Doris Liew

Areas of Expertise

Explore Collaborative Opportunities in Strategic Areas

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Publications and Mentions

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What I'm Doing Now

Updated June 7 2026, from Kuala Lumpur

Inspired by Derek Sivers

Building Beyond a Single Career Track

Over the last six month, I have found myself moving away from a traditional economist career path and towards a more diversified portfolio of work.Today, my work spans consulting projects through my firm, independent economic commentary, policy research, speaking engagements and advisory roles. While each activity looks different on the surface, they are connected by a common interest in understanding how economies, institutions and societies evolve.

Rethinking graduate school

For the past few years, I had been planning to pursue a PhD in Economics. Lately, however, I have found myself leaning more towards a master's degree instead, though I am not ruling out the PhD route entirely.Part of this shift comes from a more pragmatic assessment of the costs and benefits. The value proposition of an economics PhD has become increasingly difficult to justify when weighed against the opportunity cost of spending several years out of the workforce, particularly given the evidence of underemployment and challenging academic job prospects faced by many economics PhD graduates.What has not changed is my love for research, learning, and deep thinking. I still enjoy spending hours grappling with complex questions, reading widely, and developing ideas. Increasingly, though, I am questioning whether a PhD is necessarily the best or only pathway to pursue that intellectual life.

STRAT369

I'm managing the economic wing. I get to drive many interesting projects.

Writing and Public Commentary

My writing journey began in 2023, and since then I have been a regular contributor to the Economist Intelligence Unit and The Edge Malaysia, while also publishing commentaries across various regional and international platforms.Writing has become one of the ways I clarify my own thinking. The process forces me to interrogate assumptions, connect seemingly unrelated developments, and think more critically about the economic and social forces shaping Southeast Asia regionMore recently, my writing output has slowed as I focus on building a broader portfolio of work, institutions and systems. Increasingly, I find myself spending time on longer-term initiatives, advisory work and platform-building rather than responding to individual topics and news cycles.That said, writing remains an important part of my professional identity, and I intend to ramp up my output again in the near future. Some ideas are simply too interesting to keep to myself.

Growing The Heat Index

My friend, Philip, and I currently started a substack publication, the Heat Index. I am taking the central role in it.Many pains but good learning go into the project, and I am continuously refining the output. It has a slow start, due partially to lack of time and attention, and partly to a little tinge of perfectionism tendency. It still faces bottlenecks, but we're getting there.

Community health and public service

I serve on the advisory panel of Taman Medan Health Clinic, where I support community health initiatives and preventive healthcare programmes.I have been involved in blood donation campaigns, health screenings and a flu vaccination drive that successfully administered all 200 available doses to senior citizens.We are currently exploring ways to expand these efforts and bring preventive healthcare to more communities. I am in charge of looking at the health grants and strategic partnership.

Next big project: Exploring Charity Entrepreneurship

This year has given me the opportunity to explore charity entrepreneurship.After progressing through five rounds of the AIM Charity Entrepreneurship selection process, I was accepted into the programme. I'm tremendously excited about this opportunity, particularly given its selectivity. Each year, approximately 3,000 to 5,000 applicants compete for a cohort of only 10 to 30 participants. (ps: I was rejected at the second round last year)Over the coming months, I'll be learning what it takes to build a high-impact nonprofit organisation from the ground up.Whether I ultimately become a charity founder remains to be seen. But if all goes well, I may end the year building an organisation of my own. We'll see.

Learning

Courses or videos to upskill myself

Reading

Selected Books and Long reads

Coffee, Chocolate and Other Obsessions

Having spent more time in my pantry turned me into a serious home barista.I conduct ongoing experiment involving coffee, hojicha lattes, iced chocolate and the occasional rabbit hole into milk textures and unusual ingredient mixing (like making salty latte)More recently, I have also been learning (simplified) latte art. After many failed attempts, I finally scented success two days ago.I just want to do a shoutout on my iced chocolate, in which, I am convinced, personally and with peer-review rigour, ranks among the best in the world.

Gym, badminton, and fitness

Those who know me personally know I'm a bit of a health freak.I do strength training in the gym (pump fitness), badminton, the occasional running.Lately, I've been spending more time refining technique and addressing weaknesses. That said, I'm still unapologetically performance-oriented. I'm particularly proud of how far I've come in both strength training and badminton. According to my badminton buddies, I'm the fastest player on court among our regular group.Occasionally, I also dabble in bouldering. Looking ahead, I'd love to take on bigger challenges such as HYROX, the Merdeka 118 Tower Run, or perhaps even a marathon, though whether I actually commit to any of them remains to be seen.And yes, girls with muscles absolutely rock.

Catonomics

Special update on my cat, Miko Miluan. He's a rescued Siamese tabby mix, also commonly referred to as Snow Tiger Siamese Cat

Ready to collaborate or just want to say hello? Reach out to me at [email protected].Connect with me on social media to stay updated on the latest insights and discussions.

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