Danial is the Deputy Executive Director of Academic & Student Affairs at the International Institute of Public Policy and Management (INPUMA) at Universiti Malaya (UM). He teaches the Master of Public Policy (MPP) programme and previously worked as an Adjunct Professor at the Asia Pacific University (2022-2024). Additionally, he also delivered several policy lectures and seminars at the Royal Malaysian Police College (MPDRM), the Public Service Department (JPA) Policy Lab series, a Purposeful and Principled Leadership Immersion (PPL-I) course hosted by the UM Centre for Leadership and Professional Development (UM LEAD).

Previously, Danial served as the Secretary of the Malaysian International Studies Association (2023-2024) and was a Fellow at the Research Institute for Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore at Universiti Utara Malaysia (ITS-UUM) during the same period. He is also a member of several professional organisations, including the International Political Science Association (IPSA) in Montreal, Canada, the International Studies Association (ISA) in the US, the British International Studies Association (BISA), the Royal African Studies Association (RAS), the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA), and the African Studies Association (ASA) in the US. Additionally, he is also a lifetime member of the Malaysian-Japan Studies Association (MAJAS), a Research Fellow at the Malaysia-Japan Research Centre (MJRC), and a former member of the Malaysian Association for American Studies (MAAS) and Malaysian Scholars on Korea (MASK) with Malaysia's International Strategic and International Studies (ISIS)

In addition to his peer-reviewed tasks in Third World Quarterly, Comparative Politics, African Identities, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, SAGE Open, Kajian Malaysia (USM Press), and Journal of International Studies (UUM Press), Danial currently serves on the Editorial Boards of the Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities (UPM Press) and the Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) Journal of Social and Political Science (JSP-FISIP), all indexed in Scopus and WOS. He has also served on the editorial boards of the Malaysian Journal of International Relations (MJIR), SINERGI: Journal of Strategic Studies & International Affairs (UKM Press), and WILAYAH: International Journal of East Asian Studies (UM Press).

Alongside his internal supervision and examination duties, he has acted as a supervisor for the Malaysian Armed Forces Defence College-National University of Malaysia (MPAT-UKM) programme. Danial has also worked as an external examiner for PhD theses in politics, policy, and security at universities in Malaysia, Australia, Japan, India, Pakistan, and Singapore. Furthermore, he has been involved in various government and industry projects in roles including consultant, moderator, resource person, invited speaker, and public lecturer. Apart from his academic publications, Danial has contributed commentaries and participated in interviews addressing various issues for national and global media. Danial was also previously given invited lectures at the UUM, UNIZA, APU and UiTM. He also served as a founding advisor for the UM student association, Malaya Model United Nations (2016-2023).

Danial holds a PhD in International Relations (Political Science) from the University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom. During his doctoral studies, he was mentored by the late Professor Ian Taylor, a prominent expert in Africa-Asia Politics and Relations and Critical Political Economy. He was awarded the UM Bright Spark Fellowship, which facilitated his PhD studies. Moreover, Danial has conducted extensive fieldwork and study visits across several African and Asian countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Libya, Egypt, Sierra Leone, and in Europe: The Former Republic of Yugoslavia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany, Greece, and Cyprus. He has also travelled to Russia, Canada, Brazil, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia.

Danial also obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Distinction Honours), majoring in International and Strategic Studies and minoring in East Asian Studies. During the 2007 UM Graduation Ceremony, he received the Ghazali Shafie Book Prize and the Dato Panglima Kinta Yusuf Gold Medal.

Danial is highly interested in conducting research, teaching, and supervising in the areas related to Global South or Africa-Asia Relations in Comparative Public Policy, Malaysia's Public and Foreign Policy Analysis, and Peace and Conflict Studies. He has been awarded various prestigious grants such as the European Union-Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (EU-SUHAKAM), the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS), the National Agency for Anti-Drug Research Grant, the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Malaysian government, and grants of the Sumito Foundation (Japan), Japan Foundation and Korea Foundation (South Korea).