On September 29, 2016, The Department of English and Humanities arranged its first session on the use of digital resources in academic research at the BRAC University GDLN Seminar Room. The session titled, 'Useful ICT Competences for Doing Research' was jointly organised and conducted by Muhammad Mustafa Munwar, an alumnus of ENH and a competent user of digital resources in academic research, and Hamim-Al-Ahsan, Education Technology Specialist. In this well-attended session by both students and faculty members, Mustafa Munwar first gave presentation covering the applied aspects of using technology for academic research. This included techniques of annotation, usage of e-resources and cloud based storage such as Drop Box, Google Drive, I Drive etc. In this mood of using digital technology effectively, Hamim-Al-Ahsan began the second part of the session with his surprise announcement of the launching of his project, Arshi Nagar, the first-ever one-stop digital humanities platform in Bangladesh. Arshi Nagar will serve both as an instantly-searchable-database for BRACU English department and as a digital ramp for thesis students and their supervisors to communicate virtually. BRAC University ENH has been trying to deploy Digital Humanities as an auxiliary enhancement of pedagogy and this project is a milestone in the history of humanities studies in Bangladesh. The ENH family is excited to be part of this new path, and is anticipating a great success of this project.
In September, the department proudly said good bye to two of its faculty members, Sabreena Ahmed and Pritilata Devi Sharma, both of who have taken study leave to commence their PhD programmes. Sabreena Ahmed, Senior Lecturer, has taken admission at the International Islamic University, Malaysia. Priti Lata Sharma, lecturer, is doing her PhD at Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. We wish them a great success in their academic pursuit.