Sujoy Subroto

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Geography Department and recipient of an Eyes High International Doctoral Recruitment Scholarship at the University of Calgary. 

I was born and grew up in a poverty-prone remote village in the North-Eastern district (Sunamganj) of Bangladesh, which is located near the foothills of Indian State Meghalaya and surrounded by wetland and fresh-water swamp forest, on which my local community is dependent for their livelihood subsistence and survival. My strong interest in sustainable environmental governance emerged from this early first-hand experience of resource-related conflicts and the impact of seasonal variations and local power relations on rural livelihoods, social identity, and environmental justice.

Being the first student from my rural village to get enrolled in a public university, I completed my B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Forestry from the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh. My undergraduate research was mainly focused on forest ecology, especially on how vertical forest structural complexity affects regeneration, biodiversity, and ecosystem functions. Upon graduation, I worked with various NGOs, including a USAID-funded Conservation and Development Project, and conducted extensive research fieldwork in various protected areas in Bangladesh. During this time, I got the opportunity to acquire in-depth first-hand knowledge and experience on real-life socio-environmental problems associated with managing protected areas which instigated my curiosity to study the social-political dynamics of resource (forest) governance further.

With push ahead by this interest, I did my second master's in Rural Development and Natural Resource Management at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in 2016 with the support of Prestigious Swedish Institute Study Scholarships. My graduate research explored the issue of "power devolution in protected area governance under a co-management regime in Bangladesh".  As part of the M.Sc program in Sweden, I collaborated with an NGO (BARCIK) in Bangladesh and did an internship project in the world’s largest Mangrove forest, Sundarbans. This internship helped me expand communication networks and a new research avenue on climate justice, indigenous knowledge-based adaptation techniques, and livelihood risks of forest dwellers. Throughout my university education, I was also involved with numerous volunteer and non-profit organizations on campus, worked as a research assistant with a cross-disciplinary team, published several newspaper articles, served as a deputy team leader for the "Forest Carbon and Biophysical Inventory, 2014" project, conducted workshops and training related to climate-induced vulnerabilities and capacity building for local communities, co-founded a local volunteer organization and involved with a wide range of extra-curricular activities and professional associations.

♦ M.Sc in Rural Development and Natural Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden, 2017.

♦ M.Sc in Forestry with Thesis, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh, 2013.

♦ B.Sc in Forestry, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, 2011.

Environmental Governance Research Group led by Dr. Conny Davidsen, in the Department of Geography, University of Calgary, Canada. 

• Traveling, Photography, Writing and Publishing articles on Newspaper and Voluntary Activities. 

• Courses