Professor Asadullah received his Masters and Doctorate degrees in Economics from Oxford University. Previously he taught economics at the University of Malaya (2014-2022) and Reading University (UK) (2006-2013). At the University of Malaya, he additionally served as the Deputy Director of the Centre for Poverty and Development Studies (CPDS) (2014-2016). He also held visiting positions at Harvard, Oxford, Manchester, Kent, Dhaka, BRAC, Chulalongkorn and Mindanao State Universities. Other active affiliations include: Permanent member of the National Agricultural Advisory Council (MPPN), Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MAFI), Government of Malaysia; Visiting Professorial Fellow (University of Manchester); Fellow of the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Peer Review College; Research Fellow of the IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Global Labor Organization (GLO) Lead for Malaysia & South-East Asia; Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA); Co-founder of the Initiative on Education, Gender and Growth in Asia.

Among his other academic responsibiities, Professor Niaz Asadullah is an Associate Editor of several WoS journals: Singapore Economic Review (World Scientific), Journal of Human Development and Capabilities (Taylor & Francis),  PLOS One,  International Journal of Educational Development  (Elsevier) & Asia Pacific Education Review (Springer) and Co-Editor of the Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics (Springer Nature). He is also on the editorial advisory board of Journal of Poverty and Public Policy (Willey), Journal of Public Affairs (Willey), COMPARE: A Journal of Comparative and International Education (Taylor & Francis), Journal of Demography (Thailand) and  Malaysian Journal of Economics.

His research focuses on poverty, education, labor market, skills formation and gender issues with a focus on South/East Asia countries. His work has been supported by the Social Security Research Centre (SSRC) and HIR schemes of the University of Malaya as well as international grants such as the Australian Development Research Award Scheme, Leverhulme Trust (UK), International Growth Centre (IGC), the DFID (UK), Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), South Asian Network of Economic Research Institutes, Global Education Commission, and the World Bank. He has also consulted for Asian Productivity Organization (APO), BRAC, Oxford Policy Management, BAPPENAS (Government of Indonesia), UN-ESCAP, UNESCO, the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO).

He has published 50+ WoS articles in economics, development studies and other multidisciplinary journals. In addition, Prof Asadullah has published 200+ media 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). He has 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. His ongoing research on home learning & schooling in Malaysia under the government's flagship PdPR scheme has also received extensive media coverage - the Star (1 2 3) & Astro TV (1 2)).