Speakers

Muhammad Abdul Mannan, MP was born in the Dungria village of the Sunamganj district in 1946. He received his early education in his village school and completed his O-Level examinations from the Pakistan Air Force School in Sargodha. After graduating from Dhaka University he joined the Civil Service in 1974 and served in the government of Bangladesh in various positions, including deputy commissioner of Kishoreganj, Mymensingh and Chittagong. He worked as a Joint Secretary (political) in Ministry of Home Affairs, Director General in the Prime Minister's office and Director General of NGO Affairs Bureau. He also served in the Bangladesh Permanent Mission in Geneva as Economic Minister and retired from government service in 2003 as chairman of the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC). He joined the Bangladesh Awami League in 2005 and was elected Member of Parliament in 2008. During that period he served as Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts. He also served as a member in the Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Public Administration, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Defense, in which he represented the Prime Minister. Having returned second time as Member of Parliament he has been appointed in the new Cabinet of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as State Minister of Finance on 12 January 2014. After the Eleventh Parliament election, he was appointed a Minister of the Ministry of Planning on 7th January in 2019. He is interested in development literature and spends his time working for the welfare of the rural people of Bangladesh.

Dr. Akbar Ali Khan was born in 1944 at Nabinagar in Brahamanbaria district. He studied History in Dhaka University and secured first place in first class in both B.A. (Hons.) and M.A. Examinations. He studied Economics in Queen’s University Canada and obtained M.A. and PhD in Economics. He joined the Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) in 1967 and was posted as SDO Habiganj in 1971. He actively participated in the liberation war and was sentenced to fourteen years rigorous imprisonment in absentia by a military court of the occupation forces. He joined the provisional Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh as Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Defense. On lien from the Government service, he served as assistant and associate Professor of Jahangirnagar University. He taught Development Economics and Development Administration for three years in Bangladesh Public Administration Training Center as Member Directing Staff. He has taught postgraduate courses in Governance and Development Studies Departments in BRAC University after his retirement. He served as an Adjunct Professor in several privare universities. He is now associated with Business School of BRAC University as a Professor specializing in corporate governance and business environment. He served with distinction in various Ministries including Cabinet, Finance Education, Irrigation and Environment Divisions. He worked in the Ministry of Finance for more than sixteen years at levels of Joint Secretary and above. He was Chairman NBR and Secretary Internal Resource Division for nearly three years. He served as Finance Secretary for more than five and half years covering three consecutive governments. He was appointed Cabinet Secretary in 2001 and retired from that position in 2002. He was Advisor in charge of the Ministries of Finance, Planning, Commerce, Post, Telegraph and Telephones in the Caretaker Government in 2006 and resigned in protest against the failure of the Chief Advisor in ensuring a free, fair and impartial election. He also served as the first Chairman of Regulatory Reforms Commission during 2007-2009. He has significant experience in poverty alleviation programs in Bangladesh. He was the Executive Director of World Bank assisted RD-1 Project. He was the Chairman of Board of Directors of Gramenn Bank for more than three years. As Finance Secretary, he played a prominent role in establishing Grihayana Tahbil (Fund for Housing of the Poor) and Karmasangsthana (Employment Generation) Bank. He was the Chairman of Social Development Foundation for two years. Dr. Khan served as Economic Minister in Bangladesh Embassy at Washington D.C. for four years from 1987-1991. He was the Alternative Executive Director of World Bank for more than three years, as the representative of the governments of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and India. He represented Bangladesh in various international conferences. He was elected chairman of the 42-nation FAO sub-committee on Surplus Disposal (Food Aid) for the year 1989. He was elected Vice Chairman of Officials Committee of UNCTAD Trade Summit in Columbus, Ohio in 1995. He has published fourteen books and a number of articles on economics, history, public administration, literature and water resources in various national and international journals. His first book Some Aspects of Peasant Behavior in Bengal was praised by The Journal of Economic History (USA) as “a significant contribution to the growing body of new economic history in South Asia.” His book Discovery of Bangladesh was rated by the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh as the best publication in humanities for the period 1996-98 and was awarded Justice Md. Ibrahim gold medal. His book Parathaparatar Arthaniti was highly commended for wit and originality by Desh the most widely circulated literary magazine of Calcutta. His book People’s Participation in Budgetary Process in Bangladesh: In Search of Policy Reforms was published in 2008 by Shamunnay – a national advocacy NGO. His latest publications include Abak Bangladesh Bichitra Chhalanajale Rajneeti (2017), Gresham's Law Syndrome and Beyond (2015,) Ajab and Jabor Ajab Authraneeti (2013), Andhakarer Utsa Hote (2011), Friendly Fires, Humpty Dumpty Disorder and other Essays (2010). He is a member of American Economic Association and a life member of Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. He was awarded Maulana Akram Khan gold medal for distinguished public service and Mercantile Bank gold medal for research in economics. He was elected fellow of Bangla Academy in 2010 in recognition of his contribution to economics and history of Bangladesh. He is a life-member of Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.

Professor Rehman Sobhan began his working career as the faculty of Economics, Dhaka University in 1957. Throughout his long and distinguished career as an economist, researcher, political scientist and public intellectual, Professor Sobhan has worked to uphold the welfare and interests of the average Bangladeshi, especially the poor. He has played an active advocacy role and made many contributions outside the world of academia, including serving as Envoy Extraordinary with special responsibility for Economic Affairs (1971), Member of Bangladesh Planning Commission (1972-74), Member of the Advisory Council of the President of Bangladesh in charge of the Ministry of Planning and Economics Relations Division (1991), Founding Chairman of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) since 1993, and as Chairman of the Board of the Grameen Bank (1996-2002). He has received a number of awards including, the Bangladesh Bank Purushkar (2000) for services to the economics profession in Bangladesh, and the Bangladesh Shadhinata Purushkar (2008), the highest civil award in Bangladesh.

Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud is an Eminent Economist of Bangladesh with a prolific career in the academic arena. He had been a Professor of the Economics Department at the University of Dhaka. He was a member of the caretaker government of Bangladesh in 1996 in charge of the ministries of finance and planning and was a former member of the UN Committee for Development Policy (UNCDP). He is currently a member of the UN Committee for Development Policy, senior country advisor of International Growth Centre (IGC), Chairman of South Asia Network of Economic Research Institutes and a country advisor of International Growth Centre at London School of Economics. He has frequently consulted for many international organizations and has held visiting appointments at Cambridge University, IDS at Sussex University, IFPRI, UNDP and the World Bank, among others. He is a founder and a former chairman of PKSF, the apex organization for funding the micro-credit programmes of NGOs in Bangladesh. He was also founder chairman of Institute of Microfinance, a sister organization of PKSF. He has authored a number of books and numerous journal papers on a wide range of topics in economic development. He holds a PhD in Economics from Cambridge University.

Dr. Shamsul Alam, Member (Senior Secretary), General Economics Division (GED), Bangladesh Planning Commission has been serving the Government of Bangladesh over the last 8 years and a half. Prior to joining GED, Bangladesh Planning Commission, he was a faculty of Bangladesh Agricultural University from 1974 to 2009. Dr. Alam also worked for UNDP/FAO as a National Consultant for 4 years and 3 months. He served as a visiting Professor at Humbolt University, Germany, University of Ghent, Belgium and at the School of Development Economics, Wageningen University, Netherlands as an Erasmus Mundus Scholar. Dr. Alam coordinated the preparation of the first Perspective Plan of Bangladesh 2010-21 and Sixth & Seventh Five Year Plans of Bangladesh. He is currently coordinating the preparation of the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 and the Bangladesh Perspective Plan 2021-41. He has in his credit published 48 scientific articles in peer-reviewed national and international journals and authored ten Books. Dr. Alam traveled 45 countries of the World in connection with academic Seminars/Symposia as a government delegate

Mr. Khondaker Muhammad Aminur Rahman is the Member (Customs Audit, Modernization and International Trade) of National Board of Revenue (NBR), Bangladesh.

Ambassador Farooq Sobhan is the President and CEO of Bangladesh Enterprise Institute.

Dr. Pratima Paul Majumder served as Senior Research Fellow in the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS). Her research work was ground breaking in a wide range of subjects from sericulture to economics of slums and squatter settlement to garment industry and gender issues. Some of her important publications are: Women in Manufacturing Industries of Dhaka City (ILO/ARTEP, New Delhi), Women, Work and Home (BIDS, Dhaka), and A Study on Urban Poverty: Its Nature and Extent (Arani Publications, Dhaka).

Dr. Md. Asaduzzaman was the Research Director at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) in Dhaka, which he joined in 1969 (which at that time was the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics). He became the Research Director of BIDS in 1997. He has extensive research experiences in the area of agriculture, natural resource management and rural development. Within this broad area, his past research includes one of the first rigorous studies on technological change in agriculture, institutional and management issues in rural infrastructure development, environmental issues such as coastal environmental management, climate change, comprehensive evaluation of water resource development, and comparative evaluation of poverty eradication programs under alternative institutional frameworks.

Dr. Mustafa K. Mujeri is the Executive Director of the Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development (InM). Before joining InM he served as the Director General of BIDS since April 2009. He was the Chief Economist of the Bangladesh Bank (the country’s central bank). During his professional career, he also served as the Poverty Monitoring and Analysis Advisor of UNDP in Cambodia; Project Leader of the IDRC’s Programme of Micro Impact of Macroeconomic and Adjustment Policies (MIMAP) in Bangladesh; Director Research of the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP); Visiting Faculty at the Department of Economics, University of Queensland, Brisbane; National Expert in the Bangladesh Planning Commission; and Associate Professor of Economics, Rajshahi University. Dr. Mujeri has extensive research experience in different areas of economics, especially in development economics, poverty and macro policy analysis, and application of modeling and quantitative techniques in development issues. His current areas of research interest include poverty and MDGs monitoring and analysis; macro policy analysis and strategic development issues; application of modeling and quantitative techniques in development policy; public policy analysis; sustainable rural and participatory development; social development; poverty reduction strategy formulation and policy development; monitoring and evaluation of projects, and monetary policy analysis.

Dr. Ewald Rametsteiner is head of the Forest Governance Unit in FAO’s Forestry Department and Deputy Delivery Manager of FAO’s work on “Building a Common Vision for Sustainable Food and Agriculture”. Before joining FAO in 2009, he worked at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and led the Central-Eastern European Project Centre of the European Forest Institute. He holds a PhD from the University of Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria.

Professor Rounaq Jahan was a Senior Research Scholar and Adjunct Professor of International Affairs at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, USA. She was a Professor of Political Science at Dhaka University and headed the women’s programme at the UN Asia-Pacific Development Center, Kuala Lumpur and the International Labour Office, Geneva. She was a Research Fellow at Harvard, Chicago and Boston universities in USA and Chr. Michelsen Institute in Norway. She was the Rajni Kothari Chair of Democracy at the Center for the Study of Developing Society (CSDS) Delhi, India. Professor Jahan received her PhD in Political Science from Harvard University. She is the author of several internationally acclaimed books and numerous articles. Most of her research is focused on issues of politics, governance, gender, development and health.

Dr Meenakshi Rajeev is currently the Reserve Bank of India Chair Professor at the Institute for Social and Economic Change. She has graduated from IIT Kanpur in Statistics and did her Ph D in Mathematical Economics from the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. She has worked as a faculty /taught in University of California at San Diego, Central Michigan University, USA, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata, Presidency College, Kolkata. Her areas of research include game theory, banking and credit market, industrial economics, development economics. She has published more than 100 articles in reputed journals and as working papers from India and abroad. Her recent books emerging issues in economic development from Oxford University Press and Financial Access of the Urban Poor in India: A Story of Exclusion from Springer are worth mentioning. She has visited a large number of universities in USA, UK, Germany, France and Norway, including Cornel University, University of California at San Diego, Kassel University, University of Essex etc.

Professor Mustafizur Rahman is an Economist by training and is currently the Distinguished Fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD). Earlier, he taught at the University of Dhaka. Dr. Rahman was a visiting Post-Doctoral Fellow at Oxford University and Warwick University, UK and a Senior Fulbright Fellow at Yale University,USA. His recent research focus has been on Bangladesh’s macroeconomic performance, trade policy and external sector performance, WTO negotiations and interests of the LDCs, regional cooperation and economic integration in South Asia. Professor Rahman has published widely in Bangladesh and abroad. He was a member of Dhaka University Senate and served as a member of various national bodies set up by the Government of Bangladesh including Regulatory Reforms Commission, Core Committee on Connectivity and Panel of Economists for the Sixth and Seventh Five Year Plans of Bangladesh.

Mr. Munir Chowdhury is working as the Director General of the World Trade Organization Cell in the Ministry of Commerce of the Government of Bangladesh.

Dr. Mirza M Hassan is a political economist and the Head of the Governance and Politics Cluster of BIGD, BRAC University. Dr. Hassan's research largely focuses on political development, state-business relations, urban governance and local governance, justice sector and human rights, and related issues in South Asia, Pacific region and North Africa. He has more than 20 years of consulting experience on these issues for DFID, The Asia Foundation, The World Bank, UNDP, CARE Bangladesh, and other development agencies. He is well versed in conducting political economy analysis, institutional and stakeholder analysis, and using mixed methods.He completed his PhD in Development Studies from the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICS), University of London, UK and his MA in Urban Studies and Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA. He is also an honorary Academic Fellow of the Institute of Development Policy Management (IDPM), University of Manchester, UK.

Dr. Rahman has been a renowned economist in his varied roles as a University Professor, researcher, banker and a leader in pro-poor, environment-friendly and gender-sensitive development paradigm. Prior to his assumption of the office of the Governor, he was a Professor of Economics in the Department of Development Studies (2006-2009), University of Dhaka, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Shamunnay, a centre for excellence in development research in Bangladesh. He also served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Unnayan Shamannay, a non-profit organization for research, development and cultural learning. His previous roles also include Director of Sonali Bank, the largest commercial bank in Bangladesh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Janata Bank, the second largest commercial bank in the country and a long tenure as a Senior Research Fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS). He conducted various research works on economic development and published extensively on the micro-finance revolution in Bangladesh. For many years, Dr. Rahman also steered the Credit Development Forum (CDF) in Bangladesh as Chairman. He has been a known public face advocating for more humane development including pro-poor participatory budgeting. He is considered an authority on matters related to the fiscal budget in Bangladesh.

Dr. Bazlul Haque Khondker is Professor at the Department of Economics, University of Dhaka and the Chairman of the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM). He holds a PhD from the University of Warwick, UK. His areas of expertise include construction of technical framework for the Five Year Plan of Bangladesh, assessing resource gaps implications of various investment intervention (including MDGs) using consistent Macroeconomic Framework, construction of Social Accounting Matrices (SAM), and analysis of poverty and income distribution impacts of trade and tax policy reforms using static as well as dynamic Computable General Equilibrium models. Dr. Khondker was involved in designing and implementing a ‘Generalized Macro Economic’ framework on behalf of UN Regional Bureau for the Asia and Pacific (UN RBAP) to develop MDG financing strategy within the framework of MTBF and LTMF, which has been used in Mongolia and Nigeria to develop their MDG financing strategies. He has presented his analytical works in conferences held in Dhaka, The Hague, Quebec city, Kampala, Bangkok, Kathmandu, Colombo, Nairobi (Kenya), Abuja (Nigeria), Yaoundé (Cameroon), organized by organizations such as UNDP countries offices, UNDP regional Canters in Asia and Africa, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the International Labour Office.

Dr. Selim Raihan is Professor at the Department of Economics, University of Dhaka and the Executive Director of the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM). He holds a PhD from the University of Manchester, UK. Dr. Raihan possesses vast expertise in research on international trade and trade policy issues related to the WTO, regional trading agreements and domestic trade policies. He has worked quite extensively on Applied Economics, especially assessing impacts of trade and economic policies, using country-specific Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models, GTAP models, Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) techniques, WITS/SMART partial equilibrium models, and dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model. He has experience in research on poverty and labor market dynamics using household survey data and micro- and macro-econometric modeling and estimation techniques. His research interests also include the analysis of economic growth and political economy analysis of growth and development. He has a long experience in teaching international trade, economic modeling, quantitative economics, econometrics, development economics and poverty dynamics at University of Dhaka. Dr. Raihan has worked for several national and international organizations including the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, UNDP, UNESCAP, UNCTAD, IFPRI, the Commonwealth Secretariat, FAO, European Commission, ILO, IDRC, DFID etc.

Mr. Sudipto Mukerjee is the Resident Representative a.i., United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Dr. Posh Raj Pandey has been working on issues relating to International Trade and Economic Development for more than 20 years and is the Executive Chairman of South Asia Watch on Trade Economics and Environment (SAWTEE) which is a consortium of South Asian NGOs.He holds Ph. D. degree in Economics and Master’s Degree in both Business Management and Economics. He was a Member of the National Planning Commission of Nepal, an apex policy making body of the Government of Nepal. He was one of the negotiators for Nepal’s accession negotiation for WTO membership. He is in the indicative panelist of WTO Dispute Settlement Body. Dr. Pandey worked with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Nepal on the issues of multilateral trade integration and trade-related capacity building. He has also taught Economics for nearly a decade at the Tribhuvan University, the largest public university in Nepal. He has published research papers on international trade, macroeconomics and development in various national and international journals/books.

Dr. Ganeshan Wignaraja is the Executive Director of Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKI). He joined LKI as Chair of the Global Economy Programme (supported by Dilmah) in July 2017. He also serves as a member of the Task Force on the Freedom of Navigation in the Indian Ocean and a member of the Monetary Policy Consultative Committee of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. He was based at the Asian Development Bank in Manila since 2004 and was most recently Advisor in the Office of the ADB Chief Economist in Manila. He was previously the Director of Research of the ADB Institute in Tokyo and Global Head of Trade and Competitiveness at Maxwell Stamp PLC in London. He has also held positions at the Commonwealth Secretariat, the OECD, Oxford University, the Overseas Development Institute and the United Nations. He has also been a consultant to many international organizations including DFID, DFAT, USAID, SIDA, UNIDO, ILO, OECD and the World Bank. He has a DPhil in economics from Oxford University and a BSc in economics from the London School of Economics. Dr. Wignaraja has published 19 books and monographs on trade, competitiveness, regional infrastructure, macroeconomics and economic development.

Dr. Prabir De is a Professor at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS). He is also the Coordinator of ASEAN-India Centre (AIC) at RIS. Dr. De works in the field of international economics and has research interests in international trade and development. He was a visiting Fellow of the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), Tokyo; and visiting Senior Fellow of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Bangkok. He has been conducting policy research for the Government of India and several international organizations. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from the Jadavpur University, Calcutta. He has contributed several research papers in international journals and written books on trade and development. He is the Editor of The South Asia Economic Journal, published by Sage.

Dr. Dushni Weerakoon is the Executive Director and Head of Macroeconomic Policy Research at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Sri Lanka. She holds a BSc in Economics with First Class Honours from the Queen’s University of Belfast, U.K., and an MA and PhD in Economics from the University of Manchester, U.K. Dr. Weerakoon has over 23 years of experience at the IPS and functioned as its Deputy Director from 2005 to 2017. Her research and publications cover areas related to macroeconomic policy, regional trade integration and international economics. She has extensive experience in the arena of public policy through her research and direct engagements in policy formulation. These have included serving as a member of the Macro and Trade Policy Steering Committee of the Ministry of Policy Development and Implementation (2002-04), an official delegate to the Committee of Experts to negotiate the South Asian Free Trade Agreement under the Ministry of Trade and Commerce (2004-05) and member of the Trade and Tariff Committee of the National Council for Economic Development (NCED) of the Ministry of Finance (2004-2010) amongst others. She has worked as a consultant to international organizations such as the ADB, World Bank, UN-ESCAP, UNDP and ILO.

Dr. Ahmad Ahsan is the Director of Policy Research Institute (PRI), Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Dr. Fahmida Khatun is currently the Executive Director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Bangladesh. She did her Post-Doctoral research at the Earth Institute, Columbia University, USA. She has accomplished Masters and PhD in Economics from the University College London. Prior to joining CPD, she worked as a Research Fellow at the BIDS; as an Environment Specialist for the UNDP; as an Economist for the USAID Mission in Bangladesh. She taught economics at universities in Bangladesh and England. She was a Visiting Fellow at the Christian Michelsen Institute, Norway, at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, South Korea and Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy, India. Dr. Khatun is a member of the Advisory Team of the Connect to learn programme, a global education initiative run by the Earth Institute of Columbia University, New York. Dr. Khatun sits regularly in various policy-making bodies of the government. She was a Director of the SME Foundation of Bangladesh during 2011-2013. Dr. Khatun has undertaken research for several international organizations. Her areas of interest include macroeconomic issues, international development finance, SDGs, climate change, and gender economics.

Dr. Minhaj Mahmud is a Senior Research Fellow, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) Minhaj Mahmud received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Gothenburg in 2005, Sweden and MA in Economics from the University of Manitoba in 1999. Previously, he held academic and research positions at Queens University Belfast and Keele University in the United Kingdom and BIDS, BRAC University and Jahangirnagar University in Bangladesh. He was also a Visiting Research Professor at University of Tokyo, Japan and Visiting Faculty at Jawaharlal Nehru University, India and University of Dhaka. He has publications in reputed journals such as Economica, Economics Letters, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Health Economics, Applied Economics, Plos One, Environmental Science and Technology. Currently, he is a Visiting Scholar to the JICA Research Institute, Tokyo and Visiting Fellow to the Department of Government at University of Essex, UK.

Dr. Monzur Hossain is working as Senior Research Fellow at Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS). He obtained his Ph.D. in International Economics from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Tokyo, Japan and obtained Master's in Public Policy (Economics) from the same Institute. Prior to joining BIDS as a Research Fellow directly in 2008, he was involved in teaching Economics at the American International University Bangladesh. He had international experience of working at the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) and Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, Japan as Visiting Scholar (2009). With an extensive focus on economic policies, his research interests mainly concentrate towards Macroeconomics, International Trade and Finance, Local government finance, Industrial development (ICT, RMG, SME etc.) and Banking and Financial Sector. He has published extensively in reputed academic journals including Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Applied Economics Letters, Journal of Asian Economics, Journal of Developing Areas, Bangladesh Development Studies etc. He had good experience of presenting papers in many national and international conferences in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, Hong Kong etc.

Dr. Sayema Haque Bidisha is Professor at the Department of Economics, University of Dhaka and Research Director of South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM). She received her Bachelor’s as well as Master’s from the Department of Economics, University of Dhaka. She obtained a Masters from the University of Bath and earned her PhD in Economics from the University of Nottingham. Her research interest lies in development economics, labor economics and environmental economics. She worked for the Planning Commission of the Government of Bangladesh and was closely involved in drafting the Five Year Plans of Bangladesh. She has completed a number of research projects on food security, rural credit, poverty, women empowerment in particular. She published a number of articles in peer-reviewed journals and also contributed in several book chapters and research reports. Dr. Haque also worked with different international organizations like the World Bank, FAO, IDRC, ILO etc.

Maheen Sultan is a Visiting Fellow and the Head (a.i.) of the Gender Studies Cluster and the Coordinator of the Centre for Gender and Social Transformation (CGST) at BRAC Institute of Governance and Development, BRAC University. CGST is a regional centre on research, teaching and policy related to gender and social transformation. Maheen is engaged in research, policy advocacy and communication. She is currently working in areas related to women’s leadership and organizing; local governance; changing gender norms and masculinities; women’s employment and care work. She is a development practitioner, activist and researcher with over 30 years experience working for NGOs, donors, the UN, Grameen Bank and the Bangladeshi government in a range of capacities, from direct programme management to policy formulation and more than ten years experience in the field of research, communications and advocacy. She has worked on issues of social development, poverty, civil society and community participation and gender equality in various capacities. She has worked closely with the Government in the post-Beijing conference period on gender mainstreaming, CEDAW reporting and also for the Beijing Plus Twenty review processes. Maheen has a License in Sociology from the University of Geneva and has several post-graduate diplomas in development studies and gender and development. She is a member of Naripokkho, a Bangladeshi women’s activist organization and a board member of Caritas Bangladesh, Marie Stoppes and Utsho Bangladesh. She is also the Chair of the ADB External Forum on Gender, and Development. Her current research interests include women’s organizing and movements and women’s work and mobilizing. She is the co-editor of ‘Voicing Demands: Feminist Activism in Transitional Contexts’.

Dr. Md Shanawez Hossain is the Head of Capacity Building and Partnership, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University.

Dr. Nazneen Ahmed is currently working as the Senior Research Fellow at Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).

Dr. Naomi Hossain is a Research Fellow of Power and Popular Politics Cluster at University of Sussex, UK.

Dr. Rudra B. Shrestha is the Senior Program Specialist, SAARC Agriculture Center, Dhaka and Visiting Professor, Thai Nguyen University, Vietnam and Purbanchal University, Nepal.

Dr. Kazi Maruful Islam is serving as an Assistant Professor of Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka. He also serves as the team leader of ‘Climate Change, Food Security and Governance Unit’ of Eminence. He has been engaged in the academia and development practices for quite many years as a development professional with experience in disaster and governance, climate change policy, local governance, gender mainstreaming program design and evaluation and application of ICTs in local government service delivery in particular; advocacy training and capacity building of civil service and NGOs, and governance of primary Health Care. Dr. Islam obtained Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science from University of Heidelberg and Masters of Philosophy in Public Administration from University of Bergen, Norway. He has extensive works on political economy of public and private sector initiatives and strategies for disaster risk reduction in Bangladesh. This unique blend of academic and research-based knowledge and experience has made Dr. Islam as one of the leaders in these sectors and the most effective one for leading such a dynamic team.

Dr. Muhammad Shahadat Hossain Siddiquee is a Professor at the Department of Economics,University of Dhaka. He holds a PhD in Economics on ‘Understanding Health and Well-being of the Extreme Poor: Evidence from BRAC’s Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction – Targeting the Ultra Poor Program’ from University of Manchester, UK. He teaches Cross-Section Econometrics, Time Series Analysis and Statistics.

Professor M. M. Akash is serving as a Professor of Department of Economics, University of Dhaka. As a lecturer from 1982 to 1988, as an assistant professor from 1988 to 1994, on study leave for PH.D. Research from 1994 to 1996, join again and working as an associate professor from 1997 to 2001. Now working as professor since 3rd june 2001. He has been engaged as a research consultant by UNDP in 2002 to review all its developmental projects in Bangladesh in order to find out the MACRO-MICRO linkages. He has also been engaged by the UNDP, New York, in 1999 to write a background paper for the HDR: 2000. Has been engaged in two research projects on Privatization in Bangladesh and The Problems of Governance in Bangladesh in the Center of Policy Dialogue (CPD), Dhaka, under the direction of Professor Rehman Sobhan, from 1996 to 1998. He has carried out PH.D. research at the International Research Institute (IRRI), Social Science Division under the guidance of Dr. Mahabub Hossain, Head Social Science Division, IRRI for two years with a study leave from the University of Dhaka from 1994 to 1996. He has worked as a member of a core research team for one and a half year (1989 – 19900) at Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies in a cross-country international research project on Differential Impact Study of HYV Technology (DIS) sponsored by IRRI and guided by Professor Yujiro Hyami. He has served as a research consultant To the Agricultural Taxation Study Project, jointly sponsored by BIDS and Planning Commission of Bangladesh during 1984-85.

Dr. Shapan Adnan is an Associate of the Contemporary South Asian Studies Programme at the University of Oxford, UK.

Dr. Tanweer Akram is currently the Director of Global Public Policy and Economics in Thrivent Financial.

Dr. Imran Matin joined BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University as its Executive Director on 15 July 2018. He started his professional career after his masters and PhD in Economics from the University of Sussex, at BRAC’s Research and Evaluation Division which he led from 2003-2006 and then at BRAC International as Deputy Executive Director until 2012. He served as the International Programmes Director of Save the Children International from 2012-2017 overseeing the international programme portfolio of the organization operating in over 60 countries around the world. His immediate past role has been as the Chief Research and Policy Officer of Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), a global research and evaluation organization working across twenty countries. Dr. Matin served as the Member Secretary to the 2003 Civil Society Task Force on Poverty Alleviation and Employment Generation. He has been involved in major research studies on microfinance, extreme poverty and social protection.

Atonu Rabbani is an applied micro-economist with research interests in health, labor and organization economics. Currently, he is working in a number of research projects addressing intra-firm productivity and management issues in ready-made garment (RMG) sector in Bangladesh. He also works in public health field to understand how promotion using local women leaders and also monitoring and incentive can motivate better hand hygiene behaviors. Recently, he has also worked on evaluating an employer-based mandatory health security scheme to understand how incentives can alter households’ health seeking behavior. He has a number of papers published in international peer-reviewed journals like Journal of Regional Science, American Economic Review P&P, The Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of Biosocial Science, Health Services Research and Archives of Internal Medicine, among others. Atonu Rabbani is a Research Advisor at the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University and also an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Dhaka. He is also affiliated the James P. Grant School of Public Health at the BRAC University as an Associate Scientist. , Beside these he is an affiliate with the Urban Services Initiative of J-PAL and also a Research Affiliate with the International Growth Centre (IGC). Previously, he has worked as a full-time Research Fellow at the Institute of Microfinance (InM) and before that as a Post-Doctoral Fellow with the Department of Medicine and Center for Health and Social Science (CHeSS) at the University of Chicago. He earned his PhD in Economics from the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago in 2007 where he also got an MA in Economics in 2003. Before that he graduated from the Department of Economics at the University of Dhaka where he obtained MSS in 1998 and BSS (Honours) in 1997.

Dr. Salma Begum Rahman is an Associate Professor in North South University. She completed her B. Ec., (Hons) in Economics from Monash University, Clayton, Australia. Later on, she completed her M.S.S. in Economics from National University of Singapore, Singapore. She acquired another M.S. and her Ph.D. in Economics from University of Kentucky, USA.Her research interests include applied microeconomics, with particular interest in labor market and public policy.

Dr. M. Masrur Reaz is a Senior Economist in the Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice of the World Bank Group (WBG), and is currently the Country Coordinator for the same unit in Bangladesh. His unit supports global and country efforts to boost trade, enhance the investment climate, improve competitiveness in key economic sectors, and foster innovation and technology. Masrur, since 2012, heads WBG’s Investment Climate reform program in Bangladesh. He was the Task Team Leader for WBG’s Doing Business Reform Program in India which helped India to recently secure its largest ever improvement in the Doing Business ranking. He led the World Bank Group’s investment climate program in Nepal in 2013-2014, and led a strategy team in 2013 to develop Trade & Competitiveness strategy in Sri Lanka. He currently leads a WBG team that supports the Government of Thailand to improve its enabling environment for businesses. He also supported WBG investment climate work in Myanmar and Saudi Arabia.Some of the work of his team in Bangladesh includes: legal and institutional framework for Special Economic Zones, electronic tax registration at the NBR (E-TIN), automation of company registration, technical assistance to the Central Bank in drafting National Payment System Act and Electronic Payments Regulations, reform of several Board of Investment regulations, reforms in VAT and Customslegislations, introduction of Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) for tax and commercial disputes, setting up of Bangladesh International Arbitration Center, and public-private dialogue forum Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD). Under his leadership, the Trade & Competitiveness unit is now currently working with Government of Bangladesh in strengthening Bangladesh’s export competitiveness, and to deepen Bangladesh’s integration with global and regional markets. The current work of the team also includes support to Government of Bangladesh on One Stop Shop for investors, improving Bangladesh’s Doing Business ranking, and introducing Good Regulatory Practice Principles.Masrur is a commonwealth scholar and he holds a Ph.D. in Development Economics from the University of Manchester, UK and an MBA from the University of New Orleans, USA. He has several publications in international journals.

Syed Nasim Manzur is a businessperson who has been the head of 8 different companies. Presently, he is Chairman for Landmark Footwear Ltd., Chairman at G3 Communication Pvt Ltd., Managing Director at Apex Enterprise Ltd., Co-Managing Director & Director at Apex Footwear Ltd. and Managing Director & Director at Apex Investments Ltd. He is also on the board of 13 other companies. He previously was President at Leather Goods & Footwear Manufacturer & Exporter Ass. of BD and President at Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce & Industry. He received an undergraduate degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Narayan Chandra Das has been working at the Research and Evaluation Division (RED) as Research Fellow since April 2009. He joined RED in April 2007 as a Senior Research Associate. He also worked for Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) for three years as Programme Associate and Research Associate. He has obtained master’s degree in economics from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2001. He participated in a training course on Trade Policy and Commercial Diplomacy organized byCentre for Trade Policy and Law (CTPL) held in Ottawa, Canada during May 29-July 07, 2006. His research interest includes extreme poverty, microfinance, international trade and agriculture. His main hobbies include traveling, playing cards (bridge), and reading.

Mohidul Islam is currently working as the Joint Director of the Statistics Department of the Central Bank of the country, Bangladesh Bank.

Sunera Saba Khan is a Research Economist at South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM). She has also worked as a Senior Research Associate and Research Associate at SANEM. She completed her Master's degree in Public Policy from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom and Bachelors in Economics from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Her research interests include International Trade, Sustainable Development and Labor Economics. She is one of the editors of SANEM’s blog “SANEM CoRE” and one of the associate editors of “Thinking Aloud” - a monthly digest published by SANEM.

Zubayer Hossen is currently working as a Research Economist at South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM). He worked as a Senior Research Associate and Research Associate at the same organization. Prior to joining SANEM, he worked as an Executive at The Nielsen Company (Bangladesh) Ltd. He completed both of his Masters and Bachelors in Economics from University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. His research interest includes environment and climate change, inclusive development and labor market. So far, he has coordinated and supervised few big projects in collaboration with different local and international agencies and organizations such as UNDP, ILO, World Bank, BWB, GED, BUET, etc. Some of his research works include employment, productivity and sectoral investment in Bangladesh; regional investments and value chains in South Asia; Deltas, Vulnerability and Climate Change: Migration and Adaptation (DECCMA); improving the working condition in RMG sector of Bangladesh and SDGs need assessment and financing strategy.

Towhid Iqram Mahmood is a Research Economist at South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM). Before joining SANEM, Mr. Mahmood taught at Western Kentucky University as an instructor and worked for BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University. His research primarily focuses on Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Urban Economics, Economics of Conservation and Political Economy. Mr. Mahmood holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Dhaka and a Masters degree from Western Kentucky University in Applied Economics

Rafiqua Ferdousi is a Research Economist at the South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM). Prior to joining SANEM, she was a Research Associate at the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University. She had also been a Visiting Researcher at the Institute of Employment Research (IAB) in Nuremberg, Germany. In addition, she had been a Lecturer at the Development Studies Discipline of Khulna University, Bangladesh. Ms. Ferdousi completed her Erasmus+Joint European Master in Comparative Local Development Studies at the consortium of University of Regensburg (Germany), University of Trento (Italy), Corvinus University of Budapest (Hungary) and University of Ljubljana (Slovenia). She holds her Bachelor and Master of Social Science in Development Studies from University of Dhaka.Her research interests include Behavioural Economics, Political Economy, Labour Economics, Local and International Development.

Nabila Zaman is currently working as a Senior Lecturer in East West University. Her research interest includes Health economics, environmental economics, urbanization and governance.

Suvajit Banerjee is presently pursuing his Ph.D. from the Department of Politics and Economics, at Visva Bharati University, West Bengal, India. He received his M.Sc. in Economics from the University of Kalyani and awarded with a 1st Class 1st trophy. His broad research interest lies in Macro Economics, International Trade, and Environmental Economics. Recently he received acceptance for publication from three reputed peer-reviewed journals.

Mr. Umesh Raj Rimal is an officer working at Inland Revenue Department of Government of Nepal(GON). He worked for different divisions in Ministry of Finance including international taxation during his 7 years of government service. He has been awarded Graduate Certificate of Study and Master of Economics from Australian National University, Australia. He has been member in many policy drafting task forces in Nepal. His area of interests is public policy, public finance and economic growth.

Mr. Nirash Paija is currently enrolled as a faculty lecturer for graduate and undergraduate students at the Tribhuwan University and Pokhara University of Nepal. He has been involved in teaching Econometrics; Microeconomics; Macroeconomics; and Tourism Economics for about 4 years after graduating with a Master’s Degree in Economics from the Tribhuvan University. Mr. Paija specializes his research area on Energy Economics; Global Trade Network Analysis; Tourism Economics; Agriculture Economics; and Resource Economics. He has published papers on well-known international journals such as the Journal of Economic Modeling, Center for Applied Macroeconomics Analysis (Australian National University) and others.Mr. Paija is a recipient of various national and international awards, grants and sponsorship which includes, Festival for New Economic Thinking conference research paper presentation in Institute of New Economic Thinking (INET) of Scotland, training on Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) organized by South Asian Network on Economic Modeling held in Bangladesh, International Entrepreneurship Forum Conference held in Nepal and many more. He has also been a research trainer and consultant conducting analytical workshops for various schools and institutions on statistical inferences tools such as R Programming, Stata, Matlab, Python and EViews. Mr. Paija is recognized for his resiliency and resourceful nature. He is a highly motivated researcher who is eager to gaining new experience with national level policy institution.

Ms. Sherajum Monira Farin is currently working as a Research Associate at Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Bangladesh.

Muntasir Murshed completed his Bachelor of Science in Economics degree from North South University and is currently pursuing his Master of Science in Economics degree at NSU too. He is currently working as Research Analyst at Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS). Upon completion of his Bachelor's degree, Muntasir worked as a Research Associate at NSU before joining the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) as a Programme Associate (Research). His areas of research interest stem across Sustainable Development Goals, Dutch Disease, International Trade, Energy Economics and Tourism. Till date, Muntasir has published several of his research articles in reputed double peer-reviewed and scopus-indexed international journals as well as in the Journal of Development Studies (published by BIDS). Muntasir, for his research endeavors, has received ‘8 Best Paper Awards’ at several International Conferences as of now. He has represented Bangladesh at the 2nd Hallenic Association for Energy Economics (HAEE) conference in Athens, Greece and has presented a paper titled ‘How can Bangladesh prepare for the New Era of Renewable Energy Transition’ which was published as a working paper under the United States Agency for Energy Economics (USAEE). Recently, he has also been shortlisted as a member of the Bangladesh Youth Delegation to India (2019). Besides, Muntasir is also a regular contributor to the local dailies in Bangladesh having published more than 70 OP-ED as of now.

Syeda Samiha Azim currently working in BBC Media Action as a Researcher. Samiha used to work as Programme Associate (Research) in Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD). She also worked for a brief time in Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) as a Research Officer on the project, “Skills and employability of tribal people of Bangladesh”. Holding a Bachelor of Social Science (BSS) degree with a major in Economics and a second major in Finance from BRAC University and Masters’ Degree in Economics and Development Economics from The University of Nottingham, United Kingdom; she has necessary knowledge on effective economic strategies and financial analysis. She knows STATA and Eviews and has experience in working on research book chapters, working papers, case studies and policy briefs.

Mr. Farhan Khan currently working in SANEM as a Research Assistant.

Mr. Kumar is currently pursuing his Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India.

Jonaed is currently working at South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) as Research Associate. His area of interest includes Macroeconomics, International Trade, and Monetary Economics. He earned his B.S.S (Honors) and M.S.S in Economics from the University of Dhaka respectively in 2017 and 2018 with distinction.

Farjana Eyasmin is currently working as a research student in Economics, Department of Economics at Pabna University of Science & Technology, Pabna, Bangladesh. Her area of interest includes Microeconomics,Development Economics, Econometrics &Environment Economics. She has been engaged in two research projects on entitled “Climate Change Adjustment Practices and Their Effect on Rice Production Efficiency: A Case of Pabna District” & “Perception of and Adaptive Capacities to Climate Change Adaptation Strategies and Their Impact on Rice Production: A Case of Pabna District”.

Mr. Ashish Gupa is working as an Economics Research Scholar in the Department of Humanities of Delhi Technological University, India.

Mahmud is currently pursuing his MSc in Agricultural Economics from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Bangladesh.