Dr Iftekhar Ahmed is an Associate Professor in Construction Management and Disaster Resilience, School of Architecture and Built Environment, and former Program Convenor of the Master of Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Development, University of Newcastle, Australia. His teaching focuses on policy and social dimensions of disaster risk reduction, disaster resilience and management in the built environment and UN sustainable development goals. He conducts extensive research on disaster resilience, climate change adaptation, participatory development and urbanisation in the Asia-Pacific region. Dr Ahmed has written several books, professional reports and many peer-reviewed publications. Recently he was the lead author of the book 'Disaster Resilience in South Asia' (Routledge UK, 2020).

Dr Ahmed completed his PhD from Oxford Brookes University, UK, Master of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, and Bachelor of Architecture (Honours) from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), India. In the past he worked as a project manager at the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), Thailand, and as a shelter specialist at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Bangladesh, and taught at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). Dr Ahmed serves widely as a consultant and technical advisor for international development and humanitarian agencies.