Newma Chowdhury

Newma Chowdhury is a PhD student in Public Policy at UNC Charlotte and a member of the Marma Indigenous community from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. She joined the program in Fall 2026 with research interests in the political economy of development, energy security, and international development. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and a master’s degree in Global Studies with a concentration in Global Business and Trade. Prior to joining UNC Charlotte, she worked as a Global Trade Intern at the Wes Watkins Center for International Trade Development (CITD), where she contributed to energy security research related to Trilateral Energy Security Cooperation among the United States, Japan, and South Korea. Her work focused on liquefied natural gas (LNG), battery supply chains, critical minerals, and nuclear energy, with particular emphasis on the United States, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. Her broader research experience includes Marma Indigenous customary law, microfinance and Indigenous livelihoods, development politics in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and consumer behavior in Bangladesh’s banking and telecommunications sectors. Newma aspires to build a career as a public policy researcher, particularly in the areas of development, political economy, and energy security. She is also interested in exploring emerging research areas and collaborating across disciplines on issues with meaningful societal and policy impacts.

Research Interests: Political Economy of Development; Energy Security and Energy Policy; International Development; Indigenous Peoples and Development Policy