EDAS Webinar Committee

Syed Manzoorul Islam is an eminent academic and writer and a leading exponent of English teaching in Bangladesh. He did his B. A. (Hons.) and M. A. from Dhaka University’s Department of English in 1971 and 1972 respectively. He was awarded as PhD by Queen's University, Canada in 1981. He received the Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1996 and the Ekushey Proshkar in 2018.

Born in Dhaka in October 1958, Hedayetullah Al Mamoon graduated from the English Department in 1980 and did his MPA later. He has worked as Senior Secretary/Secretary to the Government of Bangladesh for around 8 years and led a number of public departments and corporations as their Chief Executive. Mr. Mamoon retired as the Senior Finance Secretary in October 2017. He is a lyricist and composer. With Tanveer Sajeeb zas the singer, he composed an album titled ‘Maalhar’. He was awarded the prestigious Channel-i Music Award as the best lyricist (film song) in 2020. He has also lent his voice to a 'Jugalbandi', with the music maestro Ustad Shahadat Hossain Khan. Mr. Mamoon was awarded the highest honour 'Silver Tiger' for his contribution to scouting. He is a Life Member of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh and Bangla Academy. He is also the former president of the Bangladesh Table Tennis Federation.

• M.Shahadat Hossain is a graduate of the English department of Dhaka University. During his undergraduate years he worked with various English dailies as well as a weekly and was also a broadcaster with Radio Bangladesh. Shahadat worked in mid and senior management levels in both the service and manufacturing industries. Later, he studied business administration and taught Marketing at Carleton University, Canada and SUNY Potsdam, NY, USA for 15 years. He is a Business, Marketing and Hospitality Industry consultant and the founder of Astute Horse, a marketing and IT company. Shahadat is also a Co-Founder and currently the Executive Director of Dnet. He has been actively involved with EDAS for the past 5 years. He has taken a number of initiatives to raise funds for students and alumni members. He is the convener of EDAS “Sponsor a Student Committee” and Member-Secretary of the EDAS Webinar Committee. Shahadat shuttles between Ottawa and Dhaka.

Farhanaz Rabbani is an Associate Professor at the Department of English, University of Dhaka. After her B.A. and M.A. in English Literature from the University of Dhaka, she completed her M.S. in Written Communications from National Louis University, Illinois, USA. She was a core member of the INSPIRE project and has co-authored Writing Essays with Ease (2016), a course book for students of the Department of English, University of Dhaka. She has published papers on both pedagogy and literary studies. Her research interests include Writing, Cultural Studies, Popular and Folk Culture and their role in the evolution of the cultural identity of Bangladesh.

Zerin Alam has studied in the universities of Calcutta, Dhaka and Warwick and is now a professor at the Department of English, University of Dhaka, where she teaches literature and applied linguistics. Her areas of interest include travel writing, postcolonial studies, Shakespeare studies and discourse analysis. She also works on materials development and has co- edited and contributed to two course books Making Connections: Responding to Literature (2004, 2014) and Exploring Academic Writing (2016). In addition, she has co-edited The Great War and Our Mindscapes: Centenary Essays (2017) and Tertiary Writing in English in Bangladesh: Tools and Approaches (2018). Brief reminiscence: Being the daughter of a career diplomat, I ended up studying in schools and colleges all over the world. When I completed my Honours from Calcutta University, I sat for an admission test and got accepted at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi for my master’s. However, fate brought me to Dhaka and after visiting Dhaka University and attending a few classes I was drawn to the history and excitement of being part of a rich cultural and national legacy. So, I let go of JNU and Delhi and have remained at the Department of English ever since.

Md. Rafiqul Islam Chowdhury is Commissioner of Taxes, Government of Bangladesh. He obtained MA in English Literature from Dhaka University (Session 1990), and later joined Bangladesh Civil Service as Assistant Commissioner of Taxes in 1994 (13th BCS). He is also a member of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Shegun Bagicha, Dhaka. He has been a member of the Executive Committee of EDAS consecutively for 7 years since 2014.

Sabiha Huq is Professor of English at Khulna University. She enrolled in English Department of Dhaka University in 1994 as a fresher, and completed her MA in English Literature from Dhaka University in 1997 (Exam held in 1999). She received her PhD in theatre translation from University of Oslo, and currently holds the position of member of the International Ibsen Committee. She takes interest in women’s writings and postcolonial literature. Her forthcoming publications are The Mughal Aviary: Women’s Writings in Pre-modern India and Ibsen in the Decolonised South Asian Theatre.

Tapos Sarkar was born on January 01, 1970 in Mymensingh, Bangladesh. He is a poet and elocutionist who likes to recite poems. His first collection of poems Drishyo Noi Drishti Thekey was published by the Bangla Academy and won the Nattoshova Gold Medal. Taposr started his career in 1996 as a faculty member at a private university in Dhaka after completion of his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts at the Department of English, University of Dhaka. He is currently working as Controller of Examinations at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB).

Mr. Akib Javed is currently working in the Admin section of Bdnews24.com. He has been involved with Bdnews24.com since 2014. He completed his BA (2012) and MA (2013) from the Department of English and belongs to the 3rd batch of the semester system. Akib is an executive member of the current executive committee of EDAS and has made major contributions to many EDAS evnts.

Sidratul Moontaha Mitul graduated from the Department of English, University of Dhaka in 2016, specializing in English Literature.  Her career in academia began in 2017. During her undergraduate years, she participated in a number of extracurricular activities and studied French and Japanese. Her passion for teaching began during her tenure as a student mentor in the Department of English. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in English at Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP). She has published in various reputed academic journals. Her research interests include women and gender studies, cultural studies, literary and critical theory, postcolonial studies etc. She has been actively involved with EDAS in the last couple of years and is currently a member of the EDAS Executive Committee as well as the EDAS Webinar Committee.

Syed Nakib Sadi belongs to the graduating class of 2016 (Batch 7 of semester system) of the Department of English, University of Dhaka. He completed his MA in Applied Linguistics and ELT from the same department in 2017. He is now a Lecturer, Department of English at Metropolitan University in Sylhet. He is a member of the current executive committee of EDAS. He was always actively involved in extracurricular activities during his university days and now, misses his alma mater all the time!

Abdullah Mahmud Alauddin is Lecturer in English at Canadian University of Bangladesh. He enrolled in the Department of English at the University of Dhaka in 2015. After finishing his BA, he completed his MA in Applied Linguistics and ELT in 2019. He has worked for a couple of newspapers, a multipurpose tech startup, and Omnispace Ltd. – a content generation and consultancy firm that excels in writing services. Abdullah is the youngest member of the EDAS Executive Committee. He hails from a tiny village of northern Bangladesh. He is an IELTS trainer and a Spanish tutor. He also loves football, motorbikes, and photography.