Jafar Iqbal

Being a Public Scholar means making research serve the public good by addressing groups too often unseen, untouched and unattended. It situates my work on workers’ education and global supply chains within the broader questions of justice and democracy in the global context, supported by PSI’s learning opportunities. 

Public Scholars Initiative
Faculty
Faculty of Education
Program
Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD)
Research supervisor(s)
Judith Walker
Home Town
Gopal Pur
Country
Bangladesh
Selected Award(s)
UBC Public Scholars Award
Four Year Doctoral Fellowship (4YF)
President's Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award
International Tuition Award

Research description

Education is widespread, yet democracy remains profoundly limited — a paradox shaping the lives of millions of women in Bangladesh’s garment sector. The industry, the world’s second-largest exporter, employs 4.1 million workers producing clothes for global brands. These garments keep us warm and fashionable, yet the hands that sew them endure exclusion, struggle and resilience. This painful truth reached its starkest expression in the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse — the deadliest industrial disaster in garment history, resulting in the deaths of 1,134 workers — which exposed the coercive labor regime at its core. Although the tragedy prompted global commitments to education reforms promising empowerment, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) reported in 2025 that workers remain excluded from workplace democracy — freedom of association; collective bargaining and the ability to mobilize, organize, and participate in decisions shaping their lives— facing persistent violations in the global garment supply chain. Against this backdrop, my research asks why, after a decade of education programs, workers continue to be denied these basic democratic rights. Grounded in traditions of collective learning and human freedom, it examines how grassroots community-based education shapes the capacity of women workers to cultivate democratic consciousness and claim rights — illuminating the hidden lives behind the clothes we wear. To pursue this, I employ global ethnography, which includes artifacts, interviews and focus groups to trace how worker-activists generate knowledge and practices for advancing workplace democracy. The knowledge generated will return to the communities from which it emerges through posters and social media-based labor education platforms. These formats amplify women’s voices and reimagine education as a practice of democracy and social justice in the global gendered garment industry.

What does being a Public Scholar mean?

Being a Public Scholar means making research serve the public good by addressing groups too often unseen, untouched and unattended. It situates my work on workers’ education and global supply chains within the broader questions of justice and democracy in the global context, supported by PSI’s learning opportunities. It also means joining a community of scholars committed to real-world change, and learning from diverse perspectives across backgrounds, countries and research interests that matter both locally and globally.

In what ways do you think the PhD experience can be re-imagined with this Initiative?

I believe the Public Scholars Initiative reimagines the PhD as more than an academic exercise, emphasizing collaboration, accessibility and social impact alongside scholarly pursuit. For me, with UBC’s PSI learning opportunities, this means connecting my ethnographic research to grassroots learning and education in Bangladesh’s garment industry. It allows me to work across disciplines and with communities that directly shape the questions I study. Through this process, my PhD becomes a platform for producing knowledge that is both rigorous and transformative, creating impact on the social lives of people.

How do you envision connecting your PhD work with broader career possibilities?

I see my PhD as preparation for work that crosses academic and non-academic spaces. The skills I am building — research, translation of knowledge and collaboration — are vital for careers in universities, labour organizations and policy work. I want my scholarship to be useful not only in classrooms but also in social institutions, such as union halls and policy forums. This commitment pushes me to think beyond conventional academic boundaries. In doing so, I am preparing for a career rooted in both rigour and public relevance.

How does your research engage with the larger community and social partners?

My research is grounded in collaboration with union educators, grassroots women’s workers’ networks in Bangladesh and the University of British Columbia (UBC). Together, we co-shape questions, collect artifacts and analyze how workers learn and organize. UBC’s research credibility brings weight to workers’ knowledge, while community partners on the ground study lived realities. Results return through posters, reports and online forums accessible to thousands of workers. This ensures that knowledge is shared back to the communities who made it possible. In this way, my work both amplifies workers’ voices and contributes to wider understanding of democracy and social justice.

Why did you decide to pursue a graduate degree?

I decided to pursue a graduate degree to study workers’ education in Bangladesh, develop new ways of understanding labor and democracy, and build knowledge that advances social justice locally and globally.

Why did you choose to come to British Columbia and study at UBC?

I chose UBC because it offers leading expertise, global networks and a strong tradition of multidisciplinary social research in a global context. It provides the academic environment, mentorship and resources I need to advance my study of workers’ education and social justice.