Miss Sushmita Choudhury

Sushmita Choudhury is a PhD Student at the Newcastle Law School who is undertaking research on farmers’ rights in Bangladesh.Sushmita was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Higher Degree by Research Training Program Scholarship in 2020.

Sushmita's research on enclave people living in Bangladesh and India has been published as a book titled 'Gray Image of Humanity in the Enclaves Zone' and is considered by UNHCR as the only reference publication for statelessness in Bangladesh. She has research experience on Rohingya refugees and climate change displacement.

Sushmita has experience working with the human rights industry. As a Human Rights Program Specialist with Relief International USA, she served victims of human trafficking living in Bangladesh. While working with Relief International, she was invited to the International Visitor Leadership Program(IVLP) as a young leader in the human rights field, funded by the US Department of State. She aims to have a career as a human rights advocate with the research focus on the different spectrum of human rights violation

PhD research 

Sushmita’s passion for advocating the human rights of the vulnerable communities drives her to undertake a PhD research on farmers and their rights, which have been adversely impacted in the modern era. In this wake of commercialisation, farmers in developing countries face challenges in continuing their traditional farming practices; Bangladesh is not the exception. The commercialisation of agriculture makes governments frame laws that strengthen the commercial breeders Intellectual Property (IP) rights over seeds but, on the other hand, pushes farmers back from their traditional farming practices.

Sushmita believes that her research will be armed with the knowledge which bridges the gap between policymakers and local communities in Bangladesh. Also, her research will address the unfiltered voices of local farming communities and make their voices heard while developing the laws and policies impacting farming communities' lives.