Prof. Dr. Ir. Hairul Azhar Abdul Rashid currently serves as the Rector of University College TATI. Previously, he was a Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, specializing in specialty optical fiber devices and sensors. Prior to this, he held the position of Vice President of Research and Innovation at MMU, where he led strategic planning, implementation, and monitoring of research, innovation, commercialization, and entrepreneurship initiatives. With over 23 years of service at MMU, he has held various leadership roles, including Director of RMC, Dean of Research, and Director of Research Collaborations. His research contributions have led to two patent filings and six granted Industrial Designs (ID). In recognition of his achievements, he was honored as a ‘Top Research Scientist Malaysia’ by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia in 2014. In recent years, he has ventured into commercialization, founding two spin-off companies—Lumisyns Sdn Bhd, specializing in radiation dosimetry systems, and Optodyne Sdn Bhd, focusing on specialty optical fibers. In 2023, he was appointed to sit in the Board of Directors of The Future Research.