With a background in marine science, oceanography and fisheries development studies, Dr. Islam is an interdisciplinary marine social scientist with interests in coastal social-ecological systems. He has more than ten years of experience in conducting research on coastal communities, small-scale fisheries and marine conservation in Bangladesh. Dr. Islam is a faculty member at Sylhet Agricultural University in Bangladesh. He received his PhD from the University of Bremen in Germany. His PhD research contextualized poverty and vulnerability in the livelihoods of coastal fishing communities in Bangladesh. Specifically, his current research interests include livelihoods and well-being analysis of small-scale fishers, social dimensions of coastal and marine conservation. Recently he led a research project on implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF Guidelines) in Bangladesh small-scale fisheries. Dr. Islam a member of Too Big To Ignore, the Global Partnership for Small-scale Fisheries Research (TBTI).