NSU Hosts Fall 2025 Graduate Colloquium: Students Present Cutting-Edge Research

North South University’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS) successfully hosted the Graduate Colloquium Series: Fall 2025 today, providing a platform for graduate students to present original research to an engaged audience of faculty, peers, and researchers.

Dr. Md. Rizwanul Islam, Professor of Law and Dean of SHSS, opened the event with a warm welcome, commending the students’ commitment to scholarly inquiry. Professor Bulbul Siddiqi from the Department of Political Science and Sociology served as discussant, delivering incisive feedback on each paper and encouraging the presenters to pursue publication in peer-reviewed journals. Professor Norman Kenneth Swazo, Director of the Office of Research, chaired the session and, in his closing remarks, emphasized the value of such forums for professional development. The event was moderated by Mr. Ahmed Ragib Chowdhury, Lecturer in the Department of Law.

Four graduate students delivered compelling presentations. Mr. Manish Kumar Agrawal from the South Asian Institute of Policy & Governance analyzed systemic challenges in Bangladesh’s healthcare sector in his paper "Universal Health Coverage in Bangladesh", offering policy recommendations to achieve UHC by 2030. Mr. Akhlak Ul Islam from the Department of Law presented a comparative study titled "Balancing Digital Trade and Digital Sovereignty", examining how China, India, and Bangladesh navigate tensions between digital trade liberalization and national data control.

Mr. Monirul Islam Bappy from the Department of History and Philosophy explored regional industrialization in his paper "Sugarcane, State, and Geopolitics: Industrialisation in Northern Bengal, 1930–1960", tracing economic and structural transformations driven by the sugarcane industry. Ms. Suriya Akhter Sristi from the Department of English & Modern Languages offered a literary analysis in "Feminist Resistance in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon", highlighting how characters like Clytemnestra, Cassandra, and Iphigenia challenge patriarchal authority in the classical tragedy.

The Q&A session was vibrant, with faculty and attendees engaging deeply with the presenters on methodology, implications, and future research directions. The event concluded with the presentation of Certificates of Achievement to all four speakers, formally recognizing their intellectual contributions and dedication to advancing academic discourse.