Shafqat Munir

Mr. Munir graduated from the Australian National University (ANU) with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Security Studies. He subsequently completed a Master of Science in Strategic Studies and a Postgraduate Diploma in Counter Terrorism Studies from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, where he was an RSIS Scholar. His MSc dissertation focused on a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy for Bangladesh. He has also attended executive education programmes at the John F. Kennedy School of Government (HKS), Harvard University on ‘Counter Terrorism and Global Security’ and ‘Leadership in the 21st Century’. He is an alumnus of the Near East and South Asia (NESA) Center at the National Defense University (NDU) in Washington DC, Institut des Hautes Études de Défense Nationale (IHEDN) in Paris, and the Centro Superior Estudios de la Defensa Nacional (CESEDEN) in Spain, where he attended the Higher Defence Course for Asia-Pacific Senior Officers. In 2016, he was awarded the prestigious Distinguished Humphrey Leadership Award Fellowship by the U.S. Department of State. As part of this, he was a Distinguished Humphrey Fellow at the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. He was also an Indo-Pacific Security Studies Fellow at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (DKI APCSS) in Hawaii. Mr. Munir has also attended the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) of the U.S. Department of State, the Dutch Visitors Programme (DVP), and the European Union Visitors Programme (EUVP). Before joining BIPSS, Mr. Munir worked as a Senior Analyst at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) at RSIS in Singapore. He later served as a Security Consultant and Senior Risk Analyst with Singapore Technologies, focusing on homeland security. At ICPVTR, he led the South Asia team as the Bangladesh Analyst, and was part of a specialized team delivering the Counter-Terrorism module for the Singapore Armed Forces Command and Staff College. As a Senior Risk Analyst and Consultant, he has worked extensively on critical infrastructure protection. He has authored articles on CT/CVE and security in numerous international journals and platforms including Sentinel (U.S. Military Academy), Asian Conflicts Report, and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). His work has also appeared in Janes Intelligence Review, Janes Islamic Affairs Analyst, and other IHS Janes publications. As Head of BCTR at BIPSS, Mr. Munir played a central role in designing and implementing a multi-year CVE capacity-building project funded by Global Affairs Canada. Mr. Munir has presented at key international security conferences including the Munich Security Conference, the IISS Asia Security Summit – Shangri-La Dialogue, and the Strategic Studies Summit of the NESA Center. He frequently participates in Track 1.5 and Track 2 dialogues involving countries such as India, the United States, Singapore, and China. He is a member of the Strategic Studies Network (U.S. National Defense University) and the Council for Asian Transnational Threats Research (CATR). He is regularly interviewed by major international media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Voice of America, and the BBC on issues related to security in Bangladesh and the wider region. He has also been a guest speaker for the South Asia course at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute.