Farhana Ahmed

I would like to have the pleasure to introduce myself. I am from Bangladesh and currently working as Sr. Professional in Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), a public trust under the Ministry of Water Resources of Bangladesh. As a teacher (part time), I also conduct classes in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (DURP), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). I completed my Bachelor and my Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from BUET in April, 2002 and December, 2008 respectively. I also did Master’s in Environmental Science (MSc-specialization in Environmental Planning and Management) from UNESCO-IHE, the Netherlands in April, 2008.

During my stay in Delft, the Netherlands, I gathered knowledge on topics related to environmental planning and management. It was easy to grasp the knowledge because of the straightforward and practical knowledge oriented lectures. Balanced integration of strong scientific knowledgebase with social and environmental aspects was a learning experience for me. Specifically, I was amazed to see how well the Dutch has adapted themselves with the nature’s adversity and managed to keep at bay the dangers and pursue a normal way of life despite the fact that majority of the country is below sea level. Also, their simplistic lifestyle and openness to embrace people from multicultural backgrounds attracted me a lot.

Ever since my MSc study at UNESCO-IHE, I was intrinsically seeking an opportunity to fulfill my long lasting dream of doing a PhD degree. My career as planner and teacher always thrives me towards acquiring knowledge and doing innovative research. Moreover, belonging from a disaster prone developing country like Bangladesh, having firsthand experience and observing the misery of people always motivated me to conduct research on disasters and its management. Nowadays, climate change with its high correlation with disasters like flood is a constant threat which cannot be ignored. In this backdrop, I conducted my MSc thesis on ‘Urban Flood, its Effects and Management Options: A Case Study of Dhaka city’ where I looked at the impacts of flood with and without climate change scenarios. However, after the completion of my MSc study I felt that, a much more in depth and comprehensive research work is required to deal with the urban flooding problems of Dhaka.

Hence, when I was invited to attend the workshop on ‘Delta Lessons: Bangladesh and the Netherlands, Communities and Institutions for Flood Resilience’ held in January, 2011, in BUET, I was excited to see scope to do further research work in this line. Moreover, through another workshop held in June, 2011 in the Netherlands on “Water-related climate change adaptation: a South-North Dialogue on Knowledge”, I learned how the delta counties in the world are forming a bond to deal with climate change. These motivated me to work towards the development of an adaptation plan for Dhaka in line with the Bangladesh Delta Plan being prepared gaining the experience of Delta plan of the Netherlands. To fulfill this endeavor I have started my PhD under this WOTRO project hoping to come up with adaptive options of flood management for Dhaka.

Apart from my professional affiliations I am also engaged in cultural activities as a Dance Teacher in ‘Chhayanaut’ (a renowned music school of Bangladesh). My life in dancing started hand in hand with my academic life, without which I feel incomplete.