Mohd Anis Md Nor is the Executive Director of NusPARC and also serves as a Research Fellow. He was a Professor of Ethnochoreology and Ethnomusicology at the Cultural Centre (School of Performing Arts), University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur until his retirement in 2015, and was appointed as Adjunct Professor at the Sultan Idris Education University and Sunway University. He earned his B.A. Honours from the University of Malaya, MA (Dance Ethnology) from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Ph.D. (Southeast Asia Studies and Musicology) from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Michigan. Professor Anis has pioneered the study of Zapin dance and music in Southeast Asia and has published widely on said topic. Although his foremost research area deals with Malay dance and music in Southeast Asia, his current studies are on Performative Sufism in Muslim societies in Southeast Asia.

He is a member of the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM), the ICTM Study Group on Ethnochoreology, and the ICTM Study Group on Performing Arts of Southeast Asia; Past President of World Dance Alliance – Asia Pacific (WDA-AP); National Advisor to MyDance (World Dance Alliance-Asia Pacific Malaysia Chapter); and Artist-in-Residence/Consultant to the Johor Heritage Foundation from 1996-2013. He was appointed to the Advisory Committee of the Islamic World Arts Initiative (IWAI) supported by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art for the period 2004-2005. Professor Anis is curator for the Zapin International Dance Festival and the International Malay Performing Arts for the State Government of Johor, Malaysia from 1996 to 2014. He was the 2007-2008 William Allan Neilson Distinguish Professor of Music, Dance, and Theatre at Smith College, Northampton, MA; and the 2011 Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan sponsored by the School of Music, Dance, and Theatre, Center for Southeast Asian Studies and Center for World Performance Studies. He was awarded a European Union Erasmus Mundus Fellowship in 2012 by the European Union to take up the position of a Visiting Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology at Trondheim, Norway, for the 2012-2013 Winter Semester.

His major publications include Randai Dance of Minangkabau Sumatra with Labanotation Scores (University of Malaya Press, 1986), Zapin Folk Dance of the Malay World (Oxford University Press, 1993), Regional Performance Tradition in Contemporary Thai Performing Arts (Chulalongkorn University, 1996), Mohd Anis Md Nor and Burridge, Stephanie (ed.) Sharing Identities: Celebrating Dance in Malaysia (Routledge, 2011), Mohd Anis Md Nor and Kendra Stepputat (eds.) Sounding the Dance, Moving the Music: Choreomusicology in Maritime Southeast Asia (Routledge/SOAS Musicology Series, 2017), and many articles in the field of ethnomusicology and ethnochoreology in international journals.

Patricia Matusky is an ethnomusicologist who serves as a director of the NusPARC Research Fellows and whose area of specialisation is the traditional music of Malaysia and Southeast Asia. She holds a BMusic, AMLS (Information Science) and Ph.D. (ethnomusicology) from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor USA), and an MA (musicology) from Hunter College of The City University of New York. Her early research focused on the music of the Malay shadow play and other theatrical music while continuing research involves Malaysian musical instruments, folk and classical Malay music, and the music of Sarawak, Malaysia.

She has taught for many years in Malaysia, including a senior lectureship in the Malay Studies Department, University of Malaya (UM), and a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship and Associate Professorship at the Science University of Malaysia (USM) in Penang. In Singapore, she was a senior lecturer and Head of the Music School at LaSalle-SIA College of the Arts, a consultant (traditional music) for the development of Theatres on The Bay venue, and has held post-doctoral affiliation at the National University of Singapore. Matusky was also a consultant in music for the Dayak Cultural Foundation in Sarawak for many years. She currently holds the position of Adjunct Professor of Ethnomusicology at the National Academy of Arts, Culture, and Heritage of Malaysia. Her current academic memberships are the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), the Asian Music Society, the American Musical Instrument Society, the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM), and currently Co-Chairperson of the Publications Committee for the ICTM Study Group on Performing Arts of Southeast Asia (PASEA).

Her major publications include Malaysian Shadow Puppet Theatre and Music: Continuity of an Oral Tradition (Oxford University Press, 1993 and reprint, The Asian Centre Penang, 1997), Muzik Malaysia, Tradisi Klasik, Rakyat dan Sinkretik (1997, new version UM Press 2012) and the English translation Music of Malaysia, the Classical, Folk and Syncretic Traditions (Ashgate, 2004 and new edition Routledge, 2017) co-authored with Tan Sooi Beng. She has written several articles on Malay music in international journals and the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (1998), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2001), and Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (2014). She has contributed music analysis and commentary on Iban healing chants (pelian) in Clifford Sather, Seeds of Play, Words of Power, An Ethnographic Study of Iban Shamanic Chants (2001), and on the Iban funeral chants (sabak) of Sarawak (in Vinson Sutlive, Ed. Tears of Sorrow, Words of Hope. Kuching, Sarawak: Tun Jugah Foundation, 2012).

Hanafi Hussin is a former Professor in the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Malaya, and serves as a NusPARC Research Fellow. He holds an MA in Southeast Asian Studies with a thesis entitled "The Development of Philippine Political Theatre During the Marcos Regime, 1969-1972." He received his Ph.D. in Performing Arts Studies from the Academy of Malay Studies, Universiti Malaya, in 2007 with a thesis entitled "Rice Farming Ritual and Identity of Kadazan of Penampang, Sabah, Malaysia. He has conducted fieldwork in culture and performing arts in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, and his home country Malaysia.

His research focuses on ritual and identity in the performing arts of Southeast Asia. He has performed long-term studies and research in these fields in several communities in Malaysian Borneo, such as the Kadazandusun of Penampang and the Lotud Dusun community of Tuaran in Sabah. His current research is on ritual performance among the maritime communities, particularly the Bajau-Sama people (Bajau, Bajau Laut/Sama Dilaut) of the east coast of Sabah and the Southern Philippines.

He is also contributing his administration skills to Universiti Malaya as former Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (2016-2018), Deputy Dean of Social Advancement and Happiness Research Cluster (SAH) (2019-2021). He also managed research centers as head of the Maritime Community, Law, Policy and Governance Unit, Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences (IOES) (2008-present), Universiti Malaya Cultural and Heritage Research Centre (UMCHRC) (2020-present), and Head of Malaysian Population and Migration Research Centre (MPMRC) (2018-present). He also serves as an Adjunct Professor at the National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage (ASWARA), Ministry of Culture Arts and Tourism, Malaysia.