PROFILES
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Moderator: Dr. Mohamed Yunus Bin Mohamed Yasin
President of Association of Science Technology and Innovation
Dr. Mohamed Yunus Mohamed Yasin graduated with a PhD. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge, U.K with full scholarship from the Ministry of Science, Malaysia and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Whilst in the UK, we won 3 awards on Entrepreneurships organised by the British Biological Science Research Council. He then returned to Malaysia to work for SIRIM Berhad followed by Khazanah Nasional. He has been working for more than 10 years in the areas of Sustainable Development, Community Advancement and Education. He has conducted training for the Youths in over 5 countries in areas such as Climate Change, Environment, Ethics, Critical Thinking and Conflict Resolution. He has helped start up over 8 companies and over 10 NGOs, civil society groups and non-profit projects including projects such as the Science Fair for Young Children which has had about a quarter of a million participants in the last 7 years, and 2013 the project conducted an average of more than 1 science fair a day. He was the keynote speaker for a Youth Conference in Singapore officiated by Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister with the participation of the Minister of Trade.
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Panelist: Richard Towle
Representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Richard Towle is the Representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Malaysia. Prior to his current assignment, Mr Towle was the Regional Representative for UNHCR covering Australia, New Zealand, PNG and the Pacific based in Canberra, Australia (2007-2013). Mr Towle has also served in various senior positions with UNHCR including in Hong Kong, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. He was also Chief of Mission for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights field operation in the Former Yugoslavia from 2000-2003 covering Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo based in Belgrade. Mr Towle has an LLB (Hons) from Canterbury University (NZ) and an LLM (Dist) from the University of London in the UK.
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Panelist: Deborah Priya Henry
Co-founder of Fugee School
A wholesome blend of East and West with Asian and Irish roots, Deborah Henry spent much of her teenage years on a bullet train to stardom, journeying from modelville to university, to beauty pageants, charities and the media forefront, becoming the woman she is today – Miss World & Universe Malaysia, model, TV host, actress, MC, humanitarian aide & ambassador, and co-founder of her own charity. Deborah is today a regular host for Bella, a women’s lifestyle talk show on national channel ntv7. “I like to look at the good things that individuals have done, like when I look at single mums, or even my grandmother, and add them to my own,” she says. For Deborah, the first things that come to mind when thinking of others are children and humanitarian work. She’s a children’s rights advocate for World Vision and refugee rights advocate for UNCHR Malaysia. While working with these NGOs she realised that many refugee children are deprived of education. Subsequently, she co-founded with a close friend the Fugee School, a charity organisation that provides fundamental education to refugee youth. She stresses, “I’ve always believed that education is the tool that will enable a neglected or impoverished child to break the cycle of poverty.”
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Panelist: Petra Gimbad
School of Arts and Social Science, Monash University Malaysia
Petra Gimbad is a lecturer in topics of gender studies and migration studies at Monash University Malaysia. Prior to this, she worked for various organisations involved with refugee families, sexual health, street youth and women’s rights. Her doctorate on the economic activities of homeless persons, a continuance of her interest in homeless communities, will commence this fall. She is a regular contributor to a shared column for an English language newspaper in Malaysia, where she writes on various issues, including, homelessness.
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Panelist: Priya Sharma
School of Business, Monash University Malaysia
Priya Sharma obtained the Bachelor of Law (LL.B) from the University of London and the Certificate in Legal Practice after which she was admitted to the Malaysian Bar as an Advocate and Solicitor from the High Court of Malaya. After two years of practice in the corporate and conveyancing sector, Priya ventured into the academic field. She completed the LLM (Masters in Law) at University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur and joined HELP University as a Lecturer at Law. In 2014, Priya joined Monash University Malaysia. She teaches a variety of subjects ranging from Malaysian/Australian Business Law, Comparative Workplace Relations Law, International Trade Law, Current Issues in Corporate Governance and Management Ethics and Corporate Governance. She completed the Postgraduate Diploma in Business and Commerce from Monash University Malaysia as a route toward a PhD. Her thesis is titled “The Exploitation Of Children For Labour:- The Malaysian Legislative Framework”. She has also presented papers on Child Labour at law conferences in India, Cambodia and Italy. Priya is currently pursuing her PhD and her thesis is titled “Trafficking of Migrant Workers For Forced Labour:- Evidence From A Socioeconomic Legal Study”.
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