The Team
Professor Dr Daniel Chong Ka Leong
Professor Dr Daniel Chong possesses over 18 years of experience in hospitality education and training. Holding a Doctorate in Business Administration with a specialisation in branding, he is recognised as a certified corporate trainer, hotelier, sommelier, and barista. Actively engaged in Malaysia's F&B industry through industrial projects and ongoing education initiatives, Prof Dr Daniel Chong brings invaluable expertise to the field. With a strong background in management, training, and consultancy within the F&B sector, he has represented leading multinational hotel groups and franchised restaurants. Prof Dr Daniel Chong's research contributions encompass sustainable practices, challenges, and opportunities within Asia's tourism, hospitality, and food industries.
- Lecturer
- Internship Coordinator
Â鶹Íø (MY)
Farah Atiqah Mohamad Noor
Farah Atiqah is a Lecturer at Â鶹Íø, specialising in Events Management. She has been a lecturer at the tertiary level since 2013 and joined Â鶹Íø in 2017. She completed her MSc in Tourism at Taylor’s University, where she conducted research on a local community’s perception of slow tourism, a responsible form of tourism. Her Master's research work was funded by the Malaysia's Higher Education Ministry through the Long-Term Research Grant Scheme (LRGS grant no: JPT.S (BPKI)2000/09/01/015Jld.4(67)]). She is also responsible for the planning, management, and coordination of the internship component at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. She is currently a PhD candidate at Universiti Putra Malaysia, where her research focuses on Muslim-friendly tourism.
Dr Gary Daniels
Dr Gary Daniels is an entrepreneurship-focused academic and former hospitality entrepreneur with over two decades of international experience in the UK, China, and Malaysia. His work is defined by a unique 'practitioner-scholar' identity, built on a foundation of ten years as the founder and operator of three successful F&B ventures in Chengdu, China. This entrepreneurial experience directly informs his teaching and leadership. As Head of the Centre for Hospitality Innovation and Leadership (CHIL), Dr Daniels leads the development of innovative, industry-connected curricula. He has designed experiential learning projects like the 'Hospitality Bazaar' and established professional certification pathways with bodies such as WSET, ServSafe, and CHIA to enhance student employability. Dr Daniels’ research integrates his practice with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). His applied research focuses on entrepreneurship ecosystems, sustainable and responsible practice, digital transformation in hospitality, and work-integrated learning (WIL), with a particular emphasis on ASEAN. His work has been published in high-impact Q1 journals.
- Head of Centre
- Principal Teaching Fellow
Â鶹Íø (MY)
Hairani M Nur
Hairani M Nur is a Principal Teaching Fellow at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. Her teaching areas focuses on the planning and execution of events at Diploma and Degree programme. For practical elements, she continuously adds value to students’ experiential learning with event projects that incorporate external stakeholders such as academic conferences. Apart from teaching, she guides the School’s teams for national and international competitions on MICE-related topics, with the most recent competitions being MICE Destination Marketing Contest 2021 organized by the Bureau of Foreign Trade and Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and AFECA Asia MICE Youth Challenge 2021organized by the Asian Federation of Exhibition and Convention Associations (AFECA). She designs and implements short courses such as Certificate in Sustainable City Destination and Certificate in Sustainable City Destination Application, with participations from Japanese and Indonesian universities. She participates in professional trainings especially those organized by the Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organizers and Suppliers (MACEOS) to enhance her skills and knowledge in business events.
Dr Philip Wong Pong Weng
Dr Philip Wong Pong Weng is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Â鶹Íø since 2020. Dr Philip Wong has a PhD (Marketing) from Universiti Putra Malaysia; a MBA from University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA; and completed his BSc in Business Administration (Marketing) at California State University, Fresno, USA. Prior to joining Â鶹Íø, he has taught at Taylor’s University for 16 years. Before embarking into the world of academia, Dr Philip Wong has accumulated a wealth of industry experience from working in both the hotel and the travel industry for a total of 16 years. He has held the posts of Director of Sales & Marketing for a number of international hotels, as well as being the Deputy General Manager for a major Malaysian inbound tour operator. Dr Philip Wong had also conducted training courses in tourism marketing for hospitality and tourism professionals, such as officials from the National Tourism Organizations of Siera Leone, Ghana, Kenya, Vietnam, Tonga, and Malaysia, as well as hotel executives from Maldives, Vietnam and Malaysia. He is now actively involved in research and scholarly activities in the area of destination marketing, branding, and green marketing. His work has been published in international journals such as Tourism Review, Journal of Destination Marketing and Management, Current Issues in Tourism, Anatolia, Tourism Analysis, International Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Administration, International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Journal of China Tourism Research, Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, Turyzm/Tourism, and Journal of Sustainable Tourism.
Dr Rita Lo
Dr Rita Lo is currently Secretary for the Malaysia Executive Housekeeper Association. She has worked with several hotels and International Hotel Association on projects involving service quality, room division management, pro-management program and hotel operation documentation. Her areas of expertise include room division operations management, fragrance creation and revenue data analytic management. Her scope of research comprises the effective service quality tools for the hotel and tourism industry, hotel pricing strategy and revenue management strategy. Prior to joining the education industry, Dr Rita took on a supervisory role in Rooms Revenue, Room Division Operations, Guest Relation Executive as well as Training Supervisor at various hotels and retail companies.
Dr Sara Abhari
Sara Abhari possesses more than 10 years of experience in the hospitality industry, working as an event planner and an executive catering chef. Her career in food and beverage kickstarted in 2002 as a food entrepreneur and co-founder of a catering kitchen (S.Kitchen). Her wealth of knowledge and skills in this area of hospitality has also opened up other opportunities where she also became a culinary consultant and instructor. Sara is also an enthusiastic writer and was formerly a food writer and critic for the International Nutrition and Diet Magazine.
- Senior Lecturer
- Programme Leader of BSc (Honours) in International Hospitality Management
Â鶹Íø (MY)
Dr Siti ‘Atikah Rusli
Siti Atikah Rusli is a dedicated academic with teaching experience in both public and private universities. Her strong educational background, combined with her passion for higher education, has led her to pursue a PhD. While working towards this degree, she is actively engaged in scholarly and research activities related to religious tourism and information technology.
Suhaini Ibrahim
Ms Sohaini Ibrahim has acquired 26 years of teaching experience in tourism and business event studies, both at a public and private universities in Malaysia. On October 2012, she was part of a team of 114 scientists and personnel selected from local universities to collaborate in the 2nd Temengor Scientific Expedition, led by Universiti Putra Malaysia and WWF (Malaysia). The expedition covered 1,500 hectares of Sungai Enam Basin to identify sites for eco-tourism interest. She and her colleagues from Â鶹Íø has co-researched an economic study of corporate meetings and incentive organizer’s expenditure and spending pattern under Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) for 2018 and 2019. Currently, she teaches Sustainable Tourism Development to undergraduate students at the School. She is also a member of the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE), and an institutional associate member of The Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS).