University Management Board

He was awarded a BSc (Hons) First Class in Computation from The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), UK in 1997 and received his PhD from The University of Nottingham (School of Computer Science) in 2000. He is a Fellow of the Operational Research Society and a Fellow of the British Computer Society.

Before entering academia he spent almost 20 years in the IT industry, working for various companies (including the Co-operative Wholesale Society and Provincial Insurance), undertaking a variety of roles ranging from Computer Operator, Technical Support Manager and Operations Manager.

He has authored over 250 peer reviewed scientific papers, over 100 of these in the most impactful scientific journals. He is an Associate Editor for many international journals and has served as the Editor in Chief for the IEEE Transactions on AI and Computational Intelligence in Games. He chairs the Steering Committee of the Multidisciplinary International Conference on Scheduling: Theory and Applications in addition to chairing several other international conferences in recent years. He has been a member of the programme/technical committees of many international conferences since 2000.

He has been awarded externally funded grants worth over £5.5M from a variety of sources including the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and commercial organisations.He holds positions in several companies which we were formed on the basis of his expertise. He is a director of Aptia Solutions Ltd. which specialises in nesting software; a non-executive director of Event Map Ltd., which specialises in timetabling solutions and he was a director of Nottingham MyRIAD Solutions Sdn Bhd which used to be the commercialisation arm of the University.

Professor Kendall’s research interests lie in Operational Research, Meta- and Hyper-Heuristics, Evolutionary Computation and Artificial Intelligence, with a specific interest in scheduling (particularly sports), timetabling, cutting and packing, rostering and routing and logistics.

Deborah Hall is Professor of Hearing Sciences at the University of Nottingham UK and Vice-Provost for Research and Knowledge Exchange at the University of Nottingham Malaysia. 

In her Malaysia role, she is responsible for the strategic direction for Research and Knowledge Exchange for the campus. This includes facilitating links with Nottingham campuses in the UK and China, and across the ASEAN region. 

In the UK, she is research lead within the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre  Her primary research goals are to develop a good evidence base for selecting outcome instruments for assessing treatment-related change for complex multi-dimensional conditions including hearing loss and tinnitus. Additional interests include clinical trials and systematic reviews to support evidence-based medicine, and functional magnetic resonance imaging to better understand the mechanisms of tinnitus and sensorineural plasticity after hearing loss. Deborah is also an NIHR Senior Investigator.

Professor Lee joined the University of Nottingham Malaysia in September 2000 as one of the pioneering batch of staff when the University of Nottingham began operations in its maiden branch campus outside of the UK in Malaysia. In March 2011, he was promoted to become Professor of Quantitative Methods. During the last 17 years with the University, he has been involved in the management of diverse teaching and learning, and engagement activities of the University. 

Given the unique position of the University of Nottingham Malaysia in Southeast Asia, and in support of the University's Strategic Roadmap 2013-2020, when he was the Dean of NUBS Malaysia, he formulated a strategic framework to establish “2+2” and “1+3” arrangements with key universities in ASEAN countries and China, such as Beijing Foreign Studies University, Prince of Songkla University and others. He had also led a successful implementation of offshore operations of the University, offering a masters degree outside of Malaysia (NUBS Malaysia offers MBA in Singapore). He is also actively involved in the development of new programmes to upkeep the quality assurance and standards of the qualifications offered. For instance, he had led NUBS Malaysia to develop the MSc Professional Accountancy in collaboration with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), which was the first of its kind outside the UK. When he was the Dean of NUBS Malaysia, he led the School to secure a 5-year EQUIS accreditation and AMBA accreditation.

He studied economics at the University of London and the National University of Singapore. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of Chartered Management Institute. He was appointed as an assessor for Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning for Entry into Qualifications Recognised by Malaysian Qualifications Framework at Level 7 by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA). He also serves as an expert to assist MQA to develop programme standards for subject area: Business Studies.

His main research interests concern applied economics and econometrics. He is particularly interested in economics of development and economics of tourism. He uses different econometric techniques, in particular time series econometrics, in the study of these areas. His research papers have been published in reputable journals, namely Applied Economics, Journal of International Development, International Journal of Tourism Research, Tourism Management and International Journal of Hospitality Management. In total, he has published more than 40 journal articles.

His teaching interests are in Quantitative Methods, Econometrics and Microeconomics. He had taught undergraduate quantitative methods related modules, such as Quantitative Methods 1a, Quantitative Methods 1b and Quantitative Methods 2a, microeconomics related modules, such as Economics of Pricing and Decision Making and Industrial Economics B, and econometrics related module, such as Introduction to Econometrics. Currently, he teaches Applied Econometrics and Quantitative Techniques for Finance.

Digital excellence was enhanced when the University of Nottingham Malaysia upgraded its Student Network Services with a 700Mbps Dedicated Internet Access gateway, which supports the latest 802.11ac WiFi standards. New IT infrastructure projects should further equip the University with best in class facilities for learning and web connectivity. Learning spaces and physical facilities were improved in 2016 through the completion of eleven projects worth about RM2 million, while another RM2.2 million was spent on refurbishing campus accommodation.

Environment and Sustainability initiatives included the planting of 220 trees among the aging oil palm as part of a university tree-planting programme a.k.a. reforestation. The flowering creepers at the Balau (a local hardwood) Pergola Amphitheatre is flourishing while the “24Gardens” beautification project is ongoing. Efforts to rehabilitate the pond area behind the library has successfully resulted in a conducive shaded area complete with Balau gazebos, a fountain, and a pond with its own thriving ecosystem complete with plant life, ducks, fishes and prawns. Our food waste separation initiative had progressed further with the establishment of a Composting Station, which should produce our first ton of organic fertiliser by April 2017.

Energy savings through zero and low cost initiatives are producing results and the University is on track to reduce over 10% of our electricity bill for 2017. This 2020 strategic goal is helped by regular monitoring of energy usage, gradual replacement of more LED light fittings, de-lamping, and the installation of solar panels around the campus, and soon, solar panelled glass roofing over the amphitheatre stage.

Prior to joining the Univeristy, in April 2015, Ching was the Chief Operating Officer at Curtin University Malaysia located in Sarawak. He enjoys nature, and is currently the Club Secretary and soon-to-be Club President of the Lions Club of Kuala Lumpur North from July 2017. 

Having served for the Boustead Group and the University for almost 20 years now, he comes with knowledge and vast experience that is an asset to the University.

His key successes include the Groupwide Finance & Payroll System implementation; Finance & GST, Supply Chain Enterprise system rollout, including Supply Chain ERP system and Enterprise Human Capital, Payroll System rollout and e-Leave workflow.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance from Lancaster University, UK.

Hadi’s passion for sports led him to become the Vice President of the Boustead Sports Club. He is also ardent on voluntary services and has been ensuring proper management of funds for a timeshare company. He was previously part of the Support Group Bureau and Communication Bureau of Parents-Teachers Association and he was part of the fund raising committee to build a community school for children.