Istiakh Ahmed
PhD in Public Policy
Istiakh is a PhD student in Public Policy at the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, with a concentration in Sustainability and Resilience. He has completed both his BSS and MSS in Anthropology from Jahangirnagar University. His study in anthropology has allowed him to have in-depth knowledge of socio-cultural dynamics, social research, and its different methodologies. Prior to joining the PhD program, Istiakh spent seven years researching climate change adaptation and climate-induced loss and damage. He worked as an Advisor – Climate Adaptation at the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) and was a Program Coordinator at the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD). Working on climate change has provided him with a wide range of knowledge, including loss and damage, climate finance, nature-based solutions, locally led adaptation, climate-induced migration and international policy discussion. He has been following the climate negotiation on loss and damage track for five years and have attended three COPs. He co-led the loss and damage track in Glasgow Climate Dialogue and presented the recommendation at COP26 in Glasgow, UK.
Istiakh also attended the Resilience Academy (2015-2016) and was a fellow of the USAID young researcher program. He has published several journal articles, working papers, research reports, blogs, and op-eds on climate change and its different topics. He has also trained and mentored university students, government officials, local community members, and youth around Bangladesh. He is an aspiring photographer and video filmmaker and has produced several documentaries on different issues of climate change.
His research interest areas are climate justice, loss and damage, livelihood resilience, locally led adaptation, environmentally induced migration, social vulnerabilities due to environmental stressors, and global political discussion/debate on the topics.