Previously I worked at Monash University Malaysia (2022-2024); the University of Malaya as a Full Professor (2014-2022) and Deputy Director of the Centre for Poverty and Development Studies (2014-2016); Reading University (UK) as an assistant professor (2007-2013); BRAC (research and evaluation division) as a Distinguished Fellow; BRAC University as a Senior Fellow; honorary research adviser to BRAC International (Afghanistan) and have held visiting positions at Harvard University (Centre for International development); Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS); visiting Professorial Fellow (Hon.) at the University of Manchester, visiting Professor at the Mindanao State University (MSU), research member of the Centre on Effective States and Inclusive Development (ESID) and Fellow of the ESRC Peer Review College.
Other current affiliations include:
Life Fellow RSA
Southeast Asia Lead, the Global Labor Organization
Research Fellow, the IZA Institute of Labor Economics
Research Associate, SKOPE (Dept of Education, University of Oxford)
Visiting Professor, Bangladesh University of Health Sciences (BUHS)
Research Associate, Social Welfare Research Centre (SWRC), University of Malaya
Outside academia, I have held policy advisory positions in the Government of Malaysia -- with Malaysian Productivity Corporation (MPC) and Ministry of Food and Agriculture (as a Permanent member of the National Agricultural Advisory Council (MPPN)). I have also completed numerous policy/consultancy assignments for international agencies such as the Global Education Commission, the Asian Productivity Organization, Oxford Policy Management, American Institutes for Research, UN-ESCAP, UNESCO, the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO). The most prominent policy report is the first-ever global assessment of education quality in Islamic (OIC) countries.
Among my other academic responsibilities, I serve as an Academic Editor of PLOS One, Associate Editor of Singapore Economic Review , Co-Editor of International Journal of Educational Development (IJED), Associate Editor of the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, and on the editorial advisory board of 4 academic journals - Feminist Economics, Poverty & Public Policy, Journal of Public Affairs, COMPARE (Journal of International and Comparative Education), Asia Pacific Education Review, Talim: Journal of Education in Muslim Societies and Communities and Malaysian Economic Journal.
My current research interests include development economics, economics of education and labor economics. Current research draws upon data from South and South-East Asia and focuses on issues such as inter-generational economic mobility, subjective well-being, causes and consequence of extreme poverty, inequality of opportunity, quality of secondary schools and the rise of Islamic schools (aka madrasahs), and the low level of student learning in schools. For my research, I've held resident and project assignments in 10 countries across the Middle East (Jordan), Far East (Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam), South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan) and Africa (Ethiopia, Nigeria).
I also regularly contribute to the international media and have so far published 200+ commentary articles /opinion pieces in newspapers/magazines including the Project Syndicate, the Conversation, World Economic Forum, the Diplomat, the East Asia Forum, D+C Development & Cooperation, and World Education Forum (UNESCO). I've also appeared on interviews with Al-jazeera, ABC Australia, Astro Awani TV (Malaysia), BBC World Service, Business FM Malaysia, the Economist, the Star (Malaysia), the Edge Financial Daily (Malaysia) & Daily Sabah (Turkey). For further details on media appearance and publications, please visit "newspaper opeds & media"
As for academic research, I have published widely in economics as well as development studies journals and leading multidisciplinary journals. For further details on these works, please click on "publications"
Want to get in touch? You can contact me using any of the following email addresses:
University of Reading (UK) email id: m.asadullah @ reading.ac.uk
North South University email id: niaz.asadullah @ northsouth.edu