Lead Researchers

Niaz-Asadullah

Niaz Asadullah

Niaz Asadullah is Professor of Development Economics in the Faculty of Economics and Deputy Director at the Centre for Poverty and Development Studies (CPDS), Malaya University. Professor Asadullah's fields of research include development economics, labour economics, and the economics of education. His current research focuses on issues relating to the quality of secondary schools, causes and consequences of extreme poverty, inequality of opportunity, inter-generational mobility and subjective well-being. Professor Asadullah has a D.Phil. in Economics from the University of Oxford.

zaki-wahhaj

Zaki Wahhaj

Zaki Wahhaj is Reader (Associate Professor) in Economics at the University of Kent. Dr Wahhaj's fields of research include development economics and economic theory. His current research deals with the themes of social norms and household decision-making, access to microfinance and issues relating to early marriage and female education. Dr Wahhaj has a PhD in Economics from the Massachussets Institute of Technology, USA.

Samia Huq

Samia Huq

Samia Huq is an anthropologist and Associate Professor at the Department of Economics and Social Science at BRAC University, Dhaka. Dr Huq's fields of research include religious revival, religious identity, politics, social movements and secularism. Her current research includes cultural activitism of Bengali muslims of East Pakistan and the impact of secondary secular and madrasah education on gendered norms and practices. Dr Huq has a PhD in Anthropology from Brandeis University, USA. 

 

 

 

Senior Affiliates

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Sajeda Amin

Sajeda Amin is a senior associate at the Population Council, New York, with years of experience in implementing and evaluating empowerment programmes for girls and women. Her previous and ongoing work has focused on a variety of themes including the livelihoods of adolescent girls, child marriage prevention, female factory work and time-use patterns, and microfinance and financial literacy. Dr Amin has a PhD in sociology and demography from Princeton University.

 

rsz sara hossain

Sara Hossain

Sara Hossain is a barrister at the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and an honorary executive director of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST). BLAST is a network of over 2000 lawyers nationwide which provide legal aid to poor and disadvantaged clients on a range of issues including family law. Hossain played a key role in drafting Bangladesh's first comprehensive legislation on violence against women, which became law in 2010. She was one of the recipients of the 2016 International Women of Courage Award awarded by the US Secretary of State.

 

 

 

Policy-makers and practitioners around the world today readily recognise the integral role of education and gender equality in fostering human and economic development in a society. But facets of these two dimensions of development remain under-researched, with questions that can help design better policy still unanswered: How does improved access to education impact upon gender roles within a traditional society? Does education affect attitudes and beliefs regarding traditional gender roles and subsequent life choices of those exposed to education? Are there investments complementary to schooling that can accelerate social transformation, particularly greater economic participation by women and investment in the health and education of the next generation?

IntEGGrA is a collaborative research initiative among researchers at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom and Malaya University in Malaysia to investigate these questions with a focus on countries in South and Southeast Asia. The initiative is supported by an international partnership between the University of Kent and Malaya University, based on a Memorandum of Understanding that facilitates academic visits by Integgra researchers, participation in Integgra research by students at both institutions, and collaboration on externally funded research projects. This website has been developed as a outlet for disseminating the research findings and related articles produced by the Integgra research team.