Chairs

Professor Mustafizur Rahman is currently serving as Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a leading think tank in South Asia. He is also a member of Board of Trustees of the CPD. Professor Rahman taught for twenty-five years at the University of Dhaka before taking voluntary early retirement to work full time at CPD. He was awarded the prestigious Ibrahim Memorial Gold Medal by the University of Dhaka for excellence in research He is a member of Board of Trustees and Syndicate of the BRAC University. Professor Rahman did his Masters in Economics, with Distinction, from the Kharkov State University, Ukraine and Ph.D in Development Economics from Moscow State University, Russia. Professor Rahman carried out post-doctoral research at several reputed academic institutions including the University of Oxford, UK and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore as a Visiting Fellow, Yale University, USA as a Senior Fulbright Fellow and Warwick University, UK as a post- Doctoral Fellow Professor Rahman has carried out research studies in collaboration with a number of international organisations and institutions including the UNDP, UNCTAD, UNESCAP, The World Bank, USAID, IDRC, ADB, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), London, WTO Secretariat, Commonwealth Secretariat, European Commission, the ILO and other reputed organisations.

Monzur Hossain obtained his Ph.D. in International Economics in March 2007 from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Tokyo, Japan. His area of interest mainly concentrates on the macro-financial domain, with an extensive research focus on evaluating and analyzing development interventions and economic policies. In particular, his core areas of interest are macroeconomics, international economics and financial economics. He also has an interest in some emerging development issues pertaining to SME development, ICTs and knowledge economy, green finance and renewable energy. He has served as a team leader in numerous professional research projects. He served as a consultant for the UNDP, ADB, UNCTAD, EU, World Bank, JICA, International Growth Center (London School of Economics), etc. Before joining BIDS in 2008, he worked for Bangladesh Bank (central bank), Asian Development Bank Institute, Tokyo, and taught Economics in some leading public and private universities in Bangladesh. Dr. Hossain has published extensively in internationally accredited journals, including Economic Modelling, Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Applied Economics Letters, Journal of Asian Economics, Local Government Studies, Asian Economic Papers, Bangladesh Development Studies, and so on. He also has to his credit numerous other publications in the forms of research reports and edited books.

Dr. Kazi Iqbal is a Senior Research Fellow of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS). He received his Ph.D. in economics from University of Washington, Seattle, USA in 2006. After completion of Ph.D., he worked for World Bank Institute in Washington DC for three years as a consultant in Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Division. He also taught at University of Washington and Macalester College, Minnesota. He also worked at UNDP, University of Western Australia and Institute of Microfinance. His research interest lies in development economics and applied econometrics. He has been serving the editorial board of Bangladesh Development Studies, Journal of Bangladesh Studies and Lahore Journal of Economics. He has numerous journal articles in nationally and internationally reputed journals. He is also a member of a number of technical committees of different ministries of the Government of Bangladesh.

Dr Hasneen Jahn is a Professor at Department of Agricultural Economics Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh. She completed her undergraduate education in veterinary science from Bangladesh Agricultural University Extension centre (BAUEC) and Master degree in Agriculture. Her areas of research interest include Environmental Economics, Agricultural Economics, Development Economics, Gender and Livelihood Analysis, Policy and Institutional Analysis, Productivity and Efficiency Analysis, Farm Management. She took training in Summer School on Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, AIT, from Bangkok, Thailand in 2019 as well as Qualitative Methods Training Workshop, CSIRO, from Brisbane, Australia in 2018. She got four prizes including Shamsul Islam Memorial Gold Medal , Professor M. Lutfur Rahman Memorial Trust Prize , Rahela Khatun Memorial Award (Gold Medal) in 2000 from Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), and Best Oral Presenter Award in 2022 from Bangladesh Agricultural Economists Association (BAEA).

Iyanatul [‘Yan’] Islam held, until recently, a director-level appointment at the International Labour Organization (ILO), Geneva, Switzerland with supervisory responsibility as Chief, Employment and Labour Market Policies Branch, Employment Policy Department, ILO Geneva. He was responsible for leading, coordinating and managing the work of over 40 staff. He is now Adjunct Professor, Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. Yan held the position of Professor of International Business, School of International Business and Asian Studies, Griffith University, Nathan Campus, Brisbane, Australia from 2003 to 2010, having first joined Griffith in 1989. He is an international development economist educated at Manchester [Bachelor of Arts in Economics, First Class Honours and Richard Cobden Prize Winner], Western Ontario [Master of Arts in Economics], Cambridge [PhD, Economic Development]. Since the mid-1980s, he has worked as an external expert for the ILO and, on some occasions, for the UNDP. He is the author and co-author of more than 100 publications consisting of refereed journal articles, books and edited volumes, book chapters, working papers, policy reports (principally for the ILO) and commentaries in leading on-line journals (voxeu.org and Social Europe Journal). He is one of the founding editors of the Journal of AsiaPacific Economy [Routledge, London and New York]

Maheen Sultan is one of the founders of the Centre for Gender and Social Transformation at the BRAC Development Institute, BRAC University – a regional centre on research, teaching and policy related to gender and social transformation. She is presently leading the Gender and Social Transformation Cluster. Previously she was a development practitioner with over 25 years of experience working for NGOs, donors, the UN, Grameen Bank and the Bangladesh Government in a range of capacities, from direct program management to policy formulation. She has worked on issues of social development, poverty, civil society and community participation and gender equality. Maheen is a member of Naripokkho, a Bangladeshi women’s activist organisation. She is the co-editor of ‘Voicing Demands: Feminist Activism in Transitional Contexts’ (Zed Books: London, 2014).

Dr. Sayema Haque Bidisha is a professor in the Department of Economics, University of Dhaka. She did her bachelors as well as masters from the Department of Economics, University of Dhaka and MSc. from the University of Bath, UK.She obtained a PhD in Labour Economics from the University of Nottingham, UK. Her research interest lies in labour economics, development economics, population economics and micro econometrics.. In addition, Dr. Bidisha has also worked closely with the Government of Bangladesh in preparing various policy documents and government flagship objects.In particular, she was actively engaged in drafting a number of chapters of the 6 th Five Year Plan of Bangladesh (e.g. Education and Training, Agriculture, Health and Nutrition) and also Perspective Plans of the country. She has worked with several international as well as national organisations e.g. the World Bank, IDRC, ILO, FAO, UNICEF, DFID etc. and has published a number of articles/book chapters in peer reviewed publications both at home and abroad.

Dr. Syed Abdul Hamid is a leading health economist in Bangladesh and currently, a Professor at the Institute of Health Economics (IHE) at University of Dhaka . He served the institute as the Director during 2016-2019. He obtained his PhD in Health Economics from the University of Sheffield, UK in 2009 and M.Sc. in Health Economics from the University of York, UK in 2002. Previously, he obtained his BSS (Hons.) and MSS in Economics from the University of Dhaka. Dr. Hamid has 23 years of extensive teaching and research experience in Health Economics. His research mainly focuses on health, population, nutrition, food safety, social safety net and education. Dr. Hamid is a versatile expert in the field of Health Economics, Public Health, Nutrition and Population. Dr. Hamid holds important positions in some prestigious organizations: Founding President of Bangladesh Health Economist Forum, Founding Board Member of Surjer Hashi Network (SHN), Chief Adviser of Universal Research Care Ltd., member of food safety related Curriculum Development Committee of Bangladesh Food Safety Authority, member of Technical Advisory Committee for the Revision of Health Care Financing Strategy, etc.

Dr. Kazi Maruful Islam is a Professor of Department of Development Studies in Dhaka University. 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. He has extensive works on political economy of public and private sector initiatives and strategies for disaster risk reduction in Bangladesh. He has undertaken a series of research, training and capacity development activities in recent years for several international organizations like The Asia Foundation, UNDP, CARE Bangladesh, UNICEF, WaterAid Bangladesh. He has experience in Studying impact of DRR Framework implemented through SHOUHARDO of CARE Bangladesh as a National Consultant. He also served as a member of several study teams like Understanding Coping Strategy of People with Disability to Natural Disasters (2008); Community Risk Assessment of Narail Sadar Upazila (2008), Thematic Study on Institution, Accountability and Empowerment of Local Government in Bangladesh.

Dr. Bazlul Haque Khondker is a Professor at the Department of Economics, University of Dhaka and Chairman of the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM). He holds a PhD degree in Economics and MSc degree in Quantitative Development Economics from the University of Warwick, England.He has more than 27 years of experience in the field of development economics and planning. His areas of expertise include analysis of poverty and social protection; micro, meso and macro data analyses for impact assessment and policy formulation; estimating economic cost of violence against women and girls; identification of regional disparities as well as promoting broad based inclusive growth; assessment of the distributional impacts of tax policy (including social protection) reforms using static as well as dynamic macro models as well as micro-simulation models; and assessing the trends in inter-generation equity using the National Transfer Account (NTA) methodology. He has also formulated the technical framework for the Five Year Plans for Bangladesh involving growth projection, macro consistent projection for sectoral growth, employment and poverty. He has constructed Social Accounting Matrices (SAM) and Computable General Equilibrium Models for several countries for analysis of poverty and income distribution impacts of trade and tax policy reforms. He has also worked in Mongolia (with UNDP/ADB); Indonesia (ILO); Sri- Lanka (UNRBAP); Bhutan (UNDESA); Morocco (the World Bank); Lesotho (UNICEF); Vietnam (UNDP); the Philippines (HelpAge International); Myanmar (HelpAge International); Hawaii (East West Centre); and Venezuela (the Central Bank of Venezuela).

Dr. M. Abu Eusuf is an economist by training and has an excellent track record of leading and managing multiple projects. He was awarded Ph.D. in Development Policy and Management from the University of Manchester as a Commonwealth Scholar. He also completed his MA in Development Studies at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Netherlands, under the UN fellowship program. Dr Eusuf is an active researcher and has worked for UNDP; World Bank; EU, ODI, Center on the Budget and Policy Priorities, USA; University of Manchester, The Asia Foundation, Bangladesh Planning Commission, Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) International, India; ActionAid Bangladesh, Care Bangladesh, Oxfam, World Vision, Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development (InM) and so on. . His areas of research interest include Urban Poverty, Social Protection, Budget, Trade, Water Security and Poverty, Human Development, Green growth, Corporate Social Responsibility, Microfinance, Financial Inclusion, Water and Sanitation, Health, Property Rights and Land Reform etc.

Imran Matin, PhD, leads BIGD with an intent to transform the organisation into a globally-recognizedcentre for rigorous research on policy and development interventions. He 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. He 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). Previously, he also served as the Country Director of the International Growth Centre (IGC) in Bangladesh. Immediately before joining BIGD, he worked as the Chief Research and Policy Officer of Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), a global research organisation working across twenty countries. From 2012 to 2017, he worked as the International Programs Director of Save the Children International, overseeing the international program portfolio of the organisation operating in over 60 countries around the world. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Development Effectiveness. Previously he 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. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Sussex, UK.

Dr. Helal Ahammad has specialised in program leadership and collaborative project management in both academic and government settings, as well as providing technical and policy advice to a range of stakeholders.He was a Lead Author of the Fifth Assessment Report of Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. In a congratulatory letter to Dr Ahammad (dated 1 July 2010), the Honorable Penny Wong—the Australian (federal) Minister for Climate Change, Energy Efficiency and Water at the time—noted “… the role of a Lead Author is a demanding one and I thank you for giving your time and expertise to undertake this role..Dr. Ahammad worked for the Australian (federal) Government for about 15 years in various senior executive positions; provided strategic leadership for a number of research programs of the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARE/S); and also contributed to the development of the Australian Government’s climate change response policies.Between 1987 and 2001, Dr Ahammad held teaching and/or research positions at the University of Rajshahi, the Australian National University, and the University of Western Australia. He is an Associate with the Australian National University’s Centre for Climate Economics and Policy.

Dr Golam Rasul is a Professor Department of Economics, International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT), Dhaka, Bangladesh. Prior to jouning IUBAT, he was the Chief Economist, at International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). He worked for more than a decade in the Bangladesh Civil Service in different ministries in different capacities where he was involved in the formulation and implementation of national policies, plan and programs. Along with development work, he has been actively involved in research in areas that include agriculture, rural development, natural resource management, food security, poverty alleviation, regional cooperation, food, water, energy nexus and sustainable development in South and Southeast Asia region. He contributed to over 150 papers in books, refereed journals, policy briefs, position papers, and technical reports, including 50 peer-reviewed articles in reputed journals. Eight of his journal articles have appeared as most-read papers. His research findings incorporated in many national and global policy papers. He also provided policy inputs to number of ICIMOD’s member countries on development issues. He is a coordinating lead author of IPCC special report on Ocean and Cryosphere.

Dr Firdousi Naheris a Professor at the Department of Economics, University of Dhaka , Bangladesh. She also works as a consulant at International Rice Research Institute , Dhaka. She completed her Ph.D. degree in economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. . Her areas of research interest include Agriculture, Food Security, Nutrition, Social Protection, Poverty, Urban informal sector, Urban decentralisation. She also gained experience as a Post Doctoral Fellow and Economist at International Food Policy Research Institute. She also worked as a senior economist at BRAC as well as a consultant at International Labour Organisation , New Delhi .

Dr. Khan is the Editor of the Journal of Bangladesh Studies and on the Executive Committee of Bangladesh Development Initiative. She is Professor of Economics at University of Colorado Colorado Springs and is also Chair of that department. She has edited various books on development issues in Bangladesh and published on various topics related to international trade, micro-credit, NGOs, gender, and indigenous peoples in Bangladesh. Her recent work has been on informal employment in developing countries and various topics related to labor in the US. She is an active member of AEDSB (Association for Economic Development Studies on Bangladesh), BEN (Bangladesh Environmental Network), and IAFFE (International Association for Feminist Economics), and serves on the Executive Council of the Association for Social Economics (ASE).