IUB’s two-day International Conference on Economics, Business and Technology Management 2025 (ICEBTM 2025), organized by the School of Business and Entrepreneurship (SBE) of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB), concluded on Saturday, with an award and closing ceremony at The Westin Dhaka.
Didar A Husain, chairman of IUB’s Board of Trustees; Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr M Tamim; Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Daniel W Lund; acting Dean of SBE Prof Dr Raisul Awal Mahmood; Conference General Chair Prof Dr Md Mamun Habib; and AKM Shahnawaj, managing director (Current Charge), Dhaka Bank PLC, spoke at the closing ceremony.
IUB Trustee Wajid Ali Khan Panni, Trustee Dr Husne Ara Ali, and Prof Dr Niaz Ahmed Khan, vice-chancellor, University of Dhaka, were also in attendance. Awards were presented to the six best papers of the conference.
At the closing ceremony, Prof Dr Mamun Habib said: “We hope to organize thematic student research symposiums every year from now on and a major international conference like ICEBTM every two years.”
He added: “IUB has recently launched the Advancing Undergraduate Research Aspirations (AURA) initiative, which I believe will help develop a culture of research among our students and eventually help us organize these series of symposiums and conferences.”
Keynote papers on the second day were presented by Prof Dr Rajah Rasiah of the University of Malaya, Malaysia, and Dr Ahmad Ahsan, director of the Policy Research Institute.
The session was chaired by Prof Dr Abdur Rab, vice-chancellor of the International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT), and Dr Ben Bvepfepfe, Leeds Trinity University and CILT, UK. Industry and academia leaders participated in several “industry talk” and “academia-industry discussion” sessions.
Speakers from academia included Prof Dr MM Nurul Absar, VC of Chittagong Independent University; Prof Dr Yousuf Mahbubul Islam, VC of Southeast University; Prof Dr Shahjahan Khan, VC, Asian University Bangladesh; Prof Dr AKM Waresul Karim, dean, School of Business and Economics, North South University (NSU); Prof Dr Nazrul Islam, IUB; Prof Dr Mahbubur Rahman, NSU; Prof Jonathan Liu, Manchester Business School, UK; Dr Derek Westfall of Oregon State University, USA; Prof Dr Md Sardar; Prof Dr Akhtar Hossain, UCSI University, Malaysia; Prof Dr Maniam Kaliannan, University of Nottingham, Malaysia; Prof Ruhul A Salim, Curtin University, Australia; and Dr Ferdous Saleheen, Sharjah Maritime Academy, UAE.
Industry representatives included Niaz Rahim, group director of Rahimafrooz Group; ASM Mainuddin Monem, CEO and managing director of Abdul Monem Group; Dr Arif Dowla, managing director, ACI PLC; Emeka Henry Egeson (Canada); Rezwanul Kabir, Energypac; Kabir Ahmed, BAFFA; and A Gafur, director, Abdul Monem Economic Zone Limited.
The day also featured three parallel sessions where faculty members, researchers, and students from home and abroad presented a total of 106 research papers and 12 posters.
A special session titled “Meet the Journal Editors” allowed participants to engage with editors of journals where selected conference papers will later be published.
The conference brought together more than 300 academics, researchers, students, and industry leaders from over 12 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, India, Poland, and the United Arab Emirates.
