Meet the Instructors
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Prof. Sufian Jusoh
International Trade and Investment Expert
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Dr. Sadeq Bigdeli
International Law and Negotiation Expert
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Dr. Andika Ab. Wahab
Business and Human RIghts Expert
Professor Dr. Sufian Jusoh
Sufian Jusoh is the Director and Professor of International Trade and Investment at the Institute of Malaysia and International Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Sufian is the Chair of the ASEAN Integration Grand Challenge for Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Sufian is also an External Fellow of the World Trade Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland and a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia. Sufian is now an International Investment Law Expert at the World Bank Group. Sufian is the Co-Founder of the ASEAN Economic Integration Forum and a Member of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council Malaysian Chapter. Sufian also plays a key role in the reform of the investment laws in Myanmar, Timor Leste, Laos and the Federated States of Micronesia.
Sufian has been a consultant to many countries and international organisations such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, ASEAN, the World Trade Organisation, the World Intellectual Property Organisation, the United Nations’ Conference on Trade and Development and the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
Sufian is a Barrister-at-Law (England and Wales) of Lincoln’s Inn, London. Sufian holds an LL.B from Cardiff Law School, an LL.M (Merit), University College London and a Doctor in Law (summa Cum Laude) from University of Bern, Switzerland.
Dr. Sadeq Bigdeli
Sadeq Bigdeli is an international lawyers and a law professor since 2010. From 2010-2016, he was a senior lecturer in law at the University of Waikato in New Zealand where he taught international trade law, international law, administrative law, and jurisprudence. In 2017/2019, he has been a visiting research Fellow at Osgoode Hall Law School’s Jack and Mae Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security.
While a law professor in New Zealand in 2014 and at the peak of negotiations over Iran’s Nuclear Deal, Dr. Bigdeli was invited by the Government of Iran (Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade) to help manage the process of the country’s reintegration into the world economy. He was assigned to guide Iran’s WTO accession file, trade agreements as well as bilateral economic dialogue with the EU, Switzerland and a number of other countries.
In his capacity as Chief Trade Negotiator appointed by the Minister for Industry, Mines and Trade, Dr. Bigdeli succeeded in garnering the diplomatic support of the majority of key WTO member States in the form of a collective statement at the General Council in favor of reactivating Iran’s accession process. Together with the WTO Secretariat, he designed a roadmap for the resumption of Iran’s accession process for the first time.
He also designed a new strategy for Iran’s preferential trade agreements and led a few rounds of negotiations for a number of trade agreements including a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Community. Dr. Bigdeli resigned as soon as President Trump won the 2016 elections and took up a position at the SBU (National) University of Iran.
He then led a nationwide research project to formulate Iran’s first national trade policy document with a focus on industrial policy and environmental sustainability. Dr. Bigdeli holds an MA and a PhD in law from the University of Bern, and an LLM (’09) from Harvard Law School.
He has co-edited two volumes with Cambridge University Press (2009) and Edward Elgar (2017) and published numerous articles and book chapters in the last decade.
He was a postdoctoral research Fellow at Georgetown Law School in 2011 and a lecturer at Harvard Institute for Global Law & Policy in Doha in 2014. He is currently the founder of Bigdeli Academy, which is a Canadian startup focused on educational consulting.
Ambassador Dato’ Muhammad Noor Yacob
Current positions: Board Member, Malaysia Productivity Corporation; Member, National Wages Consultative Council; Adjunct Professor, IKMAS; Chairman APEC Study Centre, UKM
Previous Positions: Executive Director, APEC Secretariat (2010-2012); Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Malaysia to WTO (2003-2009); Chairman WTO General Council (2007); Chairman WTO Dispute Settlement Body (2006); Chairman WTO Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation (2004-2005)
Education: Muhamad Noor is alumnus of University of Malaya, University of Wisconsin at Madison and Harvard Business School.Royal Awards: Darjah Indera Mahkota Pahang; Kesatria Mangku Negara