Sirat Mahmuda is a new member of the CSRM team in SMI. She did her PhD from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (SEES), UQ in 2021 with UQ Research Training Scholarship. Her PhD research focused on the sharing economy and its propagation in time and space in Australia and India. Earlier she did her master’s degree in environmental management and Development at the Australian National University with Australian Leadership Award during 2012-13. She specializes in the application of quantitative technique in social science research. She also developed expertise in spatial analysis and government affairs through her research and career.
Before joining SMI, she worked as a Deputy Secretary at ICT Division, Government of Bangladesh during 2021- 2022, where she was engaged in the preparation of draft Data Protection Act 2022. She organized and moderated several stakeholder engagement events with regard to the draft act and reported the feedback of the participants to the authority. During 2014-2016 in Bangladesh she led a World Bank funded project titled ‘Bangladesh Trade and Transport Facilitation Studies Project’ that studied the institutional, environmental and socioeconomic factors affecting trade and transport in Bangladesh and developed plans for the expansion of ports and their connecting routes aiming at integrated regional transport planning for trade. Thus, she has experience in government affairs and policy research and skills in spatial analysis and mixed method research
As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Sirat is working on the project titled ‘Planning for Australia’s coal phase out: global lessons, regional linkages, and local impacts’ at CSRM.