Md Saifuz Zaman is a Lecturer in Department of Law, Z. H. Sikder University of Science and Technology in Shariatpur, Bangladesh. Before joining here in 2014, he briefly worked as a research assistant to the eminent lawyer and constitutional expert Dr Shahdeen Malik on a research project examining the citizenship status of the Urdu-speaking ‘Bihari’ population in Bangladesh.

He earned his LLB (Honours) and LLM from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He completed his LLM dissertation under the supervision of Professor Dr Md Nazrul Islam (popularly known as Asif Nazrul, currently the Law Advisor to the interim government). In his research, he argued that the basic structure doctrine in Bangladesh failed to fulfil its original promise made in the famous 1989 case Anwar Hossain Chowdhury v Bangladesh. Instead of safeguarding democracy and rule of law, it was weaponised to destroy them.

Zaman’s research interests lie in public law, jurisprudence, and political philosophy, with a particular focus on constitutional law and theory, constitutional design, comparative constitutional law, constitutional government, democracy and unstable constitutions, democracy and judicial overreach. He is currently researching the effect of constitutional amendment procedure on recurrent constitutional crises in Bangladesh, the nature of Supreme Court guidelines made for the general public, and the legitimacy deficit in the making of delegated legislation in Bangladesh.

He regularly teaches several undergraduate courses, namely Administrative Law, Government and Politics, Public International Law, and Human Rights Law. In addition to teaching regular courses, he often conducts seminar courses and workshops on topics such as legal theory, legal skills, and issues in law and politics. His seminar course, Critical Thinking Skills for Law Students, has been highly regarded and well-received by student participants.

Zaman is keenly interested in outreach activities. He proposed to establish the ZHSUST Human Rights Outreach Program which will work in building awareness of human rights in wider society. It is currently under consideration of the university authority for approval.

Alongside his academic responsibilities, he contributes to the University’s administrative development, drawing on his expertise in administrative law and institutional design. He chairs the University’s Strategic Planning Oversight Committee, steering its ambitious mission to evolve from a small rural university into a nationally recognised one by making transformative advancements in education, research, resources, and institutional governance. As part of the Committee’s work, he led the revision and remaking of the University Statute and key regulations, the development of the strategic plan and its implementation framework, and the resolution of all major stakeholder conflicts. He also significantly contributed to the digital transformation of the University as a member of the University Automation Committee. He is a member of the Sexual Harassment Prevention Committee.

He is interested to collaborate in topics of public law and applied political and legal philosophy.