A/2, Jahurul Islam Avenue
Jahurul Islam City, Aftabnagar
Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh
Dr. Mumita Tanjeela is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at East West University, Bangladesh. Her academic work focuses primarily on gender and environment, with particular emphasis on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. She served as Chairperson of the department from 2018 to 2022. Dr. Tanjeela obtained her PhD from Griffith University, Australia, in 2016. Her doctoral research examined women’s resilience and climate change adaptation in Bangladesh. She holds an MSc in Gender and Development Studies from the Asian Institute of Technology and completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Sociology at the University of Dhaka.
Prior to her academic career, she worked with the Department of Women Affairs under the Government of Bangladesh, where she was involved in project formulation, programme implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, particularly in areas related to preventing violence against women, gender-responsive disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation.
Her research and professional interests include gender and development, gender and environment, climate change adaptation, disaster management, violence against women, and women’s leadership and participation in governance. She has been actively engaged in several national and international collaborative research projects and has published extensively, contributing to scholarly and policy discussions on gender-responsive climate and development issues at both national and global levels.
Her PhD thesis was recently published as a book titled Rising Tide, Resilient Voices: Bangladeshi Women Battling Climate Change by Common Ground Research Networks, USA.
Areas of Expertise: Gender and Development; Gender and Environment; Climate Change Adaptation; Disaster Management; Violence against Women; Women and Politics.
January 2023-
Associate Professor
August 2018- August 2022
Chairperson, Department of Sociology, East-West University, Dhaka.
May 2017-August 2018
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology, East-West University, Dhaka.
May 2008 – May 2017
Assistant- Director (Monitoring, Coordination and Awareness Rising Unit), the Department of Women Affairs, Dhaka, Bangladesh (Under the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs of the Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh).
June 1997 – May 2006
Assistant Director (Women support program), Department of Women Affairs Dhaka, Bangladesh
June 1995 – May 1997
Research Assistant (Research, Monitoring, Evaluation and Documentation), Ganao Sahajjaya Sangstha (GSS), A non-government development organization of Bangladesh.
Gender and Development; Gender and Environment; Climate Change Adaptation; Disaster Management; Violence against Women; Women and Politics
July 2025-June 2026-From Policy to Practice: Women’s Contributions in Local Disaster Risk Reduction. Funded by Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC), Dhaka, Bangladesh
September 2025- Environmental Degradation and Displacement Dynamics of Forests Dependent Communities: A Socio-ecological Study in the Sundarbans Area, Bangladesh. Funded by the Centre of Training and Research (CRT), East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
July 2024- December 2024-Understanding women’s experiences of coercive and controlling behaviours, of technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and of barriers to support services” based on the national prevalence survey on women’s health and experiences of violence.Funded by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. Jointly Conducted by Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melboune, Australia.
2021-2022- Understanding Coping Strategies of University Students of Dhaka City during COVID19: through a Social Capital Lens. Funded by the Centre of Training and Research (CRT), East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
2012-2015- PhD Research titled “Untold Stories: Women’s Resiliency and Climate Change Adaptation in Bangladesh”, Centre of Governance and Public Policy, School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University, Australia.
2007-2008- “NGOs and Women’s Participation in Local Government Bodies in Bangladesh” was conducted for partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Gender and Development Studies, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand.
2009–2010 - “Women Participation in Local Government: Changes and Achievements”. Promotional Researcher; Sponsor: Social Research Council, Planning Commission, Ministry of Planning, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.
2006 - 2007 “International Female Labour Migration: A Case Study of Bangladesh”. Promotional Researcher, Sponsor: Social Research Council, Planning Commission, Ministry of Planning, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.
2004 “Identify the linkage between the Agricultural Marketing Value chain and the Poor, women and ethnic groups` worked as a gender specialist in that study conducted by Dr. Mahbub Ahmed, Professor, Dept. of Sociology, University of Dhaka, supported by Agricultural Marketing Dept. and Asian Development Bank in June 2004.
Presented Papers:
Panelist: A session on Health Effects on Climate Change Issues" in the observance of International Volunteer Day organized by Institute of Disaster Management and Vulnerability Studies, DU; VSO Bangladesh; and National Youth Platform on 5 December 2022
Gender Expert: Capacity building workshop on ‘Strengthening Civil Society Organisation (CSO) and Trade Union (TU) Advocacy Engagement to Advance the Rights of Women Migrant Workers from South Asia’ organized by Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) & Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA).
Keynote Speaker: Workshop on ‘Gender responsive and resilient cities for all: Community-based adaptation in informal settlements of Bangladesh’ organized by Cities Alliance: Cities without Slums and hosted by UNOPS on 8 December 2021.
Panelist: Climate Talk to mark the International Women's Day 2021 organized by Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC), Bangkok and 'Climate Adaptation and Resilience for South Asia ' project, WB .
Keynote Speaker: International conference ‘Gobeshona 5’ Session 17 -Gender hosted by International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) on January 10, 2019.
Best presenter award in the 'Network for Education and Research on Peace & Sustainability (NERPS) Conference-2024' held in Hiroshima University, Japan from 5 March to 8 March 2024.
International Post-Graduate Research Scholarship by Australian Government from May 2012- February 2016.
International Students Scholarship by Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand from August 2006 from May 2008.
International Postgraduate Research Scholarship from 2012-2016 for pursuing PhD degree
Asian Institute of Technology Scholarship from 2006-2008 for Msc degree
Member, International Water Resource Association (IERA), USA.
Member, Safe landing Climates (SLC), World Climate Research Program, Switzerland.
Member, International Sociological Association (ISA)
Alumni Member, Griffith University, Australia.
Alumni member, GDS, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand.
Member, South Asian Network for Gender Activists and Trainers (SANGAT).Delhi, India.
Executive Member, Centre for Women and Children Studies (CWCS), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Vice President, Somosti, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Vice President, Badabon Sangho, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Member, Bangladesh Sociological Association.