PhD Spotlight: Istiakh Ahmed

Reconciling everyday realities with institutional decision-making

My doctoral research examines how climate change-induced loss and damage is experienced, governed, and contested across scales, with a particular focus on social inequality, justice, and power in climate governance. Substantively, my work connects community-level lived experiences of environmental loss, such as displacement, livelihood erosion, and emotional and cultural harm with national and global policy frameworks on disaster risk, adaptation, and climate finance. Methodologically, I combine ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews, participant observation, Photovoice, and policy analysis to bridge the gap between everyday realities and institutional decision-making.

I was drawn to the Policy School because of its strong emphasis on interdisciplinary research that connects theory, policy, and practice. Northeastern’s focus on engaged scholarship and justice-oriented policy analysis closely aligns with my long-standing interest in understanding how global climate institutions, such as the Green Climate Fund and the emerging Loss and Damage finance architecture, shape outcomes on the ground, often in ways that reproduce existing inequalities. My dissertation builds on my ongoing research on climate finance governance, loss and damage, and disaster response, including analyses of decision-making processes within international climate institutions.

“Loss is rarely only economic; it is also deeply social, cultural, and emotional, reshaping identities, relationships, and senses of dignity and belonging.”

Navigating loss and belonging

My research interests are deeply rooted in my personal and professional trajectory. Before starting my PhD, I spent nearly a decade working in Bangladesh with the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), where I led and coordinated research and action-oriented projects on climate loss and damage, livelihood resilience, locally led adaptation, urban liveability, and climate governance. This work involved extensive field engagement in coastal and disaster-prone regions, where I worked closely with communities living with the everyday realities of cyclones, flooding, salinity intrusion, and climate-induced displacement.

These experiences made visible a profound disconnect between how climate impacts are framed in policy and academic spaces and how they are lived, felt, and negotiated by affected communities. I observed that loss is rarely only economic; it is also deeply social, cultural, and emotional, reshaping identities, relationships, and senses of dignity and belonging. At the same time, I became increasingly aware of how global and national climate policies tend to privilege technical fixes and financial instruments while obscuring power relations, historical responsibility, and questions of justice. This tension continues to shape my research agenda and motivates my commitment to centering marginalized voices in climate policy debates.

My intellectual orientation has been strongly influenced by scholars and practitioners whose work bridges critical theory, policy engagement, and grounded empirical research. Professor Saleemul Huq’s leadership on loss and damage and his emphasis on justice and policy relevance inspired my early engagement with climate governance. Professor Kasia Paprocki’s critical political ecology approach has shaped how I interrogate dominant climate narratives and development interventions, while Professor W. Neil Adger’s scholarship on vulnerability, social resilience, and the ethics of climate change has deeply influenced how I conceptualize risk, adaptation, and justice. Prof. Laura Kuhl’s critical perspective on climate research and justice-oriented climate action has shaped the way I analyze and engage with different concepts of climate change.”Together, these influences have encouraged me to critically analyze climate concepts while remaining closely connected to the realities of people most affected by climate change.

Supporting climate-vulnerable communities

Looking ahead, I hope to contribute to more just and grounded climate governance by producing research that is both academically rigorous and policy-relevant. My goal is to work at the intersection of academia, policy, and practice, whether as a scholar, policy advisor, or practitioner supporting climate-vulnerable communities in shaping the decisions that affect their futures. Through my doctoral work, I aspire to advance critical debates on loss and damage, climate finance, and disaster governance, while also developing participatory and creative research approaches that make policy processes more inclusive, accountable, and responsive to lived experience. Ultimately, I hope my work helps move climate policy beyond rhetoric toward genuinely transformative and equitable outcomes.