A citizen of Bangladesh, M. Gulam Hussain is working as the Asia regional coordinator at the Fish Innovation Lab. He is responsible for conducting all aspects of project priorities, coordination, monitoring, and technical supervision of all research activities in Bangladesh and other selected countries in Asia. Previously with the Fish Innovation Lab, Hussain served as Asia regional coordinator and successfully helped the five research teams in Bangladesh and two in Cambodia to implement their research and reach activity goals.
Before joining the lab in 2019, Hussain was the key expert on fisheries and aquaculture for a collaboration on blue economy with the European Union-Bangladesh, which was implemented under the Bangladesh Government Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was formerly the director general of Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, a fish genetic specialist with WorldFish Bangladesh, and a short-term fisheries and aquaculture specialist with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Earlier, he was the national coordinator under the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem project of FAO and the Global Environment Facility as well as a fish hatchery consultant in Nigeria. He also worked as a fisheries and aquaculture specialist posted in the Syrian Arab Republic with United Nations volunteers under the United Nations Development Programme.
Hussain has been awarded two prestigious national awards for his outstanding contributions to developing three aquaculture strains. For improved silver barb and GIFT strains, he was awarded the National Fish Fortnight 2003 Gold Medal Award, and for an improved rohu strain, he was awarded the National Fish Fortnight 2010 Gold Medal.
Hussain is a senior expert in fisheries and aquaculture in Asia, having a PhD in aquaculture biotechnology, an MS in aquaculture management, and a BS with honors in fisheries. He earned his PhD in 1992 from Stirling University in Scotland. Hussain has an impressive track record of research and scholarly publications in the fields of fish breeding and genetics, aquaculture, marine fisheries management, and blue economy. He is an author or co-author of over 200 scientific papers and articles published in peer-reviewed, international, and national journals as well as several books, book chapters, and many technical reports.
Hussain is presently president of Bangladesh Tilapia Foundation and chief executive of Blue Aquaculture Consulting in Bangladesh. He is currently the managing editor for the Journal of Bangladesh Agriculture.