Comilla University | Dr Md Azmain Muhtasim Mir (on study leave)

Dr Md Azmain Muhtasim Mir (on study leave)

Associate Professor

Comilla University
Cumilla-3506, Bangladesh

azmain.mir@cou.ac.bd

Biography
Qualification
Publication
Research Interest
Course/s Teaching

Dr Md Azmain Muhtasim Mir is a faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at Comilla University, Cumilla, Bangladesh. Dr Azmain completed his PhD in Society and Culture at the University of Tasmania (UTAS), Hobart, Australia, where his Higher Degree by Research (HDR) program was supported by a fully funded research scholarship. Subsequently, he was awarded the PhD degree in April 2026. In December 2018, Dr Azmain was awarded a Master of Anthropology (Advanced) with Distinction from The Australian National University (ANU) under the prestigious Australia Awards Scholarship (AAS). He previously completed both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Anthropology at the University of Rajshahi (RU), Bangladesh, securing First Class First position in both degrees. Following his graduation, he worked as a researcher and research officer with Save the Children International (SCI) and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b). He joined the Department of Anthropology at Comilla University as a Lecturer in July 2013, where he continues to teach, research, and engage in academic leadership.

Dr Azmain’s research and publications span a range of interdisciplinary themes, including the use of common pool, tourism, and heritage resources for education and community development; young people’s and children’s educational outcomes and aspirations; social exclusion and vulnerabilities of marginalised communities; intersections between heritage, ethnicity, and multiculturalism; and community resilience in relation to sustainability, health, and well-being. For future collaborations, he is particularly interested in studies on the future of work, focusing on the cultural, technological, and emotional dimensions of preparedness.

Dr Mir is actively engaged in global academic and professional communities. He is a member of the Council for Australasian Tourism and Hospitality Education (CAUTHE) and serves as Co‑Convenor of the Leisure and Sport Group within The Australian Sociological Association (TASA). He is also a member of the International Sociological Association (ISA), the ANU Global Alumni Forum, and a lifetime member of the Australian Alumni Association, Bangladesh (AAAB). He regularly presents research papers and reports at international conferences and symposiums in Bangladesh and Australia, and contributes analysis and commentary in local and international media on issues related to his research areas and public scholarship.

Education Qualification
Job Experience

Master Degree	Australian National University	Anthropology (Advanced)
Master Degree	University of Rajshahi (RU), Rajshahi	Anthropology
Bachelor	University of Rajshahi (RU), Rajshahi	Anthropology
PhD	University of Tasmania	Society and Culture

Department of Anthropology, Comilla University, Cumilla, Bangladesh Assistant Professor July 2016 - October 2021
Department of Anthropology, Comilla University, Cumilla, Bangladesh Lecturer July 2013 - June 2016
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Mohakhali, Dhaka, Bangladesh Research Officer October 2012 - June 2013
Save the Childrern International, Gulshan, Dhaka, Bangladesh Researcher March 2012 - September 2012
Comilla University, Bangladesh Associate Professor October 2021 - Present

Selected Journal articles, Chapters and Reports

Mir, M.A.M., Shelley, B., Ooi, C.S. (2025). Mobilising tourism resources for local young People and children’s educational attainment and regional communities’ cultural capital: Learnings from the West Coast Tasmania (Journal article-ready for submission).
Mir, M.A.M., Ooi, C., & Shelley, B. (2024). Tourism development, educational attainment, and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals in the West Coast of Tasmania. In The Elgar Companion to Tourism and the Sustainable Development Goals. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802203219.00028
Mir, M.A.M., Shelley, B., & Ooi, C.S. (2024). Uses of tourism resources for educational and community development: A systematic literature review and lessons. Tourism Management Perspectives, 53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2024.101278
Ooi, CS., Chuah, SH., Mir, MAM., and Kujnyetsova, D. (2024). Multicultural employment in Tasmania: Towards a cultural diversity-oriented recruitment and retention strategy, University of Tasmania and Multicultural Council of Tasmania.
Seivwright, A., Gallagher, K., Lester, E., Andersen, L.L., Chen, Q.,Haddon, J.,Mir, M.A.M., & Nyaaba, A. (2024). Sustainability Consultation Report: Analysis to Inform Tasmania’s Sustainability Strategy. Institute for Social Change, University of Tasmania.
Seivwright, A., Haddon, J., Andersen, L.L., Chen, Q., Lester, E., Mir, M.A.M.,& Nyaaba, A.(2024). Wellbeing in Tasmania: Analyses of consultations to inform the development of Tasmania’s Wellbeing Framework. Institute for Social Change, University of Tasmania.
Mir, M.A.M. (2019). Implications of Michel Foucault’s Ideas on Power, Subjectification, and Resistance in Ethnographic Analyses: An Overview, Comilla University Journal of Social Science, 2 (1), Comilla University, Comilla, Bangladesh.
Mir, M.A.M. (2019). Representation and Marginalisation of Jumma People through Tourism Development and Management in Sajek Valley of Chattogram Hill Tracts, Bangladesh: An Analysis; Man & Culture, 4 (3), 89-102, Institute of Social Research & Applied Anthropology (ISRAA), Rajshahi, Bangladesh.
Mir, M.A.M. (2018). Experiences of Impoverished Abandoned Women and their Children in Comilla City of Bangladesh, Comilla University Journal of Social Science, Vol.1. No. 01, Comilla University, Comilla, Bangladesh.
Mir, M.A.M. (2015). Women Workers’ Experience and Survival Tactics in the Garments Industry: A Study, Gender Relation, Otherness and Market-oriented Globalization, Department of Anthropology, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka & Novel Publishing House, Dhaka.
Mir, M.A.M. (2014). “Desire of Life and the Construction processes of Desire; Middle class Male’s and Female’s Agency”, The Journal of Anthropology (Nriviggyana Patrika), Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, 19.

Graduate & Undergraduate Research Projects  2018- Celebration and Commodification of the Bengali New Year (Nobo Borsho) in Urban Culture of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thesis Research for Master of Anthropology (Advanced) at Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.  2010 (Submitted in 2012) - The Discourses of Leprosy, Subaltern Lepers’ Coping Strategies and their Marginalities: A study on Lepers in Mymensingh Tuberculosis and Leprosy Hospital, Bangladesh. Thesis research for the Master of Social Sciences in Anthropology at the University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, Bangladesh.  2009 (Submitted in 2010) - Desires of Life and People’s Agency: A study on middle-class males and females in Mymensingh City. Dissertation for Bachelor of Social Sciences in Anthropology at the University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Research Grants (funded by Comilla University) Mir, M. A. M. 2019-2020. Role of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Recognition and Identification of the Tripura Ethnic Community in Bangladesh Mir, M.A.M. 2016-2017. Consequences of the Rana Plaza tragedy on the life and livelihood of the ‘garment workers’ in Savar, Dhaka. Mir, M. A.M. 2014-2015. Experiences of Impoverished Abandoned Women and their Children in Comilla City of Bangladesh.

Selected Conference Papers (from last ten years)

Mir, M.A.M., Ooi. C.S., & Shelley, B. (2025). Rethinking tourism development to improve local young people and children's knowledge and cultural capital, Council for Australian University Tourism and Hospitality Education (CAUTHE) Conference, hosted by the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Mir, M.A.M., Shelley, B., & Ooi, C.S. (2024). Mobilising tourism resources for educational attainment in regional communities: current status and future strategies, Council for Australian University Tourism and Hospitality Education (CAUTHE) Conference, hosted by University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia.
Mir, M.A.M., Ooi, C.S., & Shelley, B. (2023). Structural and Systematic Limits of Tourism and Leisure Industry in Supporting the Learning Communities in Regional Areas: Conceptual and Empirical Insights, The Australian Sociological Association (TASA), University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Mir, M.A.M., Shelley, B., & Ooi, C.S. (2023). Towards a Strategy to Mobilise Adventure Sports and Tourism Resources for Educational and Community Development: Learnings from the West Coast of Tasmania, Australia, Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia.
Mir, M.A.M., Ooi, C.S., & Shelley, B. (2023). “You Tell Us What That Needs to Look Like”: Incorporating Local People’s Voice in Tourism Development on the West Coast of Tasmania, ISA World Congress of Sociology, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
Mir, M.A.M., Ooi, C.S., & Shelley, B. (2022). Researcher’s Positionality and Reflexivity: Lessons from Ethnographic Fieldwork on the West Coast of Tasmania, Regional Research and Education Conference, University of Tasmania, Cradle Coast Campus, Tasmania, Australia.
Mir, M.A.M. (2020). Celebration and Commodification of Bengali New Year among Urban Youth in Dhaka, Bangladesh, 26th IPSA World Congress of Political Science, International Political Science Association; Lisbon, Portugal (Virtual Presentation).
Mir, M. A.M. (2018). Bangladeshi State after the Liberation War of 1971 and Munda People’s Experience of Ethnic Identification, 25th IPSA World Congress of Political Science, International Political Science Association; Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

The Future of Work and Cultural, Technological, and Emotional Dimensions of Preparedness: Digital Innovations and Sustainable Practices
Ethnographic, Qualitative and Mixed-Method Research; Qualitative Data Analysis, Research Publications, Systematic Literature Review
Common Pool Resource Management through Tourism, Heritage, Music, Arts and Performances
Children and Young People’s Rights, Educational Outcomes and Aspirations
Ethnicity and Multiculturalism: Refugee, Migrants and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities (CALD)
Teaching, Lecturing, Curriculum Development and Course Co-ordination

Program	Course	Session	Course Outline	Course Materials