Friends of dRi
Dr. Munshi Sulaiman
Dr. Munshi Sulaiman is the director at BIGD, BRAC University. His other affiliations include Advisor, The Agency Fund, and Research and Evaluation Advisor, Save the Children International. Before that he led BRAC International’s Africa Research, and was a Research Advisor at BIGD, Brac University. He has a PhD in Development Studies from London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), London, UK and had been a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Yale University. His primary research interests include extreme poverty, enterprise development and youth employment. He is a mix-method expert in livelihood, social protection and social safety nets, cash and asset transfer and poverty mapping. Previously he worked for BRAC International, Research and Evaluation Division (RED) of BRAC and Economic Growth Center, Yale University. He has worked as a consultant and resource person in various short-term projects for Baastel, CGAP, Development Research Initiative (dRi), Maxwell Stamp, UN Women, UNESCO, World Bank, and the World Food Programme (WFP). He has experience of working in many countries including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Naomi Hossain
Naomi Hossain is a Research Fellow at Institute of Development Studies at The University of Sussex, UK. She is a political sociologist with 20 years of development research and advisory experience. Her work focuses on the politics of poverty and public services, and increasingly on the political effects of subsistence crises. She has researched elite perceptions of poverty, accountability in education and social protection, and women’s empowerment in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the UK, and led cross-country research in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and South and Southeast Asia. She was the Principal Investigator on the DFID-ESRC funded research project Food Riots and Food Rights: the moral and political economy of accountability for hunger Project (2012-14), and a research lead on the IDS/Oxfam GB Life in a Time of Food Price Volatility project. Her book on the political effects of the 1974 famine in Bangladesh, The Aid Lab, will be published by Oxford University Press in February 2017.
Dr. Selim Gulesci
Selim Gulesci is an assistant professor of economics at Boccioni University in Milan, Italy. He holds Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Economics from London School of Economics(LSE) and B.Sc. in Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Mathematics from Sabanci University, Istanbul. His research is on development economics, with a focus on credit and labor markets in developing countries. His recent projects in progress are “Inside the Production Function: The Effect of Financial Contracts on Growing Firms’ technology use”, “Contractual Flexibility, Firm Growth and Information Asymmetries in Microfinance: Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh” and “Credit Constraints, Education Investment and Misallocation: Evidence from Tanzania”.
Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar
Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar, an extraordinary personage, is a distinguished economist, development worker, political analyst, local government and election expert. He joined The Hunger Project as Country Director in Bangladesh in 1993 and was appointed a Global Vice President in 2003. He is the founder-Secretary of Shujan (Citizens for Good Governance), a civil society organization. He is also the founding President of the National Girl Child Advocacy Forum (NGCAF), formed to promote the end of discrimination against girls and create opportunities for them. Dr. Majumdar was born in February 1946 in Comilla, Bangladesh. He received his Bachelor of Commerce with Honors (1967) and Master of Commerce (1968) from Dhaka University. From 1970-71, he took his first trip to study in the U.S. on a Graduate Fellowship for International Understanding, sponsored by the Rotary Foundation, at Claremont Graduate School. He earned a Master of Business Economics (M.B.E.) from Claremont and then went on to earn his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Economics from Case Western Reserve University, USA.
Dr. Majumdar was a Lecturer at Dhaka University in 1969-70. He also taught at Seattle University, Central Washington University, and Washington State University during 1976-91. In addition, he worked for NASA and the Saudi Royal Family. He came back to Bangladesh in 1991, resigning a full professorship in America. He briefly served on the Board of Governors of BARD. He was a member of the Committee to Strengthen and Revitalize Local Governance, which was set up by the last Caretaker Government in Bangladesh. Dr. Majumdar is a well-known activist, committed to safeguarding the rights of citizens. He fought in courts for candidate disclosure and people’s right to information on numerous occasions. He received a seminal judgment on the right to information from the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. He has authored several books and published many articles in professional journals. He has edited three volumes on candidate disclosures for the ninth, tenth, and eleventh Parliament elections, providing authoritative information about the background of candidates. He is also a popular newspaper columnist. Dr. Majumdar’s diverse expertise and extensive contributions to economics, development work, political analysis, and good governance advocacy make him a respected figure in Bangladesh and beyond.
Dr. Manoj Roy
Dr. Manoj Roy is currently working as a Lecturer in Sustainability at Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC), Lancaster University, UK. He is also an honorary Fellow at Brooks World Poverty Institute (BWPI), the University of Manchester, UK.
He received his PhD in urban planning from University of Manchester, UK and has degrees in architecture, infrastructure planning and higher education teaching. He has also undertaken a postdoctoral research where he developed a GIS-based Spatial Allocation of Material Flow Analysis (SAMFA) model. He has an enriched professional career of working with Brooks World Poverty Institute (BWPI) of University of Manchester, School of Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering of Queen’s University Belfast, Planning, University of Manchester, Universität Stuttgart, Germany and other organizations. He is the author of many books, journal articles and working papers and has obtained many research fundings. Mr. Manoj has over 15-year experience of working with GIS and spatial analysis and urbanization. His research interests include urban poverty analysis, ecosystem services/disservices-urban poverty linkages, climate change adaptation, human settlement design and planning and informal land and rental markets. His researches are truly interdisciplinary, involving a combination of technical (e.g. architectural, planning and GIS analysis), social (e.g. social survey and participatory methods) and political (political economy/ecology of urban change) analysis methods.
Dr. Inka Barnett
Dr Barnett is the lead of the Health & Nutrition Cluster and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) with over 20 years of experience in implementation and evaluation research in international nutrition programmes. She is a behavioural epidemiologist (PhD, University of Cambridge) and Public Health Nutritionist (MSc, LSHTM) specialising in the use of cutting-edge, reflective research methodologies to facilitate systematic and transformational learning processes and adaptations in multi-sectoral nutrition programmes. She has led many impact evaluations and implementation research studies for GIZ, FCDO, UNICEF, USAID, EU, Irish Aid, Save the Children, Plan International, the Newton Fund, NIHR and others. She is also a Senior Lecturer in evaluation methodologies in the IDS, research associate in the ODID, University of Oxford and member of research advisory boards at several UK Universities. Dr Barnett has worked in many countries in East-, West- and Southern Africa, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Dr. Shahaduz Zaman
Professor Shahaduz Zaman has an interdisciplinary background with degrees in Medical Anthropology, Public Health and Medicine. He has more than 15 years of experience in conducting research and teaching in global public health. His research interests include hospital ethnography, Socio-cultural aspects of communicable and non-communicable diseases, death dying and end of life, refugee health, role of art in heath interventions, health policy and health systems in low-income countries and medical history. Shahaduz Zaman conducted research in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Vietnam, Turkey, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Syria. He has received research grants from ESRC, AHRC, MRC, British Academy and WHO. Before joining as a Senior Lecturer and then Reader in Medical Anthropology and Global Health at the Department of Global Health and Infection at BSMS, he worked with School of Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Glasgow and Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University. Shahaduz Zaman obtained his Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology from University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands in 2003. He obtained his Public Health and Medical degree from Bangladesh. Shahaduz Zaman was born and brought up in Bangladesh, and started his career as a community health physician in the rural parts of the country. Before moving to UK in 2009 he was working at the James P. Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Bangladesh as an Associate Professor. Shahaduz Zaman is also a notable fiction writer in Bengali literature and the recipient of the ‘Bangla Academy Award 2016’ which is the highest national literary award in Bangladesh.
Asif M. Shahan, Ph.D.
Dr. Asif Shahan is the Associate Professor of Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka. He has almost 10 years of working experiences with specialization in governance, administrative reform, policy analysis and accountability issues. He has worked in a number of research projects where the focus was in developing an in-depth understanding of gender, policies and education. He has also worked on a research and evaluation projects that explored effectiveness of the different social development and awareness programs in addressing the need of early married girls in Bangladesh and specific social protection needs for adolescents.In addition to that, he had also worked on analyzing various aspects of the current food policy in Bangladesh and based on that, has co-authored a book chapter (to be published by Routledge International) that explored the dynamics of food policy making in Bangladesh. Dr. Shahan also worked as a core group member in a project implemented by UNDP and Governance Innovation Unit (GIU), Prime Minister’s Office which aims at developing a National Governance Assessment Framework.
Monirul I. Khan
Mr. Monirul I. Khan is a Professorof Department of Sociology, University of Dhaka. He received his Ph.D. and M.Phil. in Sociology from Delhi School of Economics. He is an expert in rural development, social organization and research design and methodology.In his professional career he worked as sociologist for ICCDDRB-BAC joint research project and as a director of the Health, Society and Environment Group (HSEG). He has experience of working with the World Bank, MottMcDonald of UK, Eduplus, World Vision, ILO, AinO Shalish Kendra (ASK), Institute of Microfinance (INM), BRAC, European Commission (EC), CARE, CPD, UNOPS, World Fish Center, Bangladesh Institute of Labor Studies (BILS), Swiss Development Cooperation, UNFPA, ARD, DFID, UNDP, NijeraKari, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), UNCDF, World Food Programme and many other national and international organizations.
Umbareen Kuddus
Umbareen Kuddus has a professional career of 10 years and she has been involved in designing, implementing and managing development programmes and interventions. Her work has focused on challenging and often sensitive issues including policing, gender, youth and migration. On each of these issues, she has had the opportunity to work both at the policy level as well as the implementation level in a number of countries across Asia and Africa. She had the opportunity to work with people from diverse backgrounds and perceptions enhancing her ability to work with and manage multicultural teams. She has an enriched career of working with organizations like BRAC, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and International Organization for Migration (IOM). She wants to continue working in development programming, primarily focusing on facilitating expansion and adaptation of interventions to better address the needs of groups and communities.
She achieved her Masters in Gender and Development (with distinction) from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex and Bachelors in Business Administration from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka.
Abu Ahasan
Mr. Abu Ahasan is a PhD researcher in Urban Poverty, Radboud University, Nijmegen. He completed his MA in Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation from University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.He has special skill in ethnographic research and has qualitative expertise in enterprises, poverty and vulnerabilities and rights of children. He is affiliated with dRi through sharing his knowledge and expertise as a consultant.
Shubhasish Barua (PhD)
Shubhasish Barua is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka. He completed his PhD in economics from the Department of Economics, University of Warwick, UK and MSC in economics and econometrics from the Department of Economics, University of Essex, UK. He has worked for different organizations including Department of Economics, University of Warwick,Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Bangladesh Bank and Institute of Microfinance (InM). He is the author of many research papers and heworked in different research projects. He has a wide array of interest in firm dynamics and international trade, small and medium enterprises: financing and growth,impact evaluation and randomized controlled trials, inclusive finance and entrepreneurship, poverty, vulnerability and micro insurance, migration and remittances, regional economic disparity and capital flows and macroeconomic stability.
Golam Iftekhar Mahmud
Mr. Golam Iftekhar Mahmud is an environmental journalism expert both in newspapers and on the web. He has reported on environment, food security, and all other natural and social sciences in national and international newspapers. He is a freelance researcher for national and international issues and has twelve years of experience in communications, strategy, planning, research and analysis. He has written more than 100 articles on environmental issues for several daily newspapers in Bangladesh, participated in different workshops and covered many conferences around the world. Mr. Mahmud has an enriched professional career and currently working as the senior editor of The Daily Prothom-Alo. Previously he worked as staff reporter for the The Daily Somokal, staff researcher for Research and Evaluation Division (RED) of BRAC and lecturer for the Department of Journalism, Communication and Media Studies (JCMS) of State University of Bangladesh, Mass Communication & Journalism ofUniversity of Dhaka and Bangladesh Institute of Management. He has a Master in Social Science in Anthropology from Jahangirnagar University.
Syed M Hashemi
Syed M Hashemi has a long career in teaching, research and managing programs for the poor. He taught Economics at Jahangirnagar University in Bangladesh, directed an anti-poverty research program at Grameen Trust, and set up a development institute and chaired the Department of Economics and Social Sciences at BRAC University. He spent nine years with CGAP, at the World Bank, focusing on financial inclusion of the poorest. He also headed a multi-country program to develop new pathways to graduate out of food insecurity. Hashemi continues to be Senior Advisor for the graduation program at CGAP. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Riverside.
Dr. Imran Matin
Dr. Imran Matin leads BIGD as Executive Director with an intent to transform the organisation into a globally-recognized centre for rigorous research on policy and development interventions. Dr Matin provides strategic direction and oversees strategy implementation for advancing BIGD’s mission; expands and nurtures critical stakeholder relationships; and is responsible for the overall management of human, financial, and physical resources.Dr Matin is a Visiting Fellow of the Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He additionally serves as the Country Director of the International Growth Centre (IGC) in Bangladesh.
He was previously the Chief Research and Policy Officer of Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA),Director of International Programs at Save the Children, Director of BRAC’s Research and Evaluation Division and the Deputy Executive Director of Africa Programmes at BRAC. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from University of Sussex, UK in 1998. Dr. Matin worked as a Poverty Specialist at the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), World Bank, was Research Fellow at the Poverty Research Unit in Sussex, and Research Consultant at the Springfield Centre for Business in Development in Durham, UK. He also served as the Member Secretary to the 2003 Civil Society Task Force on Poverty Alleviation and Employment Generation. He was a recipient of the ESCOR Research Grant in 1997, and the Over Research Scheme (ORS) Award in 1995. He is the author of numerous articles on micro finance and development.
Dr. Lailufar Yasmin
Dr. Lailufar Yasmin is a Professor in the Department of International Relations at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Her research expertise encompasses a diverse range of topics such as secularism, religion and politics, maritime security, gender and conflict-related issues, Rohingya issue, and China’s rise in global politics. She offers courses on International Relations theories, nationalism and ethnicity, and gender and development. Dr. Yasmin has undertaken her studies at various renowned institutions such as the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA, and Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. She has been a recipient of several prestigious fellowships such as the US Fulbright, the British Chevening, and the Australian International Post-Graduate Research Scholarship (IPRS).
Dr. Yasmin has also done fellowships on peace and conflict issues in various institutions across the globe, including the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, UK; the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Beijing, China, as an Asia Fellow under the Ford Foundation Fellowship; the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS), Hawaii, USA as a FIPSS (Fellowships in Indo-Pacific Security Studies) Fellow; and Fellowship on Women in Conflict 1325 Fellowship Programme, offered by Beyond Borders Scotland, under Scottish Government’s initiative. She has authored several publications on various topics, including the Rohingya issue and the Development of International Relations in South Asia. Her research interests include Bangladesh’s politics, economy and foreign policy, South Asian Affairs, China’s Rise, maritime security and the Indo-Pacific Region, and women’s participation in the UN Peacekeeping, among others.
Niloy Ranjan Biswas
Dr. Niloy Ranjan Biswas is an Associate Professor of the Department of International Relations at the University of Dhaka. In 2016, he completed his Ph.D. in International Politics from City University of London. He was also a Visiting Lecturer (2015-16) and Seminar Tutor (2013-2014) in the Department of International Politics at City. His thesis examines the implication of the role of state elites, local civil society organizations and international actors on civilian security governance in transitional and challenging environments with a special focus on South Asia. His current research interests also include security governance, civil society, policing, and South Asian contributions to United Nations peacekeeping missions. His most recent articles are published in International Peacekeeping (Taylor & Francis), Journal of International Peacekeeping (Brill) and Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies Journal. One of his forthcoming studies on UN peacekeeping will be published in a special edition of The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs to commemorate fifty years of the Commonwealth Secretariat.
Dr. Shahadat Hossain Siddique
Dr. Shahadat is a Professor of Department of Economics at University of Dhaka. He is also a part time Senior Research Fellow at Brac Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), Brac University. His interests include Health Economics, Development Economics and Econometric Modelling. Dr. Siddiquee has been awarded PhD from the Global Development Institute, The University of Manchester. He has an excellent career in field of Quantitative Research. He has recently worked with Handicap International – Humanity and Inclusion (HI), Bangladesh where, as the Team Leader he was responsible for Designing Randomized Control Trial (RCT) for evaluating the Disability Inclusive Poverty Graduation Model (DIPGM) and assessing the baseline characteristics.
Md. Abul Kalam Azad
Before retiring on May, 2019, Md. Abul Kalam Azad was the Chief Engineer and Chief Executive Officer of Local Government Engineering Department, the largest rural infrastructure provider of Government of Bangladesh. Mr. Azad joined this organization as Assistant Engineer in 1983 and served various important positions, including Executive Engineer, Project Director, Superintending Engineer. He has a M.Sc Engr. (Highway Engineering) from Birmingham University (UK). He has 36 years of experience in rural infrastructure development in Bangladesh whereinfrastructures include rural roads, Agriculture and water resource, urban development infrastructures. He was involved in government policy formulation and project /program development. After retirement he is currently involved with World Bank Bangladesh office as short-term consultant. advising World Bank for project/program formulation.
Dr. Khaleda Islam
Dr. Khaleda Islam is a professor at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Dhaka. She did her Ph.D. from University of Dhaka and her Post-Graduate Diploma in Nutrition Science with an emphasis on Child and Mother Nutrition, Research Methodology and Gender Relations from Wagenin University, the Netherlands. She received her MBBS degree from Dhaka Medical College in 1986 and has been an academic at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science in the University of Dhaka Since 2004. She also worked as the Medical Advisor in Family Planning, Mother & Child Health Care, Immunization project by Asia Foundation in 1988 and she was the Chairperson of Health, Society and Environment Group (HSEG). From 2016 to 2019, she was involved in longitudinal study with action research in Bangladesh to promote the consumption of fruits and vegetables to prevent the spread of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) as a nutritionist. Dr. Khaleda Islam worked as a health, nutrition and gender specialist in various other initiatives.
Md. Mizanur Rahman
Md. Mizanur Rahman is an Assistant Professor at Department of Anthropology, Jagannath University, Dhaka. He has a Master of Arts in Development Studies from International Institute of Development Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam and a Masters in Social Science (MSS) from Department of Anthropology, Jahangirnagar University. He is mix method expert with special interests in Migrant workers, Labor rights, Migration, Human Rights. As a researcher, he worked in various research projects for different national and international organizations.
Dr. Hasan Ashraf
Dr. Hasan Ashraf is an Assistant Professor at Department of Anthropology, Jahangirnagar University. He has a Ph. D. from the department of Anthropology, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg. Before he started lecturing anthropology, he did extensive ethnographic fieldwork in rural and urban areas of Bangladesh on politics, gender, ethnicity, religion and state of wellbeing. He served as a member of the editorial board for the journal Anthropology in Bangladesh. For last couple years he has been conducting research on practices of global garment production and labor politics in Bangladesh and simultaneously working with varied policy processes, garment workers’ lived realities and consulted by media on aspects of the global garment industry. His research interest has grown to work with ‘water practices’ and ‘valuation of food’ in Dhaka (Bangladesh) as lens to look at how ‘life’ undergoes continuous reorganization. Previously, he has conducted extensive ethnographic research in rural, coastal and urban settings in Bangladesh (since 2002) on range of ontologies: sexual rights, youth culture in Dhaka, violence against women and legal pluralism, religious movement, and political participation of everyday life and changes in agrarian lifeways in northern Bangladesh.
Dr. Ferdous Arfina Osman
Dr. Ferdous is a Professor at Department of Public Administration, Dhaka University. She has a Ph.D. in Public Administration from University of Manchester, United Kingdom and she is a Post-doctoral/ Full Bright Visiting Fellow of Johns Hopkins University, USA. She has been an academic for more than two decade and was involved in numerous research projects for different national and international organizations throughout her career. She is a specialist in governance, administrative reform, policy analysis accountability issues with more focus on gender.
Mohammad Javed Kaiser Ibne Rahman
Mohammad Javed Kaiser Ibne Rahman is an exceptionally dedicated researcher and practitioner, currently serving as an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in Sylhet, Bangladesh. He is currently pursuing a PhD at the esteemed Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and is a valued member of the Emmy Noether Group focusing on “Sand: The Future of Coastal Cities in the Indian Ocean.”
Javed holds both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Social Science, specializing in Anthropology, from Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh. He further expanded his knowledge by completing a second Master’s degree in Social Anthropology at Stockholm University, Sweden in 2012. Since 2013, he has been actively involved in lecturing at the Department of Anthropology at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) in Bangladesh. His expertise in anthropology encompasses a wide range of subjects, including the anthropology of the state, Sand, Island, Infrastructure, Materiality, Rohingya, urban culture, gender subjectivity, gated community, urban policing, environmental politics, and power.
Apart from his teaching responsibilities, Javed has undertaken several ethnographic research projects in various locations across Bangladesh. Notably, in 2019-20, he conducted an exploration into the dynamics and tensions between resident Bengalis (considered hosts) and Rohingya refugees (regarded as guests) in Cox’s Bazar. This study delved into the complex forms of social interaction and communication that shape the lived experiences of hospitality between the two communities. Additionally, in 2019, Javed collaborated with INCIDIN Bangladesh to investigate the challenges faced by children involved in riverbed sand and stone mining in northeastern Bangladesh. With his extensive research experience, he has made significant contributions to numerous projects. Javed possesses a deep passion for photography, particularly street photography, and takes a keen interest in the visual arts. He has actively participated in the filming of the short documentary “I am Time” (2013) and is currently involved in the upcoming feature film “Sand City,” directed by Mahde Hasan.
Dr. M. Shakhawat Hossain
Shakhawat Hossain has a Ph.D in Clinical Epidemiology and Community Medicine from School of Medicine and Public Health, The University of Newcastle, Australia. He was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore. He has more than 20 years working experience in research sector with interest in Refugee, Rehabilitation, Migrants and Mental Health, Nutrition, Poverty & Health, HIV and Substance Abuse, Smoking Tobacco, Smokeless Tobacco and Health, Physical Activity, Health Promotion & Chronic Disease Prevention, Primary Health Care, Ageing & Health Service Delivery and Social & Behavioral Aspects in Health. His recent research experience includes “Conducting a pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial on Advance Care Planning (Ageing)”, “Randomized Controlled Trial: Promoting physical activity a personalized approach focusing on the built environment in Singapore” et
Priyanka Bose Kanta
Priyanka Bose Kantais a lecturer at the Department of Law at University of Dhaka and finished her LL. B and LL.M from the same university. She has experience in teaching profession in different universities and also worked in various research projects for different organization including Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, International Crimes Tribunals of Bangladesh, Empowerment through Law of the Common People and Harvard Program in Criminal Justice.
Kazuyo Minamide, PhD
Associate Professor of Kobe College, Japan, and teaches global studies. She has been conducting ethnographic research with children and their socialization and education in Bangladesh’s rural settings since 2000 and following up their lives till to date. Her publications in Bangladesh context among others include “Anthropology of ‘Child-sphere’: Children in a Bangladesh’s Rural Society” (2014) and an edited book “Millennial Generation in Bangladesh” (in press). She has made several ethnographic films including “Circumcision in Transition” (2006, 36min.); “The First Educated Generation: from Childhood to Adolescence” (2016, 52 min.). Her work has been acknowledged with several awards including the Daido Life Foundation Incentive Award for Area Studies in 2020. Currently she is leading a multi-country research project focusing on youth and uncertainty in contemporary South Asia.
Dr. Marufa Akter
Dr. Marufa Akter is an Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of Global Studies & Governance (GSG), hosted in Independent University, Bangladesh. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Bremen, Germany, and her dissertation is titled: Women’s Political Participation in Bangladesh Parliament: A Case Study Analysis of Women’s Substantive Representation. She has obtained a Master degree in Public Policy from the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, University of Erfurt, Germany, under DAAD scholarship. She also holds a Bachelor and a Master of Social Sciences degree in International Relations from the University of Dhaka. She has attended a one-year graduate course on Peacebuilding, and Conflict Transformation at the SIT Graduate Institute in Vermont, USA. She has taught international relations, and Bangladesh studies at Bremen University, Germany, and BRAC University, Bangladesh. Dr. Marufa has completed several fellowships including SUSI Fellowship at the University of Delaware, USA and Women and Conflict 1325 at Beyond Borders, Scotland. She has served as regional GBV and gender expert for World Bank and as a consultant for multiple national organizations including the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development. She has extensively been working with the Rohingya community from the perspective of gender equality and human rights approach since 2019. Marufa’s works in the areas of women’s empowerment, gender-based violence, refugee rights, trafficking of women and children, female labour force participation, water governance, and the impact of the pandemic have been published by national and international journals and publishers including Palgrave Macmillan: UK, University Press Limited, World Bank, Journal of Advances in Global Leadership, Bandung: Journal of the Global South, Journal of Bangladesh Studies, Asiatic Society, Bangladesh.
Dr. Nehreen Majed
Dr. Nehreen Majed is an accomplished academic scholar, currently holding the position of Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Asia Pacific (UAP). She also held faculty position at North South University in the Department of Environmental Science and Management earlier. With a specialization in environmental engineering, her expertise lies in water quality assessment, wastewater treatment, life-cycle assessment, environmental pollution and several urban challenges. Dr. Nehreen has completed her BSc in Civil Engineering and MSc in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). She has obtained her PhD in Environmental Engineering from Northeastern University in the United States, where she conducted groundbreaking research in the field. Her work focused on developing novel techniques for enhanced biological phosphorus removal and evaluating the cellular-level distribution of storage polymers in polyphosphate-accumulating organisms using Raman Microscopy. Throughout her career, Dr. Nehreen has contributed significantly to the field of environmental engineering. She has published numerous articles in prestigious peer-reviewed journals such as Environmental Science and Technology, Current Opinions in Biotechnology, Science of the Total Environment, Water Research, Frontiers in Environmental Science, Engineering and Water Science and Technology. With her wealth of knowledge and dedication to environmental science, Dr. Nehreen Majed plays a pivotal role in advancing sustainable solutions and addressing key environmental challenges.
In promoting the education sector, Dr. Nehreen serves as a certified evaluator of Board of Accreditation of Engineering and Technical Education (BAETE), Bangladesh for on-site evaluation and accreditation of BSc Engineering Programs. Dr. Nehreen is a Registered Scrum Master by Scrum Inc (USA) and also affiliated with Agile in Education USA in the capacity of a research partner. She is implementing Agile/Scrum method in Engineering courses in Bangladesh with the aim to bring positive and innovative changes in the techniques of Engineering and Science based knowledge dissemination.
Dr. Rasheda Akhter
Dr. Rasheda Akhter, a connoisseur in the field of social science, is currently teaching as a professor and also holds the position of treasurer in Jahangirnagar University. She earned her master’s degree from University of Dhaka in Sociology and PhD in Anthropology from Jahangirnagar University. Her research interest and specialization lie in Medical Anthropology, Child Rights, Gender Issues, Research Methodology and Environmental Anthropology. Till now, she has authored and co-authored 40 publications on different issues like refugee crisis, women empowerment, sexual and reproductive health etc. As an astounding researcher, she worked as an editor for Nrvijnana Patrika and The Jahangirnagar Review. She has ample academic exposure on an international level by attending different events in Finland, Japan, Nepal, UK and Philippines. In addition, she actively engages in different socio-political activities. Currently, she is a syndicate member as the treasurer and benefactor of Bangabandhu Shikkhak Parishad, Jahangirnagar University.
Md. Sazzadul Alam
Md. Sazzadul Alam, as a remarkable academic scholar and researcher, has received multiple grants and has over 10 years of experience in conducting research on different areas of social science. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degree in Anthropology from Jahangirnagar University and is currently teaching there as an Assistant Professor. He has published numerous research papers in reputable academic journals and throughout his career, he has worked as a consultant for various reputed organizations like BRAC, GNB, World Vision etc. His research involves the expert use of various qualitative tools like observation, IDI, FGD, case study, photovoice, PRA, AOA, PAR etc. He is also proficient in qualitative data analysis using Atlas-ti software. In addition to his professional and research expertise, he has extraordinary communication and managerial skills as well.
Rezwana Karim Snigdha
Rezwana Karim Snigdha is an accomplished scholar in the field of anthropology, with a focus on gender diversity, body, and sexuality. She obtained her Doctoral degree from the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, where her research project titled “Beyond Binaries: An Ethnographic Study of Hijra in Dhaka, Bangladesh” explored the lives of the Hijra community in the context of Bangladesh. During her time at Auckland University of Technology, she also worked as a part-time lecturer in the management department, teaching Business in context papers, and as a tutor in Applied Media Ethics.
She is currently working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Jahangirnagar University in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She brings with her twelve years of teaching experience and is highly regarded for her ability to effectively communicate and engage with qualitative research methodologies. Her research interests encompass various aspects of social anthropology, including gender non-binary identities, inequality, body, sexuality, and social business. She also has expert knowledge in gender, transgender, and Hijra studies in South Asia, demonstrating her dedication to understanding and promoting gender diversity in the region. She has made significant contributions to academia through her research papers, which explore and shed light on various social and cultural issues. Her expertise in social anthropology, feminist studies, media ethics, and qualitative research make her a valuable asset to the academic community. With her commitment and passion for her field, she continues to make valuable contributions to the study of gender and social dynamics in South Asia and beyond.