Muhammad Shafqat Munir

Introduction

Mr Muhammad Shafqat Munir is currently Head of the Bangladesh Centre for Terrorism Research and Research Fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS). He is also a Non-Resident Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore and a Senior Fellow (Non-Resident) at the Institute of National Security Studies, Sri Lanka. In addition to research and analysis on countering violent extremism, he also focuses extensively on strategic and security issues in the Indo-Pacific region. At BIPSS, he oversees several projects and coordinates the Track 1.5 and 2 dialogues organised by the institute.

Mr Munir has completed a number of fellowships, including the Fellowship on Indo Pacific Security Studies at the Daniel K Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii and the Distinguished Humphrey Leadership Award Fellowship (under the Fulbright Program) at Dartmouth College in the United States (US). He is a ‘Munich Young Leader’ of the Munich Security Conference and the Associate Editor of Peace and Security Review, a quarterly academic journal published by BIPSS. In 2019, he was inducted into the Network of Young Asian Security Experts by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. Mr Munir has published numerous articles, chapters in edited volumes and op-eds on strategic and security issues.

In addition, Mr Munir has presented at and participated in various international conferences, including the Munich Security Conference, Shangri La Dialogue, Raisina Dialogue and numerous other events. He has been a guest lecturer at the National Defence College in Bangladesh and at the US Foreign Service Institute.

Mr Munir completed his undergraduate and graduate studies in International Relations and Strategic Studies at the Australian National University and the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore respectively. In addition to his undergraduate and post-graduate studies, he underwent executive education programmes at the John F Kennedy School of Government (Harvard Kennedy School) at Harvard University on ‘Counter Terrorism’ and ‘Leadership Development’. Mr Munir is an alumnus of the National Defense University in Washington as well as the Institut Des Hautes Etudes De Défense Nationale in Paris and Centro Superior de Estudios de la Defensa Nacional in Spain where he attended the Higher Defence Course for Asia Pacific Senior Officers in 2016.

Areas of Interest and Expertise

• Strategic and Security Issues in the Indo-Pacific
• Security of the Bay of Bengal
• Bangladesh’s Foreign Policy and Security
• Countering Violent Extremism, Cybersecurity and Defence Studies (within the South Asian context)