Zulkifli is a professor of environmental hydrology at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. He was the Dean of Research, Executive Director of Water Research Alliance, and Director of the Institute of Environmental and Water Resources Management. Currently he is the Chair of the Academy of Science Malaysia’s Water Committee, a Board Member of Lembaga Urus Air Selangor, and a Committee Member for agro-projects under the Lembaga Zakat Selangor. He is the recipient of the Malaysia Outstanding Water Award for Research (2019), and the Eco-Frontier Fellowship from the Ministry of Environment, Japan (2004 and 2005). He was one of the editors of Water Science and Technology (IF=1.9) and issue editor of Hydrology Research (IF=2.2). His team carried out a flood risk study in Madinah Al Munawarah. He headed research on safe rural water supply in Cambodia, was the program leader for flood disaster studies (RM 20 million), and head of domain for various research grants under MoHE, and leader of the hydrology and climate change group for a RM 7.8 million research grant from the UKRI (2019-2024).