Sadia Islam, a Bangladeshi civil servant, is a PhD student at the Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU. Her research focuses on taxation and economic growth, with an emphasis on identifying the growth-maximizing tax-to-GDP ratio in Bangladesh. She served as Deputy Secretary (2022–2024) and Senior Assistant Secretary (2017–2020) in the Finance Division, Ministry of Finance, where she worked on the Medium-Term Budget Framework (MTBF), government budgeting and salary reforms. She also contributed to PPP reform, including amendments to the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Act, formulating PPP finance related rules and conducting threshold and hurdle rate analyses for PPP projects. As a member of the Economic Advisory Wing, she worked on prepareing the Bangladesh Economic Review (2017 and 2024). Earlier, as Assistant Chief at the Bangladesh Planning Commission (2010–2014), she worked on national development planning, project appraisal and coordination with UNDP, EU, and ADB. She also served as Upazila Nirbahi Officer in Chattogram (2020–2022) and began her career in banking.

Scholarships and Awards

• ANU Research Scholarship (International) (2025)
• ANU HDR Fee Merit Scholarship (2025)
• Australia Awards Scholarship (2015–16)
• Chancellor’s Letters of Commendation, ANU (2015)
• Merit Medals in civil service training
• Best Venue Award, Chattogram District Inter-Upazila Football Tournament

Publications Islam, S. (2023)

1. Islam, S. (2023). Investigating the Relationships between Corporate Taxation and Unemployment Rate: An Empirical Research for Bangladesh. IJFMR, 5(3). https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2023.v05i03.3372
2. Finance Division, Government of Bangladesh (2017, 2024). Bangladesh Economic Review. Dhaka: Ministry of Finance. Contributions as team member (Economic Advisory Wing).

Professional Memberships

• Golden Key International Honour Society; Bangladesh Administrative Association