Biographical note

Ahmad Fauzi Ismail is the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research & Innovation), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. He is the Founding Director of Advanced Membrane Technology Research Center (AMTEC), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Prof. Fauzi graduated with a B.Eng. (Petroleum Engineering) and M.Sc. in (Chemical Engineering) from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). He has awarded the Commonwealth Academic Staff Scholarship to pursue his Ph.D. in Chemical and Process Engineering at University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK, specializing in Membrane Manufacturing Technology. He has completed his PhD study in less than three years. He is the author of over 800 papers in refereed journals and over 50 book chapters. He has authored or co-authored 6 books and edited or co-edited 11 books, 9 patents granted and 21 patents pending. His current Scopus h-index 77 (Citation 26,547) & Web of Science h-index 72 (Citation 23,942). He has supervised 56 PhD and 51 MSc students to completion as well as having supervised 10 post-doctoral fellows. He received more than 130 awards both at National and International level. Among the prestigious awards won are The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Prize in Engineering Sciences for 2019, Merdeka Award for the Outstanding Scholastic Achievement Category on 4th September 2014, three times Malaysia’s Rising Star Award by Clarivate Analytics (2016, 2017, 2018). He has been awarded Malaysia Young Scientist Award in 2000; ASEAN Young Scientist Award in 2001. He also won National Academic Award (Innovation and Product Commercialization Category) in August 2013 and Malaysian Toray Science and Technology Foundation Award, on 28 November 2013. He has been named as one of Most Cited Researchers in the world by Shanghai Ranking's Global Ranking of Academic in Chemical Engineering 2016. In 2004, The Cambridge Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England has listed him in the 2000 Outstanding Scientist of the 21th Century. In August 2006, he was awarded the British Chevening Royal Society Fellowship and was the only candidate being awarded by The British Council in that year. In August 1999, he was conferred a Gold Medal Discovery Award by UTM which had been presented by the Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad.

Goh Pei Sean is Associate Professor in the School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). She received her PhD degree in Gas Engineering in 2012 in UTM. Pei Sean is an associate research fellow of the Advanced Membrane Research Technology Research Centre (AMTEC), UTM. She is also the Head of Nanostructured Materials Research Group in UTM. Her research interests focus on the synthesis of a wide range of nanostructured materials and their composites for membrane-based separation processes. One of the main focuses of her research is the applications of carbon-based nanomaterials and polymeric nanocomposite membranes for acidic gas removal as well as desalination and wastewater treatment. Pei Sean has authored or co-authored more than 140 research papers. She has also contributed 2 research books, 15 book chapters and 1 edited research book. Her research publication has received about 2500 citations and her current Scopus H-index is 28. Her inventions in nano-enabled membrane for CO2 and hemodialysis membrane have also been filed. She has also involved in consulting projects for industry applications. She is the Editorial Board for Membrane (MDPI) and Jurnal Teknology (ISI-indexed Journal) and the guest editor of the Special Issues of a few number of Q1 and Scopus indexed journals such as Nanomaterials (MDPI), Membrane and Emergeing Materials, She is Associate Member of Institute Kimia Malaysia and also a member of prestigious Global Young Academy (GYA).

Hasrinah Hasbullah is an active research fellow of the Advanced Membrane Research Technology Research Centre (AMTEC), UTM and Director of Energy Engineering Department. Although, she is part of school management team, she is noted as an active researcher with total of 57 research grants amounting to more than RM14.3 millions, where she is the principal investigator to nine of them. This does not include Sakura Exchange Program in Science Grant that she was awarded with Kobe University in 2017 by Japan Science and Technology Agency with the amount of approximately RM92,000. With her local and international collaborations, Hasrinah had successfully published more than 100 publications in terms of journals (69 indexed journals), book chapters and conference proceedings on material and membrane science and technology as well as energy and separation. Her H-index is 11 with total citations of 395.

Farhana Aziz is currently Senior Lecturer in Department of Energy Engineering, School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, and Associate Research Fellow of Advanced Membrane Technology Research Center (AMTEC), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). She graduated with B. Eng (Chemical Engineering), M.Eng (Gas Engineering), PhD (Gas Engineering) from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in 2007, 2010 and 2015, respectively. She started his academic career when she was appointed as Lecturer in 2010 in Faculty of Chemical and Natural Resources Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang. Her passion and dedication towards her research are reflected in her numerous scientific publications in high impact international refereed journals and academic books. Until now, she already led few research grants and being member of more than 30 research projects. Her specialized research area includes nanomaterials synthesis and characterizations for gas separation, wastewater treatment and energy applications. Recently, Dr. Farhana has received an Excellent Service Award (2017), Publication Award (2018&2019) from UTM for her enthusiasm and dedication towards her teaching and research activities. She also has obtained a fellowship from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) under AUN/SEED-Net Short-Term Research Program in Japan in Hokkaido University, Japan in 2017. She is also a member of the editorial board of Springer Nature Applied Sciences Journal and advisory editorial board member of Heliyon.