Coordinator, Master of Gender Studies Program, Universiti Malaya (UM)

Dr Lai Suat Yan is a social scientist with interdisciplinary training in gender studies attached to the Gender Studies Programme, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Malaya (UM). She is currently the Coordinator of the Master of Gender Studies Program, the first such program in Malaysia that she successfully led in establishing a few years ago. She has rich experiences in designing curriculum on gender studies including GEDI responsive curriculum and was invited as an expert to validate such curriculum that incorporates a glocal perspective in higher education institutions regionally in South East Asia. Significantly, she uses her research skills and experiences on various gender issues to advocate for better policies and laws towards building a gender equal society from the issue of gender-based violence in society to gender equality in the workplace. She was recently the lead consultant for Phase II of the Project on Strengthening Leadership with Gender Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity in Higher Education Institutions in Southeast Asia commissioned by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Regional Centre for Higher Education and Development (RIHED). Specifically, on the topic of sexual harassment, she has contributed at the university, national and international level. She was involved in drafting the sexual harassment policy for UM in late 1990s and its review in 2021 as well as an expert panel to investigate cases of sexual harassment. She was also an expert panel of the task force to finalize the Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill from 2019-2021 under the auspices of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development and currently appointed as a Tribunal Member for Anti-Sexual Harassment. She has also facilitated workshops, taught, researched and published on the topic of gender-based violence and has been interviewed in the media on this topic.