entitled, “An Integrated Framework: Unifying Diverse Perspectives in EQMS” and turnedout in reality when UST earned the distinction of being the first and only university in the Philippines with the four-star rating in QS Stars Rating awarded in 2015 and 2017. Now, UST becomes first and only Philippine university with five stars QS rating. Moreover, four of his research papers have been accepted into International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology, which is a Q3 Journal under SCIMAGO-SCOPUS Rankings.

Engr. Ong is currently the only Filipino sitting as a member of the InternationalAcademic Advisory Committee of Quacquarelli-Symonds (QS) since 2015. Simultaneously, he has been chosen as the chair of the parallel sessions committee under the different tracks in every QS International Conference and Exhibit annual events. Several international universities have invited him to sit as one of their advisory board members at their international conferences.

Engr. Ong holds a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering degree from the University of the Philippines-Diliman where he was a consistent UPCE-PCIERD scholar and a BSIE degree from the MAPUA Institute of Technology.

A holder of an MSc Degree in the Hospitality and Tourism Management, currently working within the educational field of linguistics and research and building partnerships for collaborative publications of the graduates. Her research interests particularly cover the innovative approaches to teaching in the hospitality and tourism businesses. She participates in research conferences covering the issues of acculturation processes of the hospitality workers, and the corresponding problems in the realm of teaching methodology.

Milly Jantke recently completed a conjoint degree in Commerce and Global Studies at the University of Auckland, where she majored in marketing, international business, global politics, and human rights. She also dedicated herself to learning Mandarin. Milly was one of the first University of Auckland students to complete the QS Future17 Sustainable Development Goals Challenge Programme.

Milly’s commitment to sustainability drives her academic and professional pursuits, and personal interests. In August 2023 she embarked on a new journey as a Graduate Consultant. She is eager to collaborate with like-minded individuals to foster a more sustainable future for the people of New Zealand. Beyond her professional endeavours you’ll find her training for marathons or cherishing moments with her loved ones and friends.

Dr Nigel Healey is Professor of International Higher Education and Vice President (Global and Community Engagement) at the University of Limerick. He is currently serving as Interim Provost and Deputy President. Prior to his appointment at the University of Limerick in April 2020, he held senior academic positions at Fiji National University, Nottingham Trent University, the University of Canterbury and Manchester Metropolitan University, as well as teaching positions at the University of Leicester and Leeds Beckett University.

Dr Healey has served as an economic policy advisor to the prime minister of Belarus and the deputy minister of economy of the Russian Federation and managed a number of multinational research and economic development projects in Europe and Asia. His current research interests are in the internationalization of higher education, transnational education and higher education policy and management.

Engr. Nestor Rubio Ong is a full-time faculty member and is presently the Deputy Director of the University of Santo Tomas’ Office of QS/THE Rankings. Previously, he served as Assistant Director of the University of Santo Tomas’ Quality Management Office, chair of the IE Department and dean of the College of Engineering of Lyceum of the Philippines-Laguna, and as senior manager of INTEL Philippines.

Engr. Ong is a Professional Industrial Engineer and an ASEAN Engineer. He was the very first to join the ASEAN Engineer registry in 2012 from the UST Faculty of Engineering. The recognition is given to engineers in the Southeast Asian region who have achieved “operational excellence in the field of engineering.”

With his more than two decades of accomplishment-laden experience in several multinational manufacturing companies by assuming various senior and technical management positions, Engr. Ong successfully turned around every manufacturing arena into delivering the necessary factory systems to enable World Class Manufacturing. His excellent leadership efforts won for him several recognitions/awards. One of his notable achievements, when he was named as INTEL Key Employee in Year 2000 in recognition of his valuable services and contributions to INTEL’s operation. This is Intel’s highest recognition award given to a deserving and consistently rated outstanding employee. INTEL Philippines was the nation’s leading exporter for many years past.

With his strong background in various key areas of expertise, he is the prime mover in the successful ISO Certification of UST. He is being considered to be a high caliber consultant that can be tapped in both the industry and academia. Moreover, Engr. Ong crafted a framework of the UST’s EQMS (Educational Quality Management System) for excellence which became his research paper as accepted in two international conferences in the same year entitled, “An Integrated Framework: Unifying Diverse Perspectives in EQMS” and turnedout in reality when UST earned the distinction of being the first and only university in the Philippines with the four-star rating in QS Stars Rating awarded in 2015 and 2017. Now, UST becomes first and only Philippine university with five stars QS rating. Moreover, four of his research papers have been accepted into International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology, which is a Q3 Journal under SCIMAGO-SCOPUS Rankings.

Engr. Ong is currently the only Filipino sitting as a member of the InternationalAcademic Advisory Committee of Quacquarelli-Symonds (QS) since 2015. Simultaneously, he has been chosen as the chair of the parallel sessions committee under the different tracks in every QS International Conference and Exhibit annual events. Several international universities have invited him to sit as one of their advisory board members at their international conferences.

Engr. Ong holds a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering degree from the University of the Philippines-Diliman where he was a consistent UPCE-PCIERD scholar and a BSIE degree from the MAPUA Institute of Technology.

Pei-Shan Tsai, PhD, RN, isa distinguished professor at Taipei Medical University College of Nursing. Her research focuses on the link between stress‐response systems and chronic illnesses and outcomes of nursing care of patients with stress‐related illnesses. Having published morethan 130 peer-reviewed articles in medical, psychology, and nursing journals, Tsai is noted for bringing researchers from different fields together to collaborate on research projects that have important clinical and policymaking implications. In her capacity as Dean of TMU Office of Global Engagement, she leads a team of professionals and academics to assist international exchange of people and ideas, facilitate collaboration in education and research, and promote the institution’s achievements. Working closely with the University’s Senior Leadership Team, Tsai provides strategic advice and practical solutions to the institution’s vision for international development. She is an active participant in international networks and a member of the QS Academic Committee.

Dr Diah Wihardini is the Director of BINUS Global of Bina Nusantara (BINUS) University in Jakarta, Indonesia. She took her PhD in educational measurement at UC Berkeley under the Presidential Fulbright scholarship, a M.Ed at Flinders University, and a B.Sc (Hons) in Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Adelaide. Her research interests include item response modelling and development, international assessments, teaching and learning, and educational policy analysis.At BINUS, she handles all activities related to internationalisations and collaborations, and teaches mathematics and statistics courses at undergraduate level.

BIO

Engr. Nestor Rubio Ong is a full-time faculty member and is presently the Deputy Director of the University of Santo Tomas’ Office of QS/THE Rankings

TOPICS

• Building Better Universities
• Building Better Universities
• SDGs for Universities
• SDGs for Universities
• Topic Title Text Here
• Topic Title Text Here

BIO

Engr. Nestor Rubio Ong is a full-time faculty member and is presently the Deputy Director of the University of Santo Tomas’ Office of QS/THE Rankings

TOPICS

• Building Better Universities
• Building Better Universities
• SDGs for Universities
• SDGs for Universities
• Topic Title Text Here
• Topic Title Text Here

BIO

Engr. Nestor Rubio Ong is a full-time faculty member and is presently the Deputy Director of the University of Santo Tomas’ Office of QS/THE Rankings

TOPICS

• Building Better Universities
• Building Better Universities
• SDGs for Universities
• SDGs for Universities
• Topic Title Text Here
• Topic Title Text Here

BIO

Engr. Nestor Rubio Ong is a full-time faculty member and is presently the Deputy Director of the University of Santo Tomas’ Office of QS/THE Rankings

TOPICS

• Building Better Universities
• Building Better Universities
• SDGs for Universities
• SDGs for Universities
• Topic Title Text Here
• Topic Title Text Here

BIO

Engr. Nestor Rubio Ong is a full-time faculty member and is presently the Deputy Director of the University of Santo Tomas’ Office of QS/THE Rankings

TOPICS

• Building Better Universities
• Building Better Universities
• SDGs for Universities
• SDGs for Universities
• Topic Title Text Here
• Topic Title Text Here

BIO

Engr. Nestor Rubio Ong is a full-time faculty member and is presently the Deputy Director of the University of Santo Tomas’ Office of QS/THE Rankings

TOPICS

• Building Better Universities
• Building Better Universities
• SDGs for Universities
• SDGs for Universities
• Topic Title Text Here
• Topic Title Text Here