Farzana is a student in the Master of International Public Policy program (MIPP) at the Balsillie School of International Affairs from Fall 2023. She graduated from Dhaka University with an Honours degree in Economics (Bachelor of Social Sciences, B.S.S.) followed by a master’s degree (master’s in social science, M.S.S.) in the same area. After her master’s degree, she joined as a Lecturer at Stamford University of Bangladesh and served for 3+ years before she arrived as a permanent resident (PR) in Canada in 2011. During her stay at Stamford University, she taught several assigned undergraduate courses in Economics.
Before her acceptance into the MIPP program, Farzana worked as a Research Assistant in a joint project of the Department of Food, Agricultural & Resource Economics (FARE), University of Guelph and OMAFRA (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs) from 2012 to2013. She assisted in collecting & analyzing data and compiling the results into final reports. Besides, the knowledge of Econometrics and familiarity with co-integration analysis was one of the major job responsibilities. As a Research Assistant, she worked on the economics of profitability, income variability and competitiveness of Ontario farms (different sectors of agriculture) of different sizes, the capitalization effect of farm program payments on farmland values in Ontario, estimating the short-run and long-run acreage response functions for Kenya from 1963-2005.
Despite the long separation (due to family responsibilities) from her desired area of study/career over the past 10 years, she is now ready and very inclined to step into further higher studies to explore the world while holding the little young hands of her three beautiful kids!
While at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, Farzana expects to develop her research, analytical and communication skills throughout the master’s program. Given the current crisis of global climate change, Farzana is willing to concentrate on International Environmental policy as many environmental problems have been extended beyond national boundaries which needs international cooperation in addition to suitable domestic policies. Besides, an Economics background, she is also interested in specializing in International Economic Relations that involve the roles of trade policy, economic diplomacy, and regional & global economic institutions in the global economy.
Pursuing her degree, Farzana wishes to work for the federal government or non-governmental organizations in future.