DU researchers win int'l awards in Germany

A professor and five researchers of the University of Dhaka's Institute of Applied Statistics and Data Science (IASDS) have received international awards for their research at the ISCB-GMDS 2026 conference in Freiburg, Germany.
Prof Md Hasinur Rahman Khan led most of the research. Of the five student awardees, three are current students and two are recent graduates. Two nominees could not attend, while the other three presented their work and received the awards at the event.
The 47th annual conference of the International Society for Clinical Biostatistics (ISCB) and the 71st annual conference of the German Association for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology (GMDS) were held jointly from 27 September to 1 October, drawing around 1,400 participants.
PhD researcher Nasrin Sultana received the ISCB Student Conference Award (STCA), given to only six young researchers worldwide, for her research titled "A Copula-Based Semi-Competing Risks Model for Recurrent and Terminal Events in Presence of Cure Fraction and Its Efficient Estimation via Stochastic Optimisation." Prof Khan was her principal supervisor, while Dr Moudud Alam was her co-supervisor.
Five IASDS researchers also received the Conference Attendance Support Programme (CASP) Award, given to only 16 researchers worldwide. They were Prof Khan, his research group members Md Monowar Hossain and Maharun Nahar Jui, and recent graduates Md Hasibul Islam Jitu and Maliha Binte Alauddin. The organisers covered their registration fees, accommodation, courses and air travel expenses.
The researchers presented work on small area estimation, survival and competing risks analysis, spatial modelling, causal inference, high-dimensional variable selection and machine learning.
Congratulating them, Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Prof ABM Obaidul Islam said the awards had "brought good reputation to Dhaka University and the country".