Dr. Erialdi Syahrial is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya, whose professional profile is distinguished by the integration of more than 10 years of industrial experience with PROTON, more than seven years of living and academic exposure in Japan, extensive international research collaboration, and multidisciplinary expertise in business, management, operations, logistics, sustainability, and carbon management. His career reflects a continuous connection between industry and academia, combining practical industrial experience with academic research and international knowledge exchange to address contemporary challenges in sustainable transportation, logistics, circular economy, green innovation, and industrial decarbonisation.

Before joining academia, Dr. Erialdi developed a substantial industrial career spanning more than a decade with PROTON, Malaysia's national automotive manufacturer. He served in several key positions within the Research and Development (R&D) Department, including Section Head, Lead Engineer, and Project Leader. His responsibilities covered automotive after-sales service, customer satisfaction, project management, operational improvement, and coordination of international projects. During his tenure, he was involved in international after-sales projects and worked with stakeholders and partners from the United Kingdom, Italy, South Korea, and Germany. This experience exposed him to the complexities of global automotive operations and provided direct interaction with CEOs, managing directors, customers, suppliers, engineers, consultants, and other senior stakeholders.

His extensive industrial career at PROTON established a strong practical foundation for his subsequent academic career. In particular, his experience in managing complex projects, coordinating multiple stakeholders, addressing customer and service issues, and improving operational performance continues to influence his approach to teaching and research. Rather than viewing business and management as purely theoretical disciplines, Dr. Erialdi emphasises the importance of connecting academic knowledge with real-world industrial problems, measurable operational outcomes, and practical solutions. This industry-oriented perspective has become one of the defining characteristics of his academic work.

His professional and academic development was further strengthened through more than seven years of living and academic exposure in Japan. His long-term experience in Japan provided him with first-hand exposure to the country's academic environment, industrial practices, technological development, operational systems, and culture of continuous improvement. This experience also enabled him to develop lasting professional relationships and academic networks that continue to support his current international research activities. His familiarity with the Japanese research and industrial ecosystem has become an important foundation for his continuing research collaborations with universities and researchers in Japan, particularly in areas related to sustainable transportation, logistics, operations management, innovation, and environmental sustainability.

Building on his Japanese experience, Dr. Erialdi has also developed active research collaborations with universities and researchers in Indonesia. These collaborations contribute to stronger academic and knowledge connections between Malaysia, Japan, and Indonesia and create opportunities for comparative research, joint publications, student development, knowledge exchange, and multidisciplinary research projects. His engagement across these countries reflects his broader commitment to developing research networks within the Asian region, particularly around sustainability, transportation, logistics, circular economy, and emerging low-carbon technologies.

His international academic exposure extends beyond Asia. Dr. Erialdi has also served as a Visiting Researcher at Weber State University in the United States, further broadening his international academic experience and research network. More recently, his growing international academic visibility has been demonstrated through his appointment as an International Keynote Speaker at international conferences in 2025 and 2026. These keynote engagements provide opportunities for him to share his research perspectives, industrial experiences, and multidisciplinary expertise with international academic and professional audiences. They also reflect increasing recognition of his contributions at the intersection of business and management, operations, logistics, sustainability, innovation, and carbon management.

At Universiti Malaya, Dr. Erialdi's teaching and research activities are primarily centred on Operations Management, Logistics Management, Supply Chain Management, and Quality Management. He also contributes to Project Management, Research Methodology, and Work Design and Ergonomics. His teaching approach is strongly influenced by his industrial background, with emphasis on connecting theoretical concepts to actual industrial situations. Industrial cases, field-based learning, site visits, operational problems, and applied research are incorporated into his teaching to help students understand how organisations can improve efficiency, quality, productivity, resilience, and operational excellence.

This combination of industry experience and academic expertise has naturally led Dr. Erialdi towards applied and multidisciplinary research. His research increasingly focuses on the intersection between business and management and emerging sustainability and engineering challenges. Rather than concentrating solely on technological development, his work examines the broader feasibility and implementation dimensions of emerging technologies, including economic feasibility, operational requirements, supply-chain implications, organisational readiness, stakeholder acceptance, business models, adoption intention, and scalability.

A significant component of his current research direction involves sustainability, green engineering innovation, circular economy, sustainable transportation, and carbon management. His research activities are closely aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities; and SDG 13: Climate Action. Through this sustainability-oriented research agenda, he seeks to contribute to the development of low-carbon, resource-efficient, resilient, and economically viable systems for both industrial and community applications.

One important area of his collaborative research in Malaysia involves biochar and oil-palm biomass utilisation. Dr. Erialdi is involved in research collaborations with Malaysian universities and researchers investigating the potential of oil-palm-derived biomass and biochar-based solutions. His contribution is particularly focused on the business, management, feasibility, economic, operational, supply-chain, and stakeholder dimensions of these emerging applications. By complementing the technical and engineering expertise of collaborating researchers, he contributes to assessing whether technically promising biochar and oil-palm innovations can be transformed into economically viable, operationally feasible, scalable, and market-oriented solutions.

His involvement in biochar research reflects his broader interest in the circular economy and biomass valorisation, particularly the transformation of agricultural and industrial residues into higher-value products and sustainability solutions. His research perspective considers not only the environmental benefits of biochar but also questions such as how biochar-based systems can be implemented, what business models may support their adoption, how supply chains can be developed, what economic benefits can be generated, how communities and industry stakeholders can be engaged, and how such systems can be scaled from pilot projects to wider implementation. This multidisciplinary perspective enables technological research to be evaluated from both technical and business-management perspectives.

In parallel with his work on circular economy and biochar, Dr. Erialdi is developing an emerging research programme in Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) and Direct Air Capture (DAC). His research examines the potential application of carbon-management technologies in challenging sectors where conventional decarbonisation approaches may be insufficient, particularly aviation, maritime transportation, logistics, and other industrial systems. His approach focuses on understanding the technological feasibility of these systems while simultaneously examining their economic, operational, organisational, and stakeholder implications.

His interest in CCUS and DAC is particularly relevant to the future decarbonisation of transportation infrastructure. He is exploring how carbon-capture solutions could potentially contribute to reducing emissions associated with airports, ports, ground transportation, and other transportation-related activities. Importantly, his business and management background allows him to approach these technologies from a broader systems perspective, considering issues such as investment feasibility, operational integration, stakeholder acceptance, technology adoption, cost implications, supply-chain requirements, and long-term scalability.

Across these different research areas, a common theme can be identified: the translation of technological and sustainability innovations into feasible, implementable, and scalable systems. Whether the research concerns biochar from oil-palm biomass, circular economy systems, sustainable transportation, logistics innovation, CCUS, or DAC, Dr. Erialdi's research seeks to connect technological possibilities with business realities and stakeholder needs. This systems-oriented approach allows him to contribute a complementary business and management perspective to multidisciplinary research teams involving engineering, science, environmental, and technology researchers.

His research activities have also enabled him to establish and strengthen networks involving universities, government agencies, research institutions, industry partners, and international researchers. His combination of industrial experience, academic expertise, and international networks positions him well to facilitate collaboration between different sectors and disciplines. His experience at PROTON provides an understanding of industry requirements and commercial realities, while his academic position at Universiti Malaya provides a platform for developing research, educating future professionals, and establishing multidisciplinary partnerships. Meanwhile, his long-term engagement with Japan and continuing collaborations with researchers in Japan and Indonesia provide an international dimension to his work.

An important strength of Dr. Erialdi's professional profile therefore lies in his ability to connect industry, academia, government, and international research communities. His more than 10 years at PROTON gave him practical experience in a complex global manufacturing environment; his more than seven years in Japan provided substantial international exposure and long-term academic and professional networks; his collaborations with universities in Malaysia, Japan, and Indonesia have expanded his research activities across Asia; and his international keynote engagements in 2025 and 2026 have further enhanced his academic visibility and contribution to international knowledge exchange.

Looking towards the future, Dr. Erialdi aims to develop a stronger internationally connected research programme focused on green engineering innovation, sustainable transportation and logistics, circular economy, biochar and biomass valorisation, carbon management, CCUS, Direct Air Capture, and industrial decarbonisation. His future research will increasingly emphasise feasibility assessment, techno-economic analysis, business-model development, stakeholder engagement, operational design, and policy-oriented frameworks that can accelerate the adoption and scaling of sustainable technologies.

Through these efforts, he seeks to contribute not only to academic knowledge but also to practical solutions for governments, industries, communities, and other stakeholders confronting the challenges of climate change and sustainable development. His long-term vision is to support the transition towards low-carbon, circular, resilient, and economically viable systems, particularly in Southeast Asia, while strengthening international research connections between Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, and other global research communities.

Overall, Dr. Erialdi Syahrial's career represents a distinctive integration of industrial expertise, academic knowledge, international exposure, and multidisciplinary research collaboration. His more than 10 years of professional experience at PROTON, more than seven years of living and academic exposure in Japan, Visiting Researcher experience in the United States, active collaborations with universities in Malaysia, Japan, and Indonesia, and recognition as an International Keynote Speaker in 2025 and 2026 provide a strong foundation for his continuing contribution to international research and higher education. By bringing together business and management expertise with sustainability, engineering innovation, logistics, transportation, circular economy, biochar, and carbon-management research, he is well positioned to contribute to the development of practical and scalable solutions that support Net Zero 2050 ambitions and the sustainable transformation of industries and communities in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.