From Meherpur to Alberta: Nazmul’s journey to winning the prestigious Killam Awards

This year, the prestigious Killam Memorial Scholarship award carries a unique resonance for Bangladesh. Nazmul Arefin, a PhD researcher from the University of Alberta became the first Bangladeshi international student to earn the esteemed title from the university. 

He received the prestigious Dorothy J. Killam Memorial Graduate Prize, awarded to the top three most outstanding recipients.

According to the University of Alberta's website, amid growing Islamophobia, right-wing extremism, and the vilification of Muslim youth, Nazmul's study explores the lived experiences of Muslim university students in Canada. As the Senate of Canada works on drafting an anti-Islamophobia bill following a report released in November 2023, his research seeks to provide detailed data and grassroots policy recommendations to support the nationwide initiative. 

Amid the current turbulence marked by the ultra-right and populist political ideologies and practices in Western societies and thought, Nazmul aspires to establish himself as an academic and theoretician who critically observes, researches, and evaluates the West from an Eastern vantage point. 

"In academia, we continue to examine and interpret the socio-economic and political issues of Bangladesh and South Asia primarily through the Western lens. It is time to reverse this perspective. I aim to analyse the current Western racism industry and the associated hate crimes that permeate world society. I aim to look at the 'world of hate crime and harm' not from above but from below," he said.

Established in 1965 through the generous endowment of Dorothy J Killam in memory of her husband, Izaak Walton Killam, the Killam Awards aims to foster advanced education and research across Canada and beyond.

The Killam Awards has recognised academic excellence at four leading Canadian universities for nearly six decades. The award laureates are researchers recognised for their impactful work covering a wide range of topics. For instance, Geoffrey Hinton, the 2024 Nobel Prize laureate in Physics, was a 2012 Killam Prize winner. 

Among the Killam awards for PhD level, The Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarships are distinctly prestigious graduate awards. This award is a highly competitive scholarship valued at nearly $100,000. It seeks to support exemplary PhD scholars who demonstrate academic excellence, innovation in research and a commitment to leadership in building a better society. 

In addition to the financial endowment, recipients join a lifetime multidisciplinary network of Killam Laureates, an esteemed scholarly community. 

Nazmul Arefin's achievement is not just his personal success but rather a moment of pride for Bangladesh, placing the nation's academic excellence on the global map.

"In academia, we continue to examine and interpret the socio-economic and political issues of Bangladesh and South Asia primarily through the Western lens. It is time to reverse this perspective. I aim to analyse the current Western racism industry and the associated hate crimes that permeate world society. I aim to look at the 'world of hate crime and harm' not from above but from below"

Nazmul Arefin

Additionally, given that most Bangladeshi success stories in North American and European academia come from the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, Nazmul's recognition stands as an inspiring milestone for emerging researchers from Bangladesh, especially in the humanities and social sciences disciplines – who are rarely encouraged or recognised.

At this point, it is fair to say that Nazmul's journey – from a small-town boy to a budding global scholar – is nothing short of an inspired one. 

"Growing up in a village in the Global South, I learned from my mother that higher education was the key to upward social mobility and that gratitude was essential, no matter how little we had. My early life was marked by material hardship. My pre-university journey was especially tough, shaped by childhood adversities," Nazmul recalled, adding, "and my mother's relentless struggles." 

Nazmul's mother created an environment of determination and commitment to education. "It helped me thrive. In grade 9, I began private tutoring to fund my studies. I earned a place at the nation's top university with hard work and perseverance," he said.  

Nazmul was the first in his family to move to the capital for education, and the experience was "both daunting and empowering." 

With a modest undergraduate CGPA, Nazmul's story is not one of easy success. 

At first glance, he might blend seamlessly into a crowd of a typical scholar. He greets the world with his humble charm– shaggy black and white hair, glasses perched on his nose, and the quiet demeanour of someone lost in thought. 

But spend a moment in conversation with him, and you will find yourself captivated by the depth of his intellect and the passion for critical terrorism studies, hate crimes, islamophobia, policing, social justice and narrative criminology — and all this fuels his research domain. 

Raised in Meherpur, the smallest district in Bangladesh, his world was shaped by modest beginnings and larger-than-life dreams.

Nazmul's academic journey began at Meherpur's BM Primary School and Meherpur Government High School. He recalls evenings spent poring over books borrowed from the Meherpur Public Library, his sanctuary during those formative years. He pursued his HSC at Meherpur Pouro College where he met Ekramul Azim, the college's former principal, who became a guiding light.

Later, even as he ascended to Dhaka University, where he pursued sociology, life tested Nazmul. He expressed profound gratitude to the late Professor Dr Zia Rahman, who was the first to recognise his academic potential and motivate him to enter the academic world.

Before starting his PhD at the world's top 100-ranked North American university, Nazmul served as a lecturer in sociology at Bhawal Government College and later at Dhaka College. 

His journey to pursue a PhD was not easy. In the academic ambit of Bangladesh, the term 'scholars' and all the relevant facilities and prestige are relegated to university teachers, leaving other academic professionals overlooked.

Nazmul served as a teacher in the General Education cadre for almost six years before embarking on his PhD journey. Like others in this discriminated cadre, Nazmul did not receive a promotion beyond the rank of 'Lecturer' during his tenure. 

He also observed a glaring lack of state support, motivation, facilities and recognition for advanced academic pursuits within the education cadre compared to the administration and other cadres.

However, he refused to succumb to these barriers. Through merit and grit – and defying expectations– he secured PhD offers from prestigious institutions, including UCL, Leeds, Essex, Sheffield, Groningen, and George Mason University, among others.

After careful consideration, he chose to pursue his full-ride PhD at the University of Alberta. He also serves as the Outreach Officer for the Canadian Association for the Study of Islam and Muslims (CASIM).

Within the first two years of his PhD journey, Nazmul bagged an incredible array of recognition and accolades that include two Killam Awards, the Best Student Paper Award from the DIC American Society of Criminology, the Canadian Sociological Association Graduate Merit Award, Intissar Mourad Memorial Scholarship, the Graduate Student Association Rising Star Award, The State of Kuwait Doctoral Award, Dr Gordon Hirabayashi Graduate Scholarship, the Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship and more.