Dr Sameer Kumar is Associate Professor at the Asia-Europe Institute (AEI), Universiti Malaya. His research interests lie at the intersection of social informatics, digital economy and international relations, including topics such as AI governance, ASEAN–EU relations and the interplay between technology, geopolitics and human networks. Prior to academia, he spent more than a decade working in the IT industry in India, where he worked as a director and consultant to foreign firms, a background that has shaped his approach to social science research as computational and project management oriented.

Dr. Sameer has been consistently ranked in the World's Top 2% Scientists list (released by Stanford University and Elsevier) from 2021 to 2025 (present) - Field: Social Sciences. 

Dr Kumar was previously a Visiting Research Scientist at TU Ilmenau, Germany, where he did joint scientometric research. He also led Malaysia’s participation in a bilateral research project with ETH Zurich and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) as Main International Partner. Most recently, he expanded his international partnerships through a new collaboration on artificial intelligence and embodied intelligence with an industry partner in China.

At AEI, he has been the coordinator for the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, which is supported by the European Commission. He is also Associate Editor of SAGE Open and Special Issue Editor for Behaviour & Information Technology (Taylor & Francis). In addition, he is the Founding Managing Editor of the AEI journal, AEI Insights. Dr Kumar is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®), awarded by the Project Management Institute (PMI), USA. He has been maintaining this certification since 2008.

He regularly contributes op-ed articles and commentary to the local and international media on topics such as AI governance and ASEAN, and his writings have appeared in the New Straits Times, The Star, The Malaysian Reserve and Eurasia Review.

He is a dedicated mentor to many doctoral and postgraduate students from Asia and Europe, and coordinates the International Master of ASEAN Studies programme and the upcoming Master of European Studies at AEI.