Speakers

Dr Iftekhar Ahmed is an Associate Professor in Construction Management and Disaster Resilience, School of Architecture and Built Environment, and Program Convenor of the postgraduate programs in Disaster Risk and Resilience, The University of Newcastle, Australia. He teaches on disaster risk and resilience principles, disaster governance and international frameworks, resilience of the built environment and construction management research. His research interests include post-disaster housing, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and urbanisation in the Asia-Pacific. In the past he worked at RMIT University, Melbourne, in the Climate Change Adaptation Program and Humanitarian Architecture Research Bureau, and previously as a project manager at the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, Thailand, and as a shelter specialist at the United Nations Development Programme, Bangladesh. He has extensive work experience in South and Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Iftekhar serves as a consultant and technical advisor for different international development and humanitarian agencies and has produced many evaluation and project reports. He has written several books, professional reports and many peer-reviewed publications. Iftekhar completed his PhD from Oxford Brookes University, UK; Master of Science in Architecture Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA; and Bachelor of Architecture (hons.), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, India.