Rusaslina has been working on issues related to community development for close to two decades. She has strong interest in participatory planning and developing projects with a community empowerment goal. She has had extensive fieldwork experience in Malaysia and in the region including managing community-based conservation projects in Sabah, Borneo. Rusaslina received her PhD training in Social Anthropology from Harvard University. She has a Masters degree in Environmental Science from Yale University, with a focus on Social Ecology and Community Development, and a BSc in Natural Resources from Cornell University. She currently teaches at the University of Malaya and is active in various civil society projects in Malaysia.