Research & Engineering Skills•Designed and operated a pilot bioreactor (150-L working volume) to scale up a cost-effective and energy-efficient biological sewage treatment process.•Organized bioinformatics data (16S rRNA amplicon sequences) from activated sludge for a microbial community survey in Malaysia.•Mentored junior postgraduate students in wastewater analysis and molecular biology techniques.Teaching•Conducted talks to introduce wastewater treatment concepts, academic writing and poster presentation to undergraduate students.•Co-supervised 2 undergraduate research students.Grant & Scientific Writing•Assisted project PI to write and secure an international grant to fund my postdoc project•Demonstrated strong analytical and writing skills to produce 2 ISI-indexed research articles in a year.Research Project & Grant Management•Managed an international research collaboration between the universities (University of Malaya & Newcastle University), sewerage industry and government agency on setting up a pilot-scale reactor for an improved domestic wastewater treatment process.•Organized knowledge sharing workshops for the industry.•Regularly checked and committed the project budget for research activities, procurement and wages according to the award's policy.•Proposed budget for the yearly procurement and maintenance activities.•Consolidated all research and financial data for regular reporting to funders.