Abed Chaudhury (Abdul M. Chaudhury) has joined the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University, as a Professorial Fellow. He brings with him more than four decades of experience in genetics, agriculture, and climate mitigation.
Mr. Chaudhury completed his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Oregon, Eugene, USA. He later joined MIT as a Hoffmann–La Roche Fellow, followed by two decades of service as a Research Scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia. One of his most notable research areas is apomixis in rice, a reproductive process that enables plants to produce seeds without fertilization. This breakthrough holds immense potential for developing stable, high-yielding, and disease-resistant rice varieties—an important step toward strengthening food security and promoting sustainable agriculture. In Bangladesh, he has developed a multi-harvest–competent rice variety called Panchabrihi to enhance food security, which also significantly increases soil carbon. This rice variety represents a climate-mitigating agricultural technology.
In the field of climate mitigation, his work includes innovations in microorganism-based soil carbon sequestration and cattle methane reduction.
He is also engaged in advancing personalised health through genetics and AI/ML, particularly in understanding gut health to guide improved lifestyle and dietary choices.
Dr. Chaudhury has a growing interest in new rice varieties suitable for agrivoltaics systems. At BIGD, he will be working with the Environment and Climate Change Cluster.
