Badrul is an independent researcher and arts practitioner whose work moves between urban policy, democracy, and storytelling. His practice is grounded in questions of inequality, human security, and the everyday experience of cities—particularly in Malaysia and Southeast Asia. Across research, film, and photography, he is interested in how large political and economic forces are felt in ordinary lives.
In the field of urban development, Badrul has led research initiatives aimed at reforming Malaysia’s public housing system, including his work with Think City. He coordinated evidence-based studies, co-authored a White Paper on public housing reform, and wrote on the social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on low-income communities. His work examines how housing policy intersects with inequality, urban citizenship, and lived space.
Beyond urban policy, Badrul directed multi-year programmes addressing violent extremism and community resilience in Malaysia through IMAN Research, and developed regional monitoring initiatives examining conflicts in Southern Thailand and Mindanao and their implications for Malaysia. This work contributed to wider conversations on governance, security, and the social and economic dimensions of protracted conflict.
Badrul has also served as an election observer in post-conflict and transitional contexts including Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, the southern Philippines, and Myanmar under the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL). These assignments shaped his understanding of democratic restoration, institutional fragility, and the uneven realities of political reform.
Alongside policy and research, Badrul co-founded and edits Svara, a print magazine exploring culture and contemporary issues in Southeast Asia. As a writer, director, and photographer, he works across documentary and fiction, often focusing on lives at the margins and the quiet strangeness of the everyday. His films have screened internationally; Maryam received the Most Original Film award at the 21st Asian Film Festival in Rome. He is also the author of the photobooks Triple-Flavoured Fish and Institute of Social Science and Mysticism, which blend documentary imagery with speculative and literary elements.
Badrul holds a BSc in Liberal Arts from The New School, an MSc in Urban Science, Policy and Planning from the Singapore University of Technology and Design, and an MSc in Inequalities and Social Science from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Mostly, I have witnessed changes for the worse. Improvements in the economy often come with a decline in quality of life; better infrastructure brings a loss of freedom. Yet, sometimes, we see true positive change, where lives genuinely improve, and the gains outweigh the costs. It's for these rare moments that we persist in our work.Badrul Hisham Ismail