Professor Darun joined IPU New Zealand in 2023 as Director of Academic, bringing extensive international experience across academia, industry, and senior university leadership in New Zealand, Malaysia, and Germany. Prior to joining IPU New Zealand, he served as Associate Professor and Founding Dean of the Faculty of Industrial Management at Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP), Chief Operating Officer and Registrar of UMP, and Visiting Professor at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences in Germany. His responsibilities at IPU New Zealand include leading academic strategic planning, curriculum development, quality assurance, academic governance, and fostering research and international collaborations. He has successfully supervised eight PhD graduates and more than 30 master's thesis students, including recent master's by research graduates at IPU New Zealand across topics spanning AI in Auditing, Environment Social and Governance (ESG), and consumer behaviour.

Professor Darun's research expertise spans management accounting, circular economy, blockchain technology, working capital management, halal supply chain management, and Industry 4.0 Learning Factory applications. He has published over 50 journal articles, with 26 indexed in Scopus, achieving a Google Scholar H-index of 21 and over 1,300 citations. He has led six externally funded research grants totalling over NZD 230,000, secured 12 consultancy projects for domestic and international clients including Danone Indonesia and Procter & Gamble Asia Pacific, and has been recognised as Vice Chairman of the International Association of Business Engineering Professionals (IABEP) in Germany and Chairman of the Peer Review Committee of ABEST21 in Japan.