Prof K M Baharul Islam is a development communication specialist teaching and researching for more than two decades in the areas of communications, development, public policy and governance issues. He is a Professor of Communications and the Chairperson of the Centre for Public Policy and Government at the Indian Institute of Management Kashipur. Earlier, he has served as the Chairman and CEO of the South Asian Regional Gateway set up by the Development Gateway (USA). He taught in various universities in Asia and Africa and served on several assignments with UNESCO, UNECA and UNESCAP. His major works include e-Government Strategy and the National ICT Policies and Plans for The Gambia, Sierra Leone, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community. Prof Islam was the Programme Director of a major regional capacity building program on Environmental Impact Assessment in South Asia funded by The World Bank (2014-2016)

Prof Islam is a Fellow at the US India Policy Institute in Washington DC and KAICIID Dialogue in Vienna. He has two PhDs, MA, MBA, LLM and B.Ed. degrees. He studied at Strathclyde University (UK) and the Asian Institute of Technology (Bangkok). He is also a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland and a member of the Guwahati High Court Bar. He has also completed professional training at Harvard Business School and the University of Bern (Switzerland). He has published widely and has several books and research articles to his credit.