Renowned academician Professor Dr. M. R. Kabir, with over 44 years of experience in teaching, research, and academic leadership, has joined Daffodil International University (DIU) as its Vice Chancellor on 10 July 2025. His appointment was formally approved by the Board of Trustees of DIU on the same day. According to a circular issued by the Ministry of Education and signed by Assistant Secretary Md. Sultan Ahmed on 30 June 2025, Professor Kabir will serve a four-year term as Vice Chancellor.

Prior to this role, Professor Kabir served DIU as a Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering since July 2021. Before joining DIU, he served as the Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Asia Pacific (UAP) for four consecutive terms, contributing significantly to its academic and institutional development.

Dr. Kabir took early retirement as an Associate Professor in the Department of Water Resources Engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). He currently serves as a Syndicate Member of BUET and also a Member of the Board of Accreditation for Engineering and Technical Education (BAETE), under the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB), since 2016.

He also served as a Member of the Board of Governors at the Institute of Water and Flood Management (IWFM), BUET, from 2014 to 2016.

As an international visiting faculty and scholar, Dr. Kabir has collaborated with globally renowned institutions including the University of Texas at Austin (USA), the University of Alberta (Canada), and Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Netherlands.

He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Roorkee (now IIT Roorkee), India, in 1980, and his Master’s in Water Resources Engineering from BUET in 1984. He completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering from Anna University, Chennai (formerly Madras), India, in 1985 under a UNESCO Fellowship. He obtained his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL), Belgium.

Dr. Kabir has carried out extensive research and supervised numerous projects and theses. He has authored 49 technical publications in reputed national and international journals, conferences, and reports. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to education, he was appointed as the Chairman of the Bangladesh Chapter of the Association of Universities of Asia and the Pacific (AUAP) for three consecutive terms: 2015–2017, 2017–2019, and 2019–2021. He currently serves as the Chair of the Quality Assurance Cell (QAC), BAETE, IEB. Among his many accolades, he received the ‘Quality Leader Award’ from the World Council for Total Quality and Excellence in Education (WCTQEE) in 2011 and the ‘Exemplary Leadership Award’ from EDS Business School, Penang, Malaysia, in 2012.

Professor M. R. Kabir is married to Farhana Hossain and is blessed with a son and a granddaughter.