I'm a fellow at USM (Universiti Sains Malaysia), interested in how social trust, communication, and cultural factors influence blockchain adoption across societies with a focus on Southeast Asia.
Beyond academia, my work spans media, blockchain technology,
and digital ecosystem development. Visit Work to learn more about
my professional experience, or About for a more personal introduction.
I'm a doctoral researcher at Universiti Sains Malaysia, studying how social trust, communication, and cultural dynamics shape blockchain adoption across different societies, with a particular focus on Southeast Asia.
I was born and raised in Austria and now split my time between Hong Kong and Penang, after previous chapters in Vienna and Cyprus. German is my first language, though I use English almost exclusively in my professional life. I'm currently improving my Cantonese (shoutout to my teacher Jody) and plan to tackle Malay next.
Outside of crypto and research, I'm an avid traveller (5 continents and 40+ countries so far, next stop as of December 2025: Uzbekistan & Kazakhstan), a collector of stationery and papeterie, and a lover of biopics.
I joined the web3 industry in 2021 and am excited about work has taken me around the globe.
Before that I have worked in mainstream media and I've collected some experience in humanitarian work.
Selected Stations
During my work with Animoca Brands, I led the conception and development of *Rising Stars*, a new creator vertical within Frens Network the company's in-house creator program and agency. I designed the program from scratch: building the creator pipeline, shaping the onboarding experience, and aligning the program with the needs of Animoca's 600+ portfolio companies. I developed onboarding and community processes for more than 100 emerging creators across multiple regions globally and created campaign models that connected these creators with portfolio projects, delivering measurable marketing results and strengthening Animoca's broader KOL strategy. Alongside strategy, I managed hands-on execution: running campaigns, mentoring creators, refining workflows, and tracking performance metrics.
ETHGlobal is the premier early-stage launchpad for builders in the Ethereum ecosystem, hosting flagship hackathons, supporting IRL events in cities like San Francisco, New York, Tokyo, and Bogotá, and helping early projects secure their first funding. As the marketing lead at this fast-moving startup, I oversaw all public communications, managed multi-channel social media and content strategy, and drove community growth and engagement across the global builder ecosystem.
At Forbes DACH, I served as Head of Digital and a member of the editorial team for the German-language editions in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. I built and led the digital team, overseeing content management, social media strategy, and digital event production, while coordinating closely with editorial, design, and sales. I researched and wrote articles for both print and online, including two Forbes cover stories, and organized major events such as the Forbes Under 30 Summit Europe and the fully digital Forbes Women's Summit. I also supported the Forbes Under 30 DACH campaign and hosted a video podcast on the Forbes F15' digital channel.
I worked across two interconnected roles within a global sustainability initiative established by UNECE and the Organization for International Economic Relations (OiER). First, I supported the program's mission to advance SDG-aligned urban development worldwide by helping shape its media presence and communication strategy. In a parallel capacity as a project intern at the headquarters, I contributed to a range of confidential sub-projects and engaged directly with high-level decision makers, government representatives, and UN stakeholders — a setting that required strong communication skills, discretion, and adaptability.
Throughout my doctoral research, I aim to develop frameworks, mapping tools, and data-driven insights for the broader Southeast Asian region, all open-source and publicly accessible. This work will span academic publications, policy-oriented outputs in written and spoken form, and more mainstream research-driven media, with the goal of bringing wider attention to the actual factors that shape digital adoption across SEA.
My doctoral project, Local Trust, Global Tech: Social Responsibility and Blockchain's Uptake in Malaysia, is grounded in a central insight: technology adoption is not a technical problem, it is a human one. Despite rapid digitalisation across Southeast Asia, adoption of blockchain and related technologies remains uneven, influenced less by technical performance than by trust, communication, cultural expectations, and dominant public narratives.
Southeast Asia is one of the fastest-growing digital economies in the world, yet deep structural inequalities still shape who participates and who is left behind. Malaysia, for example, is often described as remaining in an early-adopter phase despite strong infrastructure, indicating that barriers are primarily social rather than technical. While models often assume individuals adopt new tools rationally, research consistently shows that institutional trust, cultural frames, perceived risk, and narrative environments play a far more decisive role.
Supervised by:
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohammad Reevany Bustami (Main Supervisor)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Farouk (Co-Supervisor)
Centre for Policy Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia