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Dr Matluba Khan,Principal Investigator

Dr Matluba Khan is a Lecturer in Urban Design at the School of Geography and Planning at Cardiff University. Dr Khan’s research sits in the intersection of architecture, urban design and human geography, and more specifically explores the relationship between spatial design and children’s learning and wellbeing. Her research experience includes studies on education and well-being of displaced children, co-design, development and evaluation of children’s outdoor learning environments, planning and evaluation of urban open space interventions and participatory design and research.  Dr Khan’s designed outdoor learning environment in Bangladesh received a number of accolades including Honour Award from American Society of Landscape Architects in 2017 and Great Places Award (in Place Design Category) from Environment Design Research Association in 2016. Prior to joining GEOPL, Dr Khan has worked as a Research Fellow at University College London and as an Assistant Professor in Department of Architecture in Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. Dr Khan co-founded the Scotland based charity A Place in Childhood with a mission to creating inclusive environments for children and young people through research, advocacy and action.

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Dr Thomas Smith, Co-investigator

Dr Tom Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at Cardiff  University, in the School of Geography and Planning. His research focuses on four broad themes. Firstly, his work has focused on the geographies of children and youth, and how young people in a range of contexts gain equitable access to outdoor environments and other educational spaces, as well as the impacts of a range of environmental and sustainability education programmes on young people. This work has recently included a focus on designated landscapes in the UK, including National Parks, and more broadly on green/blue spaces and their accessibility to those most marginalised from natural space. Second, his research has also broadly focused on environmental conservation and sustainability in the global South, from the perspectives of young people involved in environmental education projects, and adults in communities proximate to environmental resources. Recently this research has focused on both formal and informal natural resource extraction around precious mineral mining communities in Tanzania and Brazil, and community perspectives on sustainability of these resources and the impacts of extraction. Previously he has worked with communities in Western Tanzania on local forest conservation, particularly the importance of locally sacred sites to protecting forests. Thirdly, his research has explored the role of technologies in heritage sites and rural navigation in the UK. Finally, recent research has explored the relationship between low-income urban housing construction, livelihoods and employment in cities in Kenya and the Philippines. Tom’s research has focused throughout these diverse topics on the perspectives of young people and communities, using participatory and qualitative methods. His research has been funded by GCRF, The Royal Geographical Society, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the ESRC, and International NGOs. He has worked collaboratively with Charities and NGOs across the UK, Tanzania, Kenya, and the Philippines. He has published widely in international journals for Human Geography, Development Studies and Environmental Planning.

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Dr Kusha Anand, Research Associate

Kusha Anand is currently working as a Research Associate at Cardiff University on a GCRF funded project on Crisis-led approaches to teaching and learning in Bangladesh. She was awarded with a PhD in Political Sociology of Education from the UCL Institute of Education in 2019. Her PhD thesis looked at how history related to India-Pakistan relations is enacted in schools in India and Pakistan. She works on the intersections of geography, citizenship, and education, mainly in South Asia and the UK. Before joining Cardiff, I was working as a Research Fellow on several interdisciplinary research projects at UCL Institute of Education and taught on several education and sociology BA and MA modules in the Institute of Education for about four years. I’ve also worked as an international consultant for UNICEF India and the Times of India on education-related projects. 

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Professor M Zakiul Islam, International Partner, and Co-investigator

Zakiul Islam has been involved in research and design related to the environment and health for the last fifteen years. An accomplished researcher with experience to work at Natural Learning Initiative, USA. He was the Principal Investigator of Bangladesh for the IPEN Adolescent Study, a research project funded by the National Institute of Health, USA which included 14 different countries. A member of the International People’s Environment Network and Leadership Council of the International School Ground Alliance. He has received the Landscape Architecture Research Award from the College of Design, North Carolina State University in 2008. His designed project received the Berger Best Young Architect Award and was nominated to be sent for the Aga Khan Award of Architecture from Bangladesh.

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Mr. Shakil Ahmed, International Partner, and Co-investigator

Shakil Ahmed is currently part of the leadership team at Acumen Academy in Bangladesh. Energized by his passion for education, futures and story-telling, he emphasizes the importance of creating, sharing and teaching stories of positive, alternative futures as key to paving long-term impact in shaping a brighter future.  He has been conducting workshops and giving talks on diverse fields of interest ranging from understanding education, educational futures, foresight planning, analytical thinking, experiential learning, Socratic questioning, mindfulness in schools, storytelling, educational technology, design of learning spaces, etc. He has a Masters in Educational Planning, Leadership and Management from BRAC University and a Bachelors of Science in Theoretical Physics from National University of Singapore.  He has previously worked in Teach For Bangladesh, LogicMills (Singapore), the BRAC Institute of Educational Development and Dhaka Tribune. Outside work, he explores storytelling media such as theater, performance poetry, comedy, workshops and creative writing.

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Ms. Tahrima Hossain, Project Coordinator

Tahrima Hossain is an experienced researcher and educator with six years of experience of working field level in different countries in different research projects. She has experience in designing and conducting research projects using different methods. She completed her MSc in Education, Practice and Innovation from the University of Southampton, UK and Worked in the education sector of Bangladesh, India and the UK.

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