Farhana Sultana


Farhana Sultana is an Associate Professor of Geography at Syracuse University, where she is also a Research Director for the Program on Environmental Collaboration and Conflicts at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Her research considers how water management and climate change impact society. Her first book, The Right to Water: Politics, Governance and Social Struggles, investigates the relationships between human rights and access to clean water.

Early life and education

Sultana earned her bachelor's degree in earth sciences at Princeton University. She graduated cum laude in 1996 before moving to the University of Minnesota for her graduate studies. After earning her master's degree Sultana joined the United Nations Development Programme where she worked as a programme officer for their environmental work in Bangladesh. She worked with a variety of both governmental and non-governmental organizations. After three years at the UNDP Sultana returned to the University of Minnesota where she worked toward doctorate in the Department of Geography. Her graduate research considered flooding, shrimp farming and arsenic contamination.

Research and career

In 2005 Sultana joined the University of Manchester as Fellow in the School of Environment and Development. She moved to King's College London in 2006, where she was made a faculty member in the Department of Geography. In 2008 Sultana moved back to the United States, and joined the Department of Geography at Syracuse University as a Professor. She is a Visiting Fellow of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development. Sultana is interested in water governance and social change, the politics associated with adapting to climate change and how to decolonise systems and institutions.
She has studied how gender, class and policy impact water management in Bangladesh. Flooding is an integral part of the Bangladeshi landscape and strengthens the farmlands, but large scale population growth brings a burden to the land. She has analysed how urban water governance impacts the poor and how the right to water is understood. She has studied the political disputes over the Ganges, and how changing river dynamics impact lives and the economy.

Awards and honours

Her publications include:

Journal papers

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