Events Archive - BRAC Institute of Governance and Development

চা-চক্র | Abed Chaudhury

What if tackling climate change and ensuring food security required not only better policies and technologies, but new biology?

At the 8 February চা-চক্র, Professor Abed Chaudhury, Professorial Fellow at BIGD, reflected on his decades-long research journey across Australia, the United States, and Bangladesh. He explored how bio-geoengineering can contribute to climate change mitigation and more resilient food systems, highlighting practical innovations such as climate-smart crop development, biologically driven soil carbon enhancement, and other approaches that position living systems as part of the solution.

A biologist and climate scientist with over 40 years of experience, Dr Chaudhury earned his PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Oregon, completed a fellowship at MIT, and spent two decades as a Research Scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia. His work bridges genetics, agriculture, and climate mitigation, with a focus on crop innovation, soil carbon sequestration, and methane reduction.

চা-চক্র | Dr Anika N. Haque

How can climate policies meant to build resilience end up deepening inequality?

Dr Anika N. Haque explored this question by highlighting an often overlooked aspect of urban climate adaptation in developing countries: gendered maladaptation. Drawing on long-term research with women in low-income settlements in Dhaka, she demonstrated how climate policies and everyday coping strategies can unintentionally exacerbate gendered vulnerability and create adaptation lock-ins that hinder long-term progress.

She argued that the gap between high-level climate policies and people’s lived realities heightens this problem, noting that this mismatch is especially harmful for poor and marginalised groups. The discussion that followed stressed the need for more inclusive, gender-responsive urban climate policies and stronger collaboration between researchers, policymakers, and civil society in developing countries.

Dr Anika N. Haque is an Associate Professor in Human Geography and Environment at the University of York (UK). Her research focuses on urban inequality, climate change, and development, with long-term work in urban Bangladesh since 2009. She has contributed to major global assessments on cities and climate change, including IPCC-related work, and is the recipient of the 2023 AXA IM Research Award for her contributions to urban climate resilience research.

চা-চক্র | Dr David Jackman

BIGD hosted Dr David Jackman for a conversation on his book “Syndicates and Societies: Criminal Politics in Dhaka.” Drawing on years of research, the book examines how syndicates, musclemen, and political actors shape life in Kawran Bazaar, the country’s largest wholesale market—determining who works where, how services are delivered, and who profits. It traces how control has shifted over time, revealing the deep entanglement of criminal authority, party politics, and the state in the market’s everyday functioning.

The session offered participants the opportunity to engage in a rich discussion with the author, reflecting on what these dynamics mean for how we understand cities. The discussion also prompted broader reflection on informal markets elsewhere, and how local political arrangements within them can influence wider patterns of governance and urban order.

Dr David Jackman is a Departmental Lecturer in Development Studies at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on the political economy of crime and violence in South Asia, with a particular emphasis on Bangladesh and West Bengal. He has published works on labour politics, syndicates, elections, beggar leaders, and destitution. He is currently writing a political history of the Sundarbans, with a focus on piracy.

When Digital Finance Fits Women’s Financial Preferences: Evidence from the WEE-DiFine Research Portfolio

Date: 25 February 2026
Time: 10:00 AM EST | 6:00 PM EAT | 9:00 PM BST
Format: Online (Zoom)

Description

How should digital financial services be designed to genuinely support women’s economic empowerment?

On 25 February 2026, WEE-DiFine hosted a webinar exploring how digital financial services can be designed to genuinely support women’s economic empowerment. The session drew on synthesis-level findings from across the WEE-DiFine research portfolio, highlighting evidence that digital finance is most effective when it aligns with women’s financial preferences, liquidity timing, and structured money management practices.

Elijah Kipchumba presented key insights from the synthesis work, followed by a panel discussion featuring Samyuktha Kannan, Achyuta Adhvaryu, and Selim Gulesci, who reflected on implications from their research on insurance, savings, and wage payment interventions.

The full recording of the webinar is now available below.

RIDGE Final Presentation and Award Ceremony

The RIDGE Final Presentation & Award Ceremony brought together young researchers and mentors to celebrate months of hard work and collaboration.

Out of 341 applications from across the country, 14 teams were selected for the Proposal Development Phase, where they refined their research through hands-on mentoring. The journey concluded with final presentations before a distinguished panel of judges from all four Foundation Project consortium partners—BIGD, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID), and Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI)—leading to the selection of six teams for the RIDGE Research Grant.

Book Talk by Alex Counts | Small Loans, Big Dreams

BIGD hosted a book talk by Alex Counts on the UPL edition of his latest book, Small Loans, Big Dreams. The event brought together practitioners and colleagues who have been part of Bangladesh’s microfinance journey since its inception.

Framed around the theme “Microcredit in Bangladeshi Villages, U.S. Cities, and Around the World: Looking Back and Looking Forward,” the discussion underscored the importance of moving beyond narrow experimental approaches to evidence and storytelling. Instead, participants called for a more historicised and institutional lens, allowing lessons from microfinance to inform broader policy domains on institution building, effective governance, and regulation. A panel discussion followed, where invited voices from the sector engaged critically with the book’s arguments and their contemporary relevance.

Alex Counts is the author of several works on microfinance and social impact. He is the former CEO of the Grameen Foundation and a co-founder of the Indian Philanthropy Advisory Network (IPAN).

Conference | Rupture, Reform, and Reimagining Democracy: Navigating the Agony of Transition

BIGD convened a day-long national conference, “Rupture, Reform, and Reimagining Democracy: Navigating the Agony of Transition,” to explore key findings from the forthcoming State of Governance 2024–25 report. This is the 11th in the flagship publication series from BIGD since 2006, intending to offer in-depth analyses of Bangladesh’s contemporary governance landscape; the latest edition focuses on the July 2024 Uprising and its aftermath.

Bringing together leading academics, activists, and members of civil society, the conference offered an opportunity to examine post-uprising political formations, youth-led movement parties, and the possibilities and limits of democratic reform amid shifting political realities.

Alongside the report, BIGD developed five evidence-based position papers, which were shared with relevant reform commissions to inform policy deliberations. As the country moves toward a historic election, we aim to expand this conversation and bring research insights into the public sphere to engage policymakers, practitioners, and citizens in meaningful dialogue. Our objective is to ensure that rigorous, grounded evidence contributes to practical reforms and helps strengthen a more accountable, inclusive, and democratic future.

Read the summary report: State of Governance 2024–25

Read the position papers:

RIDGE Proposal Development Bootcamp

Bangladesh is missing a robust ecosystem that nurtures young researchers with funding, structured mentorship, peer networks, and institutional support.

To help bridge that gap, BIGD has partnered with Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID), and Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) to launch the Research Initiative on Development, Governance, and Economy (RIDGE), supported by UK International Development from the UK government. RIDGE aims to empower budding social science researchers to produce high-quality, policy-relevant work under the guidance of some of the country’s top social science academics.

From a competitive pool of 341 applications from around the nation, 14 promising research proposals were preliminarily selected. Earlier this week, the 41 young researchers behind the selected proposals joined an intensive two-day boot camp at BARD Cumilla, where they presented their ideas, received real-time feedback, and refined the proposals under the guidance of their mentors. Among the 14 selected proposals, the top proposals will each receive a grant of up to BDT 12.5 lakh to carry out their research. The participants represented a diverse group from institutions across the country—from Chattogram and Rajshahi to Dhaka and Khulna.

Envisioneers #CareerTalks Webinar Series | Episode 2

The second session of the CareerTalks series, titled “Navigating PhD Applications: Tips for Aspiring Economists”, featured Mohammad Raied Arman (University of Washington), Farhana Kabir (University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign), and Afsana Adiba (University of Washington)—former BIGD colleagues who are now pursuing their PhDs in Economics. Moderated by Zarine Anan Khondoker (Programme Coordinator, BIGD), the speakers shared insights from their PhD journeys, from choosing the right program and supervisor to navigating the everyday challenges of a rigorous doctoral program, to PhD hopeful.