Md. Didarul Islam

Dr. Md. Didarul Islam, a Commonwealth scholar, is an Assistant Professor and Research Director at the International Security Policy Lab, Department of World Religions and Culture, University of Dhaka. His research focuses on CVE policy, Counterterrorism, role of formers in PCVE, extremism, and refugee. As a Commonwealth Doctoral Fellow at the University of Leeds, Dr. Islam, completed his Doctoral study in 2024 on CVE policy-making in Bangladesh with a focus on how norm receiver formulates CVE policy. Of particular interest, his edited book with Gordon Clubb and Ryan Scrivens titled “Former Extremists: Preventing and Countering Violence” published by the Oxford University Press in 2024 drew international attention. He recently published his a monograph “Countering Violent Extremism Policy in Bangladesh: A Public Policy Approach” by Routledge in 2025. Additionally, He was previously awarded research grants from the World Bank under the HEAT project (2025-2026); University of Dhaka (2016, 2018) and the University Grants Commission in Bangladesh (2019). He also worked as a Research Assistant for a Research England Funded project titled ‘Developing Standards in Involving Formers in PCVE 2023-2024” where he jointly authored a policy brief on norms and standards of involving formers in PCVE, published by the ICCT. He is the awardee of HEAT 13032, funded by the World Bank and the GoB where his project looks at Interreligious Dialogue, Resilience Building and CVE.