Environmental security and governance specialist with experience in policy analysis and thought leadership content creation.
With a background in policy research and analysis, as well as experience in advocacy networks, Sofiah Jamil is a think tanker that turned to business to create more real world impact.
She was a former researcher at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, which was seminal in developing her years of experience on issues relating to environmental security and governance, human development in Asia. She has co-led two programmes: Climate Change, Environmental Security and Natural Disasters; and Energy Security. Her research and writing focuses on policy-relevant perspectives on the environment in the Asian region.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sofiah served as Co-Director, Young Digital Media Professionals Initiative under the Experiential Professional Development Division of the East-West Center, Honolulu, USA.
She was conferred a BA (Honours) from the University of Western Australia in 2006, and an MSc (International Relations) from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University in July 2010. Sofiah is also an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, which recognises professional competency in higher education.
Sofiah understands the importance of communication and people-to-people exchanges through her own in experience in several networks. In RSIS, Sofiah was a coordinator for the Consortium of Non-Traditional Security Studies in Asia (NTS-Asia) and ASEAN-Canada Research Partnership. She was also part of the pioneer batches of two leadership programmes. First, the United States Institute of the Environment (USIE), a programme funded by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and hosted by the East-West Center in 2009. Second, the ASEAN-Australia Emerging Leaders programme supported by Asialink in 2011. She was also the youngest participant of the International Asia-Middle East Session in Paris (2010). Organised by France’s Institute for Higher National Defence Studies, the annual 2-week programme brings together mid-career academics, civil servants and military officers from Asia and the Middle East. In December 2010, Sofiah was featured in Singapore’s Berita Harian newspaper as 1 of 50 Singapore Malay/Muslims to look out for in terms of her work on environmental challenges.
Sofiah has also been a speaker at international conferences such as the 2010 World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF)’s Young Leaders Forum, the 2012 Gulf Research Meeting at the University of Cambridge, the 2013 Singapore International Energy Week and the 2021 Global Leadership Summit.
Sofiah's appreciation for cross-cultural communication also extends to her joy in exploring the linguistical commonalities across cultures and societies. She is an aspiring polyglot and speaks English, Malay, Indonesian, German, Arabic, and Darija (in order of proficiency).