Mazlan obtained a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the University of Otago, New Zealand, andbecame a lecturer at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in 1981. Seconded to thePrime Minister’s Department in 1990 to set up and head the Planetarium Division, whichsubsequently became the Space Science Studies Division in 1993. Appointed by UniversitiKebangsaan Malaysia as Professor of Astrophysics in 1994. Appointed Director of theUnited Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) in Vienna, Austria in 1999.Returned to Malaysia to become the founding Director General of the National Space Agency(ANGKASA) beginning July 2002. In this capacity she established the National Observatoryin Langkawi and National Space Centre in Selangor. She headed the National Angkasawan(Astronaut). Programme which saw the launch of the first Malaysian to the InternationalSpace Station in 2007. She was responsible for the launch of Malaysia Remote SensingSatellites : TiungSAT and RazakSAT. She attended the Advanced Management Programme(AMP169) at Harvard Business School in 2005. Resumed post as Director of UNOOSA in

December 2007 upon retirement from Malaysian Civil Service. Appointed Deputy Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV) in June 2009. Retired from the

United Nations in Dec 2013. Appointed Project Director, Mega Science 3.0 at Academy ofSciences Malaysia (ASM) 2014 -2016. Became Professor Emeritus at UKM in 2015 and was aFulbright Scholar at the Space Policy Institute of George Washington University 2015-2016.Elected Senior Fellow of ASM in 2016. She is co-chairing the ASM Malaysia Foresight 2050initiative. Currently the Director of the International Science Council (ISC) Regional Officefor Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) since 2017.