Din M. Sumon Rahman, PhD

Dr. Sumon Rahman is the Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Head of Media Studies and Journalism at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB). He also serves as the founding Director of the ULAB Center for Critical and Qualitative Studies (CQS). Dr. Rahman holds a PhD in Cultural Studies from the University of Queensland, Australia, and completed his postdoctoral study in Health Communication at the University of Liverpool, UK.

With over two decades of teaching and research experience, Dr. Rahman is widely recognized for his expertise in media and cultural studies. His academic interests span popular culture, misinformation studies, film studies and health communication. He has authored several books and published extensively in indexed journals. Alongside, he has won numerous international grants to undertake research projects on media litaracy, COVID-19 misinformation, health communication and urban popular culture.

Dr. Rahman is also the founding editor of FactWatch, the first International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN)-certified fact-checker in Bangladesh, dedicated to combating misinformation. FactWatch has been working with Meta since 2021 as a Third Party Fact-Checker for Facebook.

Among his accolades, Dr. Rahman was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2016, and won Prothom Alo Borshosera Award in 2018 for his anthology of short fiction titled Niroporadh Ghum. His recent book, Migration of Metaphors: Making Sense of Music in the Lives of the Urban Poor in Dhaka, has been critically acclaimed at home and abroad.

Beyond academia, Dr. Rahman has been actively involved with several national level organizations as a key policy person. He has been appointed as a member of the Executive Committee of Bangla Academy and Bangladesh National Museum and works a resource person and consultant of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and the Press Information Bureau (PIB) of Bangladesh.

Postdoctoral Reesarch (Health Communication), The University of Liverpool, UK.

PhD (Cultural Studies), The University of Queensland, Australia.

MSS (Development Studies), BRAC University, Bangladesh.

MA (Philosophy), Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh.

BA (Philosophy), Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh.

Popular Culture, Health Communication, Misinformation Studies.

Research Grants:

• Project Lead, The Asia Foundation PERI Project on "Strengthening Resilience Against Disinformation" [2025].
• Project Lead, The Asia Foundation SAGP grant on “Countering Misinformation and Hate Speech in South Asia: Towards a South Asian Strategy” research project that involved operation of research sites both in Nepal and Sri Lanka with local partners and organization of an international symposium in Dhaka where the research findings were shared. [2023-24].
• Project Lead, DW-Akademie funding support on “Study on Reporting on Rohingya refugees in selected media of Bangladesh with a focus on Cox’s Bazar and National Newspapers”. [2022].
• Senior Research Fellow, NIHR Fellowship for ENHANCE: Scaling-up Care for Perinatal Depression through Technological Enhancements to the ‘Thinking Healthy Programme’ University of Liverpool, UK [2021-24].
• Project Lead, Facebook Research Support for Capacity building of Bangladeshi online news portals to combat misinformation related to COVID-19 vaccination. Supported by: Facebook. [2021].
• International Co-investigator, ERASMUS+ Grant, by European Union, for Internationalization and Virtual Exchange: Borderless between EU and Asian Countries/HARMONY. (2020-2023).
• Project Lead, SAGP Grant Award, by Asia Foundation, for Being Safe, being Cyberpositive, combating fake news and misinformation by teen-age Internet users of Bangladesh. (2020-2021).  
• Project Lead, Earth Journalism Network, Bay of Bengal Media Grant, for the research program titled “Audio-visual storytelling on the marginalized lives in the Bay of Bengal”. (2020).
• Project Lead, WaterAid Bangladesh funding support, for the research titled “Understanding Patterns of Recreation and Media-use of RMG Workers in Dhaka City: An Exploratory Study”. (2019).
• International Co-investigator, “Partnership to ensure the sustainability of a public health palliative care project in Bangladesh through community theatre”, (University of Sussex, University of Glasgow, York University UK, BSMMU, BRAC University and BRAC as global project partners). Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) UK (2017-2019).
• Project lead, Setting up a Fact-Check Center at ULAB. The American Center Grant, (2017-2018).
• Research Fellow, JPGSPH, Designing an innovative curriculum titled “Film as a pedagogical tool: developing a systematic resource base of films for the public health schools of Bangladesh” (2014).

Awards:

• Commonwealth Short Story Prize, 2016 [Nominated].
• Prothom Alo Borshoshera Boi (Niroporadh Ghum), 2018 [Awarded].

1. Migration of Metaphors: Making Sense of Music in the Lives of the Urban Poor in Dhaka. University Press Limited. 2024.
2. Niroporadh Ghum (Collection of short stories). Dhaka: Prothoma Prokashoni 2018.
3. Kānār Hātbāzār (Essays on city, popular culture and mass media). Dhaka: Duende Publications. 2011.
4. Ceramicer Nijoswo Jhogra (Collection of poems)). Dhaka: Pathsutra Prokashoni. 2009.
5. Goribi Omorota (Collection of short stories). Dhaka: Mawla Brothers. 2008.
6. Dékhā Nā-Dékhār Chòkh (ed)  (Literature and Blindness: An Anthology). Dhaka: Pathak Samabesh. 2005.
7. Jhijhit (Collection of poems). Dhaka: New Man Books. 1994.

1. Nomadic Narratives: Cross-border spread of misinformation in South Asia. TAF: CQS. 2025.
2. Media Framing of Rohingya Refugees in Selected National and Local Newspapers of Bangladesh. Article-19 and DW Akademie. 2022.

1. Digital Media Proliferation and Recreation Pattern of the Blue-Collars: A Study on the RMG Workers in Bangladesh. Journal of Population and Social Studies, 33, 720-41.  2024 [Lead author].
2. A Comprehensive Dataset and Deep Learning Approach for Misinformation Detection of Social Media In Bangladesh. International Journal of Computing and Digital Systems 16(1): 1-10. 2024 [Co-authored].
3. “Unruly Puppets: Producing the Urban Poor in a Bangladeshi Television Idol Competition”. International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies 17 (2): July 2021 [Single-authored].
4. “Lost in care pathway: a qualitative investigation on the health system delay of extra pulmonary tuberculosis patients in Bangladesh” (with Sarker, M. et al). BMC Health Services Research 17 (240). 2017 [Co-authored].
5. “Urbanizing the Folklore, Folkloricizing the Urban: Cultural Communication between the Urban Poor and Popular Music in Dhaka, Asian Journal of Communication, 24(5): 407-420. 2014 [Single-authored].
6. “Producing the Urban Poor in Dhaka: Ideological Warfare and Culture-clash in Music Videos”, Journal of Creative Communications, 8(1): 29-45. 2013 [Single-authored].
7. “Migration of Metaphors: Making Sense of Music in the Lives of the Urban Poor in Dhaka”, Crossings: Journal of Migration and Culture, 4(2): 139-53. 2013 [Single-authored].
8. Fòòtpāther Prempòtrer bòi ebong Mājhāri Gòriber Atmo-Porichoy (Love letters in the street books and the formation of the moderate urban poor). Protichinta, (3) 2: pp. 86-104. 2013 [Single-authored].
9. “Deshantor o Metaphor: Gan o Goribir Nagorik Molakat Proshonge” (Migration and Metaphors: On the urban nexus between music and poverty), Jogajog,  issue 11. 2013 [Single-authored].
10. “Humayun Ahmed-er Himugiri” (The cultural politics of Himu in Humayun Ahmed’s novels), Alokito Bangladesh, special Eid issue. 2013 [Single-authored].
11. Dhākāi Gorib o Urban Folk Gāner Shāngskritik Rājniti (Urban Poor and the Cultural Politics of Urban Folk Music in Dhaka). Bonopangshul. Vol 5: 27-42. Dhaka: Pathsala. 2012 [Single-authored].
12. “Mûmurshu Chòti boi āār tār Bipònnò Nārirā” (The vanishing street-texts and the vulnerability of its female characters). Nari o Progoti. Dhaka: Bangladesh Nari Progoti Songstha. 2008 [Single-authored].