Dr Mohd Zaidi Md Zabri

Dr Mohd Zaidi Md Zabri is an Assistant Professor at IIUM Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance (IIiBF) and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Islamic Economics, Kulliyyah of Economics and Management Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia, whose work sits at the intersection of household financial behaviour, financial vulnerability, and the institutional functioning of Islamic financial systems. He holds a PhD in Islamic Banking and Finance and has close to a decade of experience in teaching, research, and policy-oriented engagement related to Islamic finance and economics. He previously served as Senior Lecturer at Universiti Malaya and Universiti Sains Malaysia, where he taught at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and supervised research in areas including Islamic banking, takaful, financial behaviour, and household wellbeing. His research examines how Islamic financial products, policies, and institutions operate in practice, particularly in relation to household affordability, debt burden, retirement adequacy, and consumer decision-making. His work has been published in Scopus- and WoS-indexed journals and has contributed to academic and policy discussions on financial wellbeing, inclusion, and governance within Malaysia’s Islamic finance ecosystem. Beyond academia, he has been involved in applied and policy-relevant research projects funded by public institutions, including Ministry of Finance-related initiatives. He previously served as Interim Director and Senior Research Fellow at a centre of excellence in Islamic economics under INCEIF University, a private university established by Bank Negara Malaysia, where he contributed to research coordination, governance processes, and policy-facing research outputs. He is also an active public intellectual, having written more than 120 op-eds and made regular media appearances in mainstream print, digital, and broadcast platforms on issues related to household finance, Islamic social finance, and ethical economic policy. This public engagement reflects a sustained commitment to translating rigorous academic research into accessible insights for policy, institutional, and wider public audiences. Selected highlights of his media contributions are available at: https://linktr.ee/zaidizabri.