He is assistant professor of International Studies at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.
[4] Byler has worked as an advisor with faculty members and researchers at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University to build the Xinjiang Documentation Project, a project that documents the persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
[3][5] His research has been supported by Columbia University's Global Reports series and a Luce Foundation and American Council of Learned Societies Early Career Fellowship.
[3] Byler has been frequently attacked by Chinese state media, who have accused him of being an agent of the United States government, which Byler has denied.
The Global Times, a newspaper run by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has accused Byler of being an "anti-China figure" who makes "fabricated" allegations about "genocide and crimes against humanity" in Xinjiang.