Dr. Kawser ahmed

Co Director

Dr. Kawser Ahmed received his PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies from University of Manitoba in 2017. He was an exchange officer with the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), an observer-Peacekeeper to the United Nations Missions in Western Sahara (MINURSO), and an alumnus at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA) in Washington DC. He is associated with the Center for Defence and Security Studies (CDSS) as a research fellow, a junior research affiliate with the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security, and Safety (TSAS), and a former associate with the Canadian Practitioners Network for Prevention of Radicalization and Extremist Violence (CPN-PREV).

While serving in the UN peacekeeping operations in conflict zones, he earned experience in peacebuilding, mediation, and transformative dialogue in resolving inter-group conflict. He developed insights in conflict by studying social resistance, terrorism, and extremism in global and local contexts. He undertook several researches on community focused conflict intervention, refugee crisis, and youth extremism in western and non-western contexts. His publication encompasses topics such as peacebuilding, counter-radicalization, economic aid and conflict intervention, national counter-terrorism strategies, and UN peacekeeping operations. His research interests are: inter-personal and inter-group social conflict transformation and peacebuilding; radicalization to violence, political violence, ideology driven extremism and community-based intervention; external aid and peacebuilding; military intervention and critical security studies; South and South-East Asian security; and migration/displacement related conflict. He leads a Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada based research not-for-profit think tank, Conflict and Resilience Research Institute, Canada (CRRIC).

He completed his Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada’s post-doctoral fellowship at the same institution. He voluntarily retired from the Bangladesh Army in June 2010 as a Lt Col and he lives in Winnipeg, Canada now.He teaches at the University of Winnipeg as an adjunct Professor.