FOUNDING MEMBERS

AKM Ahsan Ullah is Associate Professor and Deputy Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (graduate studies and research) at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD). Dr Ullah worked at the American University in Cairo (AUC), Saint Mary’s University, University of Ottawa, McMaster University, Dalhousie University, Canada; City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. He has extensively contributed to refereed journals. He contributed at least 35 chapters in several books and published 17 books. My career objective is to work with a reputed academic institution that will provide with a good platform to utilize my teaching, research and administration skills and will help me to grow my career. I am a dedicated instructor with experience in teaching, research, and service in Social Sciences. My passions combine a focus on student achievement, scholarly work, presenting and publishing at conferences, and maintaining thought leadership in peer reviewed journals. I am deeply invested in earning tenure through administrative service, committee contributions, and an achievement-oriented approach to teaching. I have two masters degrees: one is in public administration and the other in regional development planning. My PhD is in Asian and International Studies. My research interests include: sociology of migration, and refugee; globalization, development and HIV/AIDS; climate change; humanitarian work, Politics and religion of East, South and Southeast Asia, women empowerment, NGOs, poverty, international and rural development analysis, international treaties. Asia; Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and North America. akmahsanullah@gmail.com

Dr. Akhlaque Haque is a Professor of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA. Dr. Haque is a Fulbright Scholar who is active in national and international development initiatives through his research on ICT and public administration. He is a regular participant in national and international research forums. In 2015, Dr. Haque was an expert panel advisor in a US Congressional Briefing in Capitol Hill, Washington DC. Dr. Haque serves the Editorial Board of the Public Administration Review, Economic Development Quarterly, Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs, and the Journal of Governance, Security & Development. He is the Chair of the Research and Data Science Committee for the National Network of Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA), USA. Currently, He serves in an elected position in the National Council of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) and president of the Alabama Chapter of ASPA. Dr. Haque studies the complex social nature of the human enterprise related to information, technology, ethics and social justice, administrative decision-making, and urban and rural population health disparity. Dr. Haque has published widely in prestigious journals in social science and public policy and administration. He is the author of Surveillance, Transparency, and Democracy: Public Administration in the Information Age (U of Alabama Press, 2015). Dr. Haque received a Bachelor of Social Science in Economics from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, an MA in Economics, and a Ph.D. in Urban and Public Affairs from Cleveland State University, Ohio, USA. ahaque@uab.edu

Dr. Aly Shameem, alias Alysh is presently a visiting scholar/lecturer at Maldives National University and Islamic University of Maldives. Also, he is a community educator/motivator and practitioner of disciplines of Management, Pubic Administration, Politics and International Relations. He has been an experienced public administrator and bureaucrat as well as a diplomat. Dr. Shameem holds a PhD in International Development and Environment Relations, Masters in Political Science, and Bachelor’s degree in double major, Management and Politics. The official positions he held until July 2020 was the Head of Civil Service of Maldives and previously he had been a State Commissioner for Judicial Service Commission and Human Rights Commission of Maldives. He also had served the Maldives Parliament (People’s Majlis) as the Deputy Secretary General. Before joining the Parliament, Dr. Shameem served at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Maldives as a diplomat and foreign serviceman, where he was a delegate accredited to the United Nations on a number of occasions. He had represented his country at numerous international conferences and forums including the Commonwealth, South Asia Association of Regional Cooperation, Organization of Islamic Conference and Non-Aligned Movement. Dr. Shameem is a climate campaigner, democracy and human rights advocate. He has been awarded in 2015 with Maldives National Award of Inspiration in 2015 for his social works while 2018 he received Asia’s Social Transformation Award given by Regional Alliance for Fostering Youth, Maldives. Dr. Shameem was also a Research Fellow at the Royal Institution of Singapore, 2016 and in 2019 he was awarded India Peace Prize by International Youth Committee, an NGO of India. Current research interests of Dr. Shameem’s include Management and Public Administration Climate Politics and Policy, Ocean Politics and Policy, Islands Diplomacy, and Regional Security. alyshameem@gmail.com

Dr K M Baharul Islam has been teaching and researching in the areas of Public Policy, Governance, Law, Media and Development Communications for more than twenty-five years. At present he is the Professor & Dean (Academics) at Indian Institute of Management Kashipur. He is also the Chair of the Centre for Public Policy and Government at the Institute. Starting his career as a faculty at National Institute of Technology, Silchar in 1994, he went on to teach at a number of universities in India and abroad. He served on several international assignments. He was appointed as the Chairman and CEO of the South Asian Regional Gateway under the Development Gateway set up by The World Bank (2007-2012). Prof Islam is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. He is also a Fellow at the US India Policy Institute in Washington DC and in 2015 he was selected as an International Fellow at the King Abdullah International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue in Vienna. With a leave from IIM Kashipur, he was a Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla (2016-2018) where he worked on Translingual Literature from Assam. Besides teaching Dr Islam has also worked extensively with United Nations starting as a Consultant for UNESCO in Cambodia in 1998. Later he worked with the UN Commission for Africa (UNECA) during 2003-2006. In 2006-2007, Dr Islam served under UNESCAP, Bangkok to conduct an ICT Access Survey in the Asia-Pacific region. He was working for African Development Bank as their Mid-Term NICTSP Review Consultant in Mauritius (2010- 11). He has done a major South Asian Regional Capacity Building project funded by The World Bank project on Environmental Impact in South Asia as its Program Director. Prof Islam has obtained PhD (Double), MA, MBA, LLM, B.Ed Degrees. He studied at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Tezpur University, Asian Institute of Technology (Bangkok) and Strathclyde University (UK). He has received professional training at Harvard Business School and University of Bern (Switzerland). bislam@iimkashipur.ac.in

Dr Fara Azmat is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management at Deakin University, Australia. Within the broader domain of social responsibility, her research interest includes: sustainable development with a focus on the UN SDGs alongside social inclusion and social entrepreneurship, and migrant/women entrepreneurship. She has published in Journal of Business Ethics, Business & Society, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Australian Journal of Management, and Journal of Consumer Affairs. She currently serves as a member of the Editorial board of Social Responsibility Journal, and a fellow member of the ESRC, Peer Review College UK. Fara was previously a member of Bangladesh Civil Service: Administration cadre (10th batch). fara.azmat@deakin.edu.au

Dr Faraha Nawaz is an Associate Professor at University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Dr Nawaz has proved her excellence both in her basic and applied researches as well as in publishing. As an academic, she has devoted herself in undertaking wide-ranging research in social sciences in general and gender issues in particular, and has published more than 30 articles in peer reviewed SCOPUS indexed international journals, chapters in edited books, and three sole authored books published from Germany, UK and USA. Dr Nawaz is an active member of a number of international professional groups and networks such as NAPSIPAG, ISTR, EROPA, NZSAC, Dev Net and AWID, and has presented scholarly papers in various prestigious international conferences. She is a recipient of esteemed awards including gold medals, Charles Wallace award, Dev net Research award from New Zealand, Malaysian scholarly award, Australian Government award, etc. She has been awarded as best social science researcher 2020 from new science inventions. She was an international fellow of Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University, USA and a visiting research scholar of Contemporary South Asian Studies program, School of Interdisciplinary area studies, University of OXFORD, UK. faraha.nawaz@gmail.com

Dr Habib Zafarullah is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Discipline of Sociology and a former Chair of the Public Policy Program at the University of New England, Australia. Formerly, he was at the University of Dhaka (Bangladesh) as Professor and Chair in the Department of Public Administration. He obtained his PhD from the University of Sydney in 1986, and his interests are in democratic governance, public policy and administration, and international development. Dr Zafarullah has published extensively in these areas. His recent books include Colonial Bureaucracies (Universal-2014), Managing Development in a Globalized World (CRC Press/Taylor & Francis-2012) and International Development Governance (CRC Press/Routledge/Taylor & Francis-2006). His publications have appeared in several international peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes. He has been a manuscript reviewer for several top journals and international publishing houses. His forthcoming co-edited volume, Handbook of Development Policy (Edward Elgar) is expected to be published in mid-2021. From 1980 to 2004, he served as the editor of Politics, Administration and Change, a multi-disciplinary social science journal(Bangladesh/Australia) and as a regional editor of the now-defunct Development Policy Newsletter (Policy Studies Organization, USA). Currently, he is the Editor-in-Chief of Governance, Security & Development, published by the Centre of Governance Studies, Bangladesh. He has been a member of several professional bodies, including the American Society for Public Administration, American Political Science Association, Society for International Development, the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management, International Political Science Association and many more. hzafarul@une.edu.au

Dr. K M Kabirul Islam is a career civil servant of Bangladesh since 1993 and has worked in several ministries and divisions including the Ministry of Education, the Finance Division, the Cabinet Division and the Ministry of Social Welfare. He also worked in the field administration at sub-district and districts as well as local government institutions. Currently he has been working as a Deputy Director of National River Conservation Commission. Dr. Islam is a graduate from the Institute of Social Welfare and Research (ISWR) at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh and completed his second masters in Comparative Social Work from Nord University, Bodø, Norway. He has completed his PhD in Social Policy in 2016 from the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia. His PhD research investigated the qualitative impacts of social safety net programs on ensuring food security of the rural poor people of Bangladesh. Dr. Islam is a social policy researcher and he is a guest lecturer at the Department of Development Studies of the University of Dhaka. His area of research interest is poverty, social safety nets and food security. His recent research works include ‘Service mapping for basic social services at Zone-5 of Gazipur City Corporation, Bangladesh’ (2018) funded by UNICEF Bangladesh and ‘Identifying the extreme poor and poor households of Gazipur City Corporation area to provide common health card’ (2018) sponsored by CARE Bangladesh. He also supervised a research work funded by UNICEF Bangladesh titled ‘Developing education strategy for Gazipur City Corporation’ (2019). Currently he has been pursuing a research project sponsored by the Department of Social Services, Bangladesh on ‘Role of the Institute of Mentally Retarded Children in Child Protection in Bangladesh’. His master’s thesis ‘Safety Net Programs for Destitute Women: The Case of Bangladesh’ has been published by VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, Germany. kabirsas@gmail.com

Dr. R. Lalitha S. Fernando serves as a Senior Professor and the Chair of the Department of Public Administration of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura in Sri Lanka. Currently, she serves as the Coordinator of Ph.D. in Management Program, the Coordinator of M.Sc. in Public Policy and Management Program offered by the University, the Director of Centre for Governance and Public Policy and the Chief Editor of International Journal of Governance and Public Policy Analysis (IJGPPA) published the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. She received the prestigious Commonwealth Academic (internal) Scholarship and awarded a Master’s in Development Administration and Management at the University of Manchester, U.K. Also, she received a full-time scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. at the Graduate School of Public Administration, National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) Thailand. Dr. Fernando served as the Head of Department of Public Administration, the Director of the External Degree Programs and Extension Courses Unit, and also the Chairman of the Research Committee of the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce and Coordinator of Masters of Public Management of the University. She has also served as the General Secretary of the Network of Asia- Pacific Schools and Institutes of Public Administration and Governance (NAPSIPAG) from 2016 to 2018. She has published several papers, book chapters, conference papers, articles, and co-edited books in the field of Public policy and Public Management, Solid Waste Management, Disaster Management, and Educational Management at both national and international levels. lalithafernaando@gmail.com

Dr Mahfuzul Haque, a former Secretary of the Government of Bangladesh has been teaching for a decade and half as an Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Development Studies, Department of Sociology at Bangladesh University of Professionals; Dhaka University; and Bangladesh Institute of Governance and Management. His areas of interest are sustainable development; natural resource management; combating climate change; biodiversity conservation; natural disaster management; dams and development; development-induced displacement; development disaster: faulty projects; environmental laws and enforcement etc. Dr Haque did his Masters and PhD in International Relations and his thesis dealt with the insurgency and integration of the ethnic communities in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. During his stint at the Bangladesh Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change for more than a decade, he gained hands-on training and experience on issues related to environment and development. He led official Bangladesh delegation at the Conference of Parties of various conventions, including UNFCCC, CBD, Montreal Protocol, Ramsar Convention etc. He served as the President of Montreal Protocol Implementation Committee for four years; and Vice President of CBD Bureau for two years with headquarters in Montreal, Canada. He is a prolific writer and extensively contributed book chapters in edited books, published by Springer-Nature; Routledge; and Palgrave Macmillan. His latest book titled, Environmental Governance, Emerging Challenges for Bangladesh published in 2013 looked at the crises of environmental governance in Bangladesh. His contribution on “Environmental Governance” has been published online in June 2017 in The Global Encyclopaedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance both in print and online versions. The encyclopaedia is a Springer Major Reference Work, which is a continuously updated edition of a Living Reference Work. He has so far consulted for the Government of Bangladesh in collaboration with many development partners, like, UNDP, UNICEF, FAO, ILO, DFID, ETI, OXFAM, European Union, Basel Convention, Practical Action and NSU. He is actively involved with research and networking organizations, like, SANPA; NAPSIPAG; PRC.bd and Social Responsibility Asia, Bangladesh. He could be reached at drmahfuzulhaque@yahoo.com

Md Nurul Momen is a professor in the Department of Public Administration at the University of Rajshahi (Bangladesh). Dr Momen offers courses for different semesters, conducts academic research, and provides supervision and consultation on the academic activities of students and researchers. He has a Bachelor of Social Science (BSS) and Master of Social Science (MSS) in Public Administration from the University of Rajshahi (Bangladesh), and completed his Master of Philosophy (MPhil) from the University of Bergen in Norway, and obtained his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from Sant Anna School of Advanced Studies in Italy with a particular focus on good governance in South Asia. Dr Momen has published many articles in international journals and chapters in various books, dealing with a range of debates on public policy and law, governance, and public sector reform in South Asia. He has participated in many national and international seminars, workshops and conferences, and has been a member of several professional networks, journal editorial boards, research institutes, and civil society organizations. nurulmomen78@gmail.com

Dr. Md. Shafiul Islam is an Professor Department of Public Administration University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Completing undergraduate with honours and post-graduation in Public Administration from University of Dhaka, I joined at the Department of Public Administration, University of Rajshahi in 2006 and presently working as an Associate Professor at the same department. I have obtained my Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.) degree in 2015, focusing good governance in rural development project in Bangladesh. My research interests are governance, development, higher education, social media, youth development, social development, rural development, gender development, disaster management and governance, local government, public-private partnership, etc. I have participated at many national and international seminars, workshops and conferences in home and abroad and presented scholarly papers. A number of articles have also been published in national and international peer reviewed journals. I am engaged in teaching and research for more than 14 years. In the meantime, a number of research projects funded by World Bank (WB), Ministry of Education, NAEM, BPATC and BCSAA under the Ministry of Public Administration, UGC, NILG under the Ministry of LGRD & Cooperative, NIMC under the Ministry of Information and University of Rajshahi (RU) have been completed. Prior to join at the university as a teacher, I was engaged in practical and professional journalism for more than 10 years and worked in different capacity such as Dhaka University Correspondent, Staff Correspondent at different national Daily English and Bengali newspapers published from Dhaka. shafiul.pad@gmail.com

Mr. Mohammad Mejbahuddin, was a career bureaucrat in Bangladesh and retired as the Senior Secretary of the Economic Relations Division, Ministry of Finance on 1 January 2017. Having joined the civil service in 1983, he held several important positions in different Ministries and Divisions of the government. Prior to joining the civil service, he was a lecturer in the Department of Public Administration, University of Dhaka (1981-1983). Immediately before joining in ERD in January 2014, he served in the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of Ministry of Planning as Secretary and played key roles in ensuring efficiency and effectiveness of public expenditure through monitoring of project implementation. He played instrumental role in operationalizing the electronic government procurement (e-GP) system in some of the major procuring entities of the government. He was also Secretary in the Energy and Mineral Resources Division and contributed to development and implementation of policies in the sector to improve sector governance and increase the supply of primary energy in Bangladesh. He was also Chairman of the Boards of Directors of a number of companies under the Division. He served in the Bangladesh Mission in Rome and in his capacity as the Economic Counselor was the Alternate Permanent Representative to FAO, IFAD and WFP. As Senior Secretary, ERD, he represented the government in different local, regional and global platforms to steer the development effectiveness agenda. At the national level, he was the Co-chair of GoB-DP LCG Plenary. At the regional level he chaired the Bangkok based Asia-Pacific Development Effectiveness Facility (AP-DEF) Steering Committee; he also acts as a Steering Committee member of Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC) for Asia and was the Vice Chair of the International Aid Transparency Initiative. He was an Alternate Governor of World Bank Group, Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank. He acted as the National Designated Authority (NDA) to the Green Climate Fund. He was a member of Board of Directors of International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (iccd,b) and the Chairman of Infrastructure mejbah058@gmail.com

Based in Dhaka, Mohammad Mizanur Rahman is a civil service practitioner with over 23 years of professional experience. He holds a Ph.D. in political science. He published articles and book chapters on donor influence and policy ownership, civil service policy capacity, civil service reforms and local government. His primary research and academic interests include civil service, developmental states, international aid’s political economy, policy ownership, and development effectiveness. He authored the book Development Agenda and Donor Influence in South Asia: Bangladesh’s Experiences in the PRSP Regime, published by Routledge in 2018. He worked for the UNDP, Bangladesh as a policy specialist for more than four years. sg@southasianetwork.org

Dr Mohammad Tarikul Islam is an Associate Professor of Government and Politics at Jahangirnagar University in Bangladesh. He was the Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom in 2018. Professor Islam is also the Visiting Scholar of the University of Cambridge. Prior to joining University in 2014, Dr Islam was serving United Nations Development Programme Bangladesh for a period of seven years in different capacities. In recognition of his persistent academic endeavor towards the causes and consequences of forced migration in Bangladesh with particular focus on Rohingya Refugees, the Centre for the Study of Global Human Movement of the University of Cambridge is engaged Dr Islam as the Centre Associate Member. Dr Islam is the regular contributor to the South Asia Blog of London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK and the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. He has more than 35 publications to his credit mostly appeared in international outlet (Routledge, Elsevier, SAGE, Oxford, Springer, BJECC and so on). His edited book ‘Human Security, Peace and Development: South Asian Perspective’ was published from Kolkata, India in July, 2018. Dr Islam is currently engaged with the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University in USA as Affiliate Researcher. He has participated in number of lectures, seminars and workshops at Cambridge, LSE, SOAS and Oxford. Prof. Islam acts as Research Guide to different courses (SSC and ACAD) at Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre. His article regularly appears in the Daily Star, the Daily Independent, the Financial Express, the South Asia Monitor (leading English dailies of South Asia) and the Nepal Institute of International Cooperation and Engagement. His forthcoming books are ‘Local Government in Bangladesh: Contemporary Issues and Challenges’ from the Routledge and ‘Disaster Risk Reduction in Bangladesh: Issues of Governance and Development’ from the Springer. Professor Islam is currently working with two young scholars from the University of Oxford and the University of Leeds in an edited book “COVID-19 in South Asia: It’s Impact on Society, Economics and Politics”. Local Government, Human Security, Foreign Relations of Bangladesh towards Bhutan and Nepal, Politics of Migration, Environmental Governance, Climate Diplomacy and Disaster Management are the areas of Dr Islam research and teaching interest. Considering his scholarly contribution with 25 articles and 6 exclusive interview in a year, Kathmandu (Nepal) based popular English News Portal Khabarhub has honored Dr Mohammad Tarikul Islam, as one of the best thinkers/writers of this region, with the “Best Contributor” award for 2020. For his academic credentials, please visit his faculty page. tarikislamju@gmail.com

Dr. Mohammad Waheeduzzaman is a Professor of Public Management & Political Science in the Department of Political Science and Public Management at Austin Peay State University (APSU), Clarksville, Tennessee, U.S.A. He has been a faculty member at APSU since 1992 where he served as the Chair of the Department of Public Management and Criminal Justicefrom August 2001 to July 2017. He taught Public Administration as an Assistant Professor during 1990-1991 at The University of Mississippi, U.S.A., and from January 1989 to May 1990, he also taught as an Assistant Professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), Indiana, Pennsylvania, U.SA. He is a member of American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), South Eastern Conference of Public Administration (SECoPA), and Southern Political Science Association (SPSA). He is currently working on a book (tentatively) titled Paradoxes of Training for Public Sector Management in Bangladesh: Learning from the Past, Understanding Today, and Influencing the Future. ZamanW@apsu.edu

Dr. Mokbul Morshed Ahmad is an Associate Professor in Regional and Rural Development Planning in the Department of Development and Sustainability in the School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box. 4. Klong Luang, Pathumrhani 12120, Bangkok, Thailand (e-mail: morshed@ait.ac.th, phone: 66-2-524-5664 fax: 66-2-524-6431). Prior to that he was an Assistant Professor in the department of Geography and Environment, Dhaka University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He holds a PhD. in Development Geography from Durham University, Durham, UK (2000). He did his first MSc in Geography and Environment from Dhaka University, Dhaka, Bangladesh (1991) and second MSc in Rural and Regional Development Planning from Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand (1993). He also worked with the government of Bangladesh as a civil servant in the ministries of Public administration and Commerce. Dr. Mokbul teaches and researches on international development, NGOs, community development, human conflicts and adaptation to climate change. He has published many articles on his research areas in many journals and books. He has written/co-authored six books. mokbul.morshed@gmail.com

Niaz Ahmed Khan, Ph.D (Wales), Post doc. (Oxford) is Professor and former Chair at the Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka; Senior Academic Adviser, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD); former Senior Program Coordinator-CHT, UNDP-Bangladesh; Distinguished Visiting Researcher, The American University of Cairo (AUC), and Country Representative-Bangladesh, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). He pursued higher education and research in the University of Wales Swansea, University of Oxford, and Asian Institute of Technology. His career reflects a rich blend of academic and practicing development management experiences gained in Bangladesh, Thailand and the UK. He has published prolifically (more than 170 refereed publications including some 40 in Web of Science and/or Scopus indexed journals) on such broad fields as environment, natural resource management, and social/community development. niaz.khan@yahoo.com

Dr Siddiquee is currently Associate Professor in Public Administration and Teaching Program Director (Flinders Government), College of Business, Government & Law He has extensive experience in teaching, research and academic administration spanning over a period of 30 years in a number of institutions in the Asia-pacific region. He taught public administration, policy and governance for over 15 years at the University of Dhaka, International Islamic University, Malaysia and University of Brunei Darussalam before joining Flinders University in 2006. During 2001- 2004 he was the Head of the Department of Political Science, International Islamic University, Malaysia. At Flinders he served as Director of Studies for the Graduate Program in Public Administration (GPPA) from July 2007 – December 2009 and as Leader/Head, Discipline of Politics and Public Policy from February 2014 to June, 2016. During 2016-2017 Dr Siddiquee was Associate Dean (International), Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences, Flinders University. Dr Siddiquee’s research broadly focuses on public sector management and transformations in developing countries assessing the impacts of contemporary reforms on governance and service delivery. He is highly sought after as a supervisor for PhD and other research degrees. At Flinders he has supervised 17 RHD students to completion, in addition to a large number of MPA disserations. Currently he is supervising four RHD students who are at various stages of their studies. noore.siddiquee@flinders.edu.au

Dr. Parvaz Azharul Huq is a professor and former chairof the Department of Public Administration at the University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. He was also the director of the Centre for Governance and Development Studies at Rajshahi University. He holds a Ph.D from Flinders University, Australia and an MA in Development Studies from the institute of Social Studies (ISS), Netherlands. He was a visiting researcher in at the University of London, UKand an international fellow at Watson Institute of Brown University, USA. He was a visiting scholar in the School of International Relations and Public Affairs at Shanghai International Studies University, China. He has devoted himself in undertaking wide-ranging research in social sciences in the field of development studies and governance and has published articles in refereed journals, chapters in peer-reviewed books. He is an active member of a number of international professional groups and networks such as ISTR, EROPA, DSA and Dev Net, and has presented scholarly papers in various international conferences. Currently he is one of the managing editors of the Asian Journal of Development and Governance, published by the Department of Public Administration, University of Rajshahi and an editorial board member of Glocality, a journal published by WindesheimHonours College, the Netherlands. parvaz.huq@gmail.com

Prabhat Kumar Datta who retired as the Centenary Chair of Public Administration in the Department of Political Science, University of Calcutta, India, had taught in the University of Calcutta for more than three decades Currently, he is the Adjunct Professor, Institute of China Rural Studies, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China and Visiting Professor , Xavier School of Law , St. Xavier’s University , Kolkata . A former DAAD Professorial Fellow at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, he worked as a member of the India’s University Grants Commission’s Sub- Committee officially called Panel in Political Science and Public Administration, and as a member of the Executive Committees of the Indian Political Science and Indian Public Administration Associations and served on the Board of Directors, AAPA for two consecutive terms. His academic collaborations with universities abroad include Heidelberg University, Oslo University, Deakin University, Danish International Institute of Development Studies ,Nanyang University, Jaotong University, Xhejiang University and Central China University, China He was member of the Editorial Board of Asian Journal of Rural Studies published from Indonesis, and is currently member Editorial Board, Indian Journal of Public Administration (Sage ). He worked for nearly two decades as the Honorary Advisor, State Institute of Panchayats and Rural Development and Institute of Local Government and Urban Studies, Government of West Bengal. He was also the chairperson of the State Level Technical Advisory Committee, Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, Government of West Bengal. He has authored and co-authored 28 books, and has written a more than 80 articles published in reputed national and international journals .His papers have been translated into Chinese and published in the Third Sector Research, Jiatong University, Shanghai. He has contributed to the news magazines like Frontline, Mainstream and in weeklies like Economic and Political Weekly published from India. He also worked as member of the Advisory Committee of Participatory Research in India He is currently working as the Vice President of a leading Kolkata-based civil society research Organisation called dattaprabhat@gmail.com

Rajendra Adhikari, is a Director of Studies at Nepal Administrative Staff College (NASC), Lalitpur, Nepal. He holds graduate degrees, in Rural Development Studies from Tribhuvan University, Nepal and Public Policy and Governance from North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Mr. Adhikari is a public sector capacity building professional having command on training, research and consulting works in the areas of public policy management, governance, service delivery and institutional arrangements. In the recent years, he is engaged in policy researches/reviews to support the Government of Nepal as well as the studies to support different level of Governments in context of implementing federal system in Nepal focusing on policy management, structural, functional and institutional arrangements of different sectors. Detailed profile can be accessed at: http://www.nasc.org.np/people/mr-rajendra-adhikari rajendra2063@gmail.com

Shuvra Chowdhury, PhD is an Associate Professor at the Department of Public Administration, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Before joining the Department of Public Administration at the University of Rajshahi, she had worked in the private banking sector for four years. This has enriched her to the deepest understanding of the dilemma of the public and private sector working processes. Her main areas of academic interest include open data analysis, right to information, grievance redress management, public financial change management and gender studies. She received fellowship from Prime Minister Office, Government of Bangladesh and conducted several studies under funding from University Grants Commission, Bangladesh & Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Her book Strengthening Local Governance in Bangladesh: Reforms, Participation and Accountability has been published from Springer (2018). A book chapter titled “Decentralized planning and budgeting as social accountability tools: A study of social accountability in local government in Bangladesh” has been published from Palgrave Macmillan (2019). She has published extensively in noted international publication houses and journals including Sage Publication Limited and Routledge. Currently, she is engaged in writing a book project on “Gender Responsive Budgeting in South Asia” which is supposed to be published from Routledge, London in the beginning of the year 2021. She has been managing activities of a community organization named “Better Work, Better Community” since 2015, registered under Upazilla Women Affairs Office (under process), Government of Bangladesh (GoB). shuvrachowdhury87@gmail.com

Mr. Pokharel is Director of Studies and serves as faculty of public policy and governance at Centre for Research and Development and Centre for Federalism Studies at Nepal Administrative Staff College (NASC). He is the lead author of “Nepal National Governance Survey 2017/2018” (https://www.nasc.org.np/nngs-2018) and “Quality of Public Service in Nepal- Further Analysis of Nepal National Governance Survey 2017/18” published by NASC and has led several research works. Recently, he has published ‘Nepal’s Federal Governance’ (in Nepali language). Mr. Pokharel is Gold Medalist in his Master’s Degree and batch topper in MPhil from Tribhuvan University. He also served to Tribhuvan University and Pokhara University as a lecturer. He is also a visiting faculty for ‘Democracy and Inclusive Governance’ at Nepal Open University. Mr Pokharel has provided several consulting services to the Government of Nepal and public organizations on public sector reform. He is also Managing Editor of Journal of Management and Development Studies, a peer reviewed journal published by Nepal Administrative Staff College. He has interest in public policy, governance, federalization and social research. trilochan.pokharel@nasc.org.np