Prof. Dr. Ir. Hairul Azhar Abdul Rashid is a Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, focusing on specialty optical fiber devices and sensors. He is currently serving as the Vice President Research and Innovation, leading a team that strategically plan, implement and monitor research, innovation, commercialization and entrepreneurship endeavours in MMU. He has served MMU for over 23 years in several leadership capacities including Director of RMC, Dean of Research and Director for Research Collaborations. Resulting from these research endeavours, he has filed 2 patents and granted 6 Industrial Designs (ID). In 2014, he was awarded ‘Top Research Scientists Malaysia’ by Academy of Sciences, Malaysia. Recently, he spun-off two companies, Lumisyns Sdn Bhd and Optodyne Sdn. Bhd. commercializing radiation dosimetry systems and specialty optical fibers respectively. In 2023, he was appointed to sit in The Future Research Board of Directors.