BFRI gets new director

Dr Khurshid Akhter has been made the new director of Bangladesh Forest Research Institute (BFRI), the lone forest-based research institute of the country. Akhter, who specialises on wood science and forest products utilisation, took office on September 28. Born on September 30, 1960, in Chittagong’s Raozan, Akhter obtained her BSc degree in Chemistry in 1981 and MSc degree in 1983 from Chittagong University. She obtained her PhD degree from Jahangirnagar University in 2011. She joined the BFRI in 1987 as research associate and was promoted to research officer in 1991. In 2004, she was promoted to the ranks of divisional officer and chief research officer in 2011. During her long professional career, Akhter visited Germany, the UK, Netherlands, Japan, China, Philippines, Malaysia and Hawaii and attended workshops, trainings and presented research papers. She did research on bamboo conservation and bamboo composite products and invented different technologies. More than 35 research articles of her have so far been published in many journals and proceedings. Established back in 1955 as ‘Forest Products Research Laboratory’ with an objective of inventing technology for improvement and development of forest resources, the BFRI is situated on 28 hectares of land at Sholoshahar in the port city. It was upgraded into a full-fledged national research institute in 1968. Since 1985, it has been functioning under the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The BFRI became affiliated with National Agriculture Research System in 1996.