I have been a Professor of Development Economics at the University of Malaya, visiting fellow at Oxford, Manchester, Reading and Mindanao State Universities and research member of IZA (Bonn) and the Centre on Effective States and Inclusive Development (ESID) (Manchester).

My research interests include gender and human development; poverty and inequality; labor market institutions; and education. I've held resident and research project assignments in 10 countries across the Middle East (Jordan), Far East (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines), South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan) and Africa (Ethiopia, Nigeria).

I am the GLO Cluster Lead South-East Asia and the GLO Country Lead Malaysia.