Former Governor of the Central Bank of Bangladesh receives honorary DSc in Economics from SOAS

On 5 September 2024, SOAS University of London awarded an honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) in Economics to Dr. Atiur Rahman in recognition of his life-long research work on poverty reduction and the initiatives that he took as a Governor of the Central Bank of Bangladesh to promote financial inclusion and sustainable finance.

Dr. Atiur Rahman is currently an Emeritus Professor at the Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka, and Chair of the Executive Committee of the Center for Advanced Research in Arts and Social Sciences (CARASS), University of Dhaka. He is chairman of the Academic Advisers to UCSI, Bangladesh campus. 

He is also the founder chairman of Unnayan Shamannay, a national think tank in Bangladesh, specializing on participatory research. He served as the tenth Governor of the Central Bank of Bangladesh during the period 2009-2016. 

Speaking at the presentation lecture, Dr. Atiur Rahman declared: "It was a great honour to receive this honorary degree from SOAS which sharpened my empathy for the lives of the peasants and helped me better understand the difficult choices faced by the poor."

Dr. Yannis Dafermos, Reader in Economics at SOAS, said: "Dr. Rahman has been one of the most innovative central bankers of our time. Drawing on his SOAS educational background, he implemented a developmentalist approach to central banking that played a key role in reducing poverty and addressing climate challenges in Bangladesh."

Drawing on his SOAS educational background, he [Dr Rahman] implemented a developmentalist approach to central banking that played a key role in reducing poverty and addressing climate challenges in Bangladesh.

In his acceptance speech, Dr. Rahman highlighted the existential challenges that the humanity and the planet are facing and the important role that SOAS can play in developing the knowledge base for the greening of the minds of tomorrow’s policymakers for a climate-friendly financial ecology. 

In a public lecture on climate change and central banking that he gave at SOAS on 6 September 2024 Dr Rahman presented in detail the innovative work that he did at the Central Bank of Bangladesh to promote climate-friendly finance and the key role that financial inclusion played in his climate-aligned developmentalist approach to central banking. 

Dr. Yannis Dafermos, added: "Central bankers and other policymakers around the world have a lot to learn from his systems-based way of thinking about how economic policies can be designed to promote social justice and macrofinancial stability."