2009-2010 - BIDS

from the London School of Economics in 1975,
and Ph.D. from McMaster University in 1982. Prior
to joining BIDS as a Senior Research Fellow in
1991, he served as Deputy Chief in the Planning
Commission, Government of Bangladesh and
as Consultant-Economist in the Master Plan
Organization under the Ministry of Water Resources.
He has conducted extensive research in the fields
of growth performance and risk management in
agriculture, management of water resources, food
policy analysis and chronic poverty in Bangladesh.
He has published extensively in various national
and international economic journals, contributed
to edited volumes, and co-edited several books.
Dr. Shahabuddin served as the Director General of
the Institute from January 2003 to March 2009. He
retired as a Research Director of BIDS in 2010.
Zaid Bakht
Research Director
Dr. Zaid Bakht obtained his Ph.D. in Economics
from Cornell University in 1978. His research
areas include industrial development, rural nonfarm
activities, regional trade, rural infrastructure,
private sector development, and macroeconomic
policy. He is involved in a number of national policy
making bodies and advisory committees. Currently,
he is working as a Research Director of BIDS.
Khan Ahmed Sayeed Murshid
Research Director
Dr. K.A.S. Murshid obtained a Ph.D. in 1985 from
Cambridge University for his thesis on food policy.
In addition, he has expanded his research interest
in other research areas, including infrastructure
and irrigation, informal and rural credit markets,
food grain markets, food security and poverty,
human resources development and rural energy.
He has published extensively in national and
international journals and contributed to various
edited volumes. His current areas of research
interest include new institutional economics
(applications to markets and development
institutions), infrastructure, energy and poverty,
agriculture, food policy and rural finance. Currently,
he is working as a Research Director of BIDS.
Rushidan Islam Rahman
Research Director
Dr. Rushidan Islam Rahman obtained her M.A.
in Development Economics from the University
of Sussex and Ph.D. from Australian National
University. She has worked in a number of major
research projects covering small scale irrigation
projects, agricultural growth performance and
its distributional impact, women in poverty, and
linkages between employment and poverty.
She has been involved in policy advising
through membership of various committees and
participation in policy dialogues. She has worked
for different international organizations including
ILO, ADB, UN-ESCAP, UNDP and IFPRI in various
capacities. She has published a large number of
articles in national and international journals,
contributed to edited volumes, and co-edited
several books. Her current research interests
include education, food security, unemployment
and labor market, poverty, rural non-farm
activities, gender inequity in the labor market and
microfinance. Currently, she is a Research Director
of BIDS.
Binayak Sen
Research Director
Dr. Binayak Sen is currently a Research Director at
BIDS. During 2004-2009, while on leave from BIDS,
he worked as a Senior Economist at the World Bank
in Washington, D.C. He is currently an Associate
Editor of the Bangladesh Development Studies.
He received MA in Economics from Moscow State
University with distinction (1982). He received PhD
in Economics from Institute of Oriental Studies
of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1985).
As development practitioner, he has served in
the past on a number of important national
commissions and committees. Over the past
decade, he has led, on behalf of BIDS, a number
of multidisciplinary research teams that produced
major flagship reports on Bangladesh. He has
also gained considerable skills and experience
in the broad areas of development economics
by working on other countries and contributing
to analytical reports prepared by the World Bank
BIDS Biennial Report 2009-2010 55