DR DIANA CHEONG (Executive Director and Chief Researcher)
Dr Diana Cheong (P.I.K.B 2005) is the Executive Director and Chief Researcher of the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS), where she oversees research as well as other major activities. She specialised in sociology, public policy, and economic development. Her experience in policy analysis spans over 20 years, and she is a prominent Policy Researcher and Consultant in Brunei.
She has undertaken pioneering research in Brunei on youth development, work and employment, poverty and productivity challenges.
She successfully led several research projects on Brunei including a number of studies on Brunei Futures and Strategic Foresight, Youth and Drug Abuse, Poverty Studies, Unemployment Studies, Feasibility Study on Alternative Energy Sources, Social Problems Among Young People , Blueprint For Vision 2035 Sustainable And Inclusive Land Transportation System , White Paper on Making Brunei Darussalam the Preferred Holiday Destination, Land Optimisation National Strategy for Industrial and Commercial Growth, Financial Literacy Survey and National Strategy and the Formulation of Brunei National Youth Policy and Strategy 2020-35. She leads in designing and facilitating Executive Development Programmes particularly within the field of Public Policy Analysis, Survey Research Methods, Strategic Planning and Strategic Foresight.
Prior to joining CSPS, she was a Senior Lecturer in Public Policy for Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) and held a number of principal administrative posts at UBD such as Dean of Research and Postgraduate Studies, Director of International Office and Director of the Institute of Leadership, Innovation and Advancement. She has also worked for the Brunei Narcotics Control Bureau (Intelligence Unit). She is a qualified Advocate & Solicitor (Lincolns Inn, Supreme Court of Brunei), Harvard trained in Negotiations and Competitive Decision Making, Strategic Planning (Haines Gold Mastery), Change Management (Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Australia and Strategic Foresight & Horizon Scanning (Action Foresight Australia).
Scenario Development for Job Futures in Brunei Darussalam 2040, (CSPS Strategy Policy Journal Volume 8).
Cheong, D. (2000) “Administrative Accountability and the Law in Brunei Darussalam”, (2000/2001) Tinjauan IV.
PROFESSOR ALVIN ANG (Senior Researcher)
Alvin Ang is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS). He was Chair of the Department from 2022 to 2024 and Director of Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (ACERD) from 2016-2021. He continues to be part of ACERD as a Senior Fellow providing economic briefings to corporate as well as government clients. He also is a favorite guest resource person on economic and policy matters on radio and television both in the Philippines and abroad.
His professional experience spans more than three decades as an economic development specialist, investment analyst, corporate planner, program officer, lecturer, and officer in government, private sector and academic research institutions. He has taught for last 34 years full time at the University of Santo Tomas and Ateneo de Manila University. He has served as adjunct faculty at the Asian Institute of Management, Development Academy of the Philippines, Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan and Chiang Mai University in Thailand. He has been regularly consulted by the Philippine Government and various international development agencies such as the World Bank, International Labour Organization, Asian Development Bank and other UN agencies on policy matters pertaining to the economy, labor and migration, competitiveness, governance reforms and public finance.
He earned his PhD in Applied Economics at Osaka University Graduate School of Economics. as a Research Scholar of the Japanese Government in 2006 and his Master in Public Policy from the National University of Singapore as a scholar of the Singaporean government in 1999. He is an alumnus of University of Santo Tomas, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics in 1989. He was the President of the Philippine Economic Society in 2013 where he is a lifetime member.
He is a Fellow of the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion at the University of California at Irvine and a Fulbright Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University.
He is an advocate on financial literacy and had taught on this topic in many circles within the Philippines and abroad especially for the Overseas Filipino Workers.
DR AZRINAH RAHMAN (Researcher)
Dr Azrinah is a Researcher at the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS) and heads the Public and Social Policy Unit. Her research interest includes those on future skills and education, family and work-balance policies, intergenerational solidarity, gender disparity and women’s status in society, and early childhood development.
Her main focus and expertise are on qualitative research, which includes substantial literature reviews, data collection, and analysis, as well as conducting focus groups, in-depth interviews, and surveys. Azrinah has led several research projects including Mid Term Review of the ASEAN Socio Cultural Blueprint (ASCC), Evaluation of Current Policy Measures in achieving its Key Performance indictors (KPI) in Addressing Youth Unemployment, A Study of Reasons for the Commission of Theft by Convicted Persons Currently in Prison and Women Development in Brunei Darussalam.
DR KARTINI RAHMAN (Researcher)
Dr Kartini Rahman is a Researcher at the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS). Dr Kartini has a PhD in Gerontology from University of Southampton, UK, a Masters of Science (MSc) in Social Research from London Metropolitan University, UK, and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Sociology and Politics from the University of Kent, UK.
Her expertise is in qualitative research, with an emphasis on in-depth interviewing, participant observation, thematic and case study analysis. She has over 10 years of practice and training in qualitative data analysis with the software NVivo. Dr Kartini has considerable experience facilitating workshops, report writing, data collection and supervising fieldworkers in several research projects such as ‘The Brunei Barometer’ (2023), ‘Study of reasons for the commission of theft by convicted persons in prison’ (2021), ‘Brunei National Survey on Risk Factors of Non-Communicable Diseases’ (2016), ‘National Health Survey System’ (2013), and so on. Her main research interests are population ageing, intergenerational support flows, with a focus on the contributions and unmet needs of older adults in Brunei.
DR HAZWAN HAINI (Researcher)
Dr Hazwan Haini is a Researcher at the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS). Dr Hazwan has a PhD in Economics from Loughborough University, UK, a Masters of Science (MSc) in Banking and Finance from Loughborough University, UK, and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Banking, Finance and Management from Loughborough University, UK. Dr Hazwan has spent several years as an academic at the University of Brunei Darussalam, and Loughborough University, with extensive experience in teaching and research. He has supervised numerous research students and taught over a range of economics modules.
He has published several high-impact papers including World Development, Journal of Travel Research, Annals of Tourism Research, and Resources Policy. This includes a paper on the effect of economic diversification on export upgrading in Brunei Darussalam. He has been awarded several research grants and has achieved the Research Excellence Award at UBD. His main research interests include growth economics, applied economics, economic diversification, and fiscal consolidation.
YUZILAWATI ABDULLAH (Associate Researcher)
Yuzilawati Abdullah is an Associate Researcher at the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS). With a background in Energy Economics and Islamic Banking & Finance, Yuzilawati began her career in the petroleum industry where she gained extensive experience having held various roles in research and analyses of upstream and downstream projects.
She later joined the financial services sector as a Finance Manager in a leading Islamic Financial Institution, where she led the execution of Shariah compliant investment instruments. Yuzi has been involved in numerous projects at CSPS, and facilitates workshops for CSPS and government stakeholders. She has also provided training at the Civil Service Institute, in Strategic Foresight to senior government officers, as well as participants of the Youth Executive Programme. She is trained in Strategic Planning (Haines Master Class and Gold Mastery Certification), Strategic Implementation (Haines), Foresight (School of International Futures, London) and Strategic Foresight and Horizon Scanning (Action Foresight, Australia). She is a member of the ASEAN Foresight Alliance and Co-Vice Head of Brunei Futures Initiative (BFI).
NUR IZZATI HAJI SHAHARI (Associate Researcher)
Izzati Shahari is an Associate Researcher at the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS). Izzati has an Msc in Social Statistics (Research Methods) and a BSc in Applied Social Sciences (Criminology) from the University of Southampton, UK. Izzati’s strong academic background on research methods, particularly in survey design and quantitative analysis of social science data, is complemented by her certification in Public Policy Analysis from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
She is trained in experimental designs to assess the impact of public policies, public policy communication, and effective data visualisation. She also has considerable experience facilitating workshops and managing nationwide research projects such as the ‘Brunei Barometer 2023’, ‘National Financial Literacy Survey 2023’ and ‘Women Development in Brunei Darussalam’. Her capabilities include coding paper-based surveys into computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) tools, utilising digital tools to manage large survey data, as well as overseeing and providing guidance to fieldworkers throughout the data collection period for quality assurance. Prior to joining CSPS, Izzati worked with the Brunei Darussalam Central Bank, where her responsibilities primarily concerned the development and implementation of national Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CFT) policies.
DR SUFRIZUL HUSSEINI (Associate Researcher)
Dr Sufrizul Husseini is an Associate Researcher at the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS). He specializes in macroeconomic analysis and forecasting. His research interests include macroeconomic management, economic growth and international trade with a specific emphasis on China and the Asian economies. He has delivered presentations and talks at several local and international workshops, seminars and conferences. He has authored and written scholarly articles in prestigious academic publications as well as policy papers.
Dr Sufrizul Husseini is currently involved in several national development research projects such as the Brunei Economic Outlook, Brunei Barometer and Financial Literacy.
Dr Sufrizul completed his Ph.D in Economics at the University of Brunei Darussalam (UBD) in Brunei Darussalam. He also holds a master's degree in Economics from UBD and a bachelor's degree in International Economics from the University of Essex, United Kingdom. Prior to joining CSPS, Dr Sufrizul completed an internship at the Centre of Islamic, Banking, Finance and Management (CIBFM) and worked as a Research Assistant at UBD.
ANWAR NOR HASHIM (Associate Researcher)
Anwar Nor Hashim is an Associate Researcher at the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS). His primary responsibility is to provide support for research projects within the fields of economics and social policy. Some recent projects that Anwar has been actively involved in include 'Brunei Economic Outlook,' 'The Brunei Barometer' (2023), and the development of strategic plans for external agencies. He also facilitates Research Methods for Policy Analysis workshop for government stakeholders.
His primary research interests are centered on macroeconomics and labor economics, and he is also proficient in data analytics; including data cleaning, analysis, and visualization. Before joining CSPS, he worked at Berjaya Corporation in Kuala Lumpur, where he was tasked with conducting data analysis and extracting valuable insights to guide strategic decision-making across various business units. Anwar obtained a Master's degree in Economics from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) with a research dissertation on the macroeconomic determinants of unemployment in Malaysia throughout 1982 to 2019. He earned a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) and was a recipient of the university's Silver Medal.