Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of Chittagong.
Dr. M. Shah Nawaz Chowdhury serves as ‘associate professor’ for the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of Chittagong. He joined University of Chittagong (CU) in March 2013. Before it, he served Coastal and Ocean Research Group (CORG) of Bangladesh as one of their researchers. Dr. Chowdhury’s research interests span issues in the field of oceanography. He is specifically interested in ocean ecosystem modelling, ocean observation systems including ocean submersibles, marine and coastal habitat (i.e. coral, seagrass, saltmarsh and mangroves) restoration, their functioning and associated ecosystem services. His current research aims to address the marine and coastal ecosystem changes and their performances in varying hydrodynamic conditions that are influenced by the monsoonal climate over the Bay of Bengal region.
Dr. M. Shah Nawaz Chowdhury obtained his PhD in the field of ‘Coastal Ecological Engineering’ from the Wageningen University (WUR), which was jointly supervised by the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ, Yerseke) and Wageningen Marine Research (WUR), The Netherlands. He received his master’s and bachelor’s degree in Marine Science from University of Chittagong. Moreover, Dr. Chowdhury conducted various advanced courses related to ecosystem modelling and bioinformatics at the Wageningen University (NL) and University of Cambridge (UK). In 2013-14, he received a fellowship from Cornell University (USA) to conduct higher study on Marine Bio-acoustics at Friday Harbor Lab in Washington University (USA). He worked with a group of scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (USA) and actively participated in research cruises in coastal areas of the northern Pacific Ocean to learn the deep sea techniques using bio-acoustic tools.
Dr. Chowdhury also worked with Dutch scientist consortium called ‘EcoShape’ through the Netherlands Followship Program who investigates various aspects of ecological engineering under the research framework called ‘Building with Nature’. During this period, Dr. Chowdhury investigated to understand the roles of various coastal ecosystems in shaping Dutch and Bengal deltas. His research team made an innovation in developing eco-engineering techniques using breakwater oyster reefs as one of the nature based solutions to protect coast from erosion. Additionally, Dr. Chowdhury was involved in many national and international projects as principal investigator (PI) and Co-principal investigator (Co-PI) funded by the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock (GoB), World Bank, WorldFish, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Currently, he has been investigating the benthic habitats using state of art technology in underwater investigations for St. Martin’s Island MPA. Dr. Chowdhury is also leading a research program to develop integrated multi-trophic marine aquaculture technologies for enhancing sustainable marine fisheries production in Bangladesh. He successfully presented his research at international conferences in USA, Europe and Asia, and published in peer-reviewed journals. He has published over 40 research articles and 5 books as co-author in the field of ocean sciences. Dr. Chowdhury is leading the ‘Ocean Innovation Lab’ and also serves ‘Blue Economy Research Group’ for the Institute of Marine Sciences at CU.