People

Shaila Mahmud

Researcher, Climate Change research group

Shaila Mahmud's picture
Telephone: +44 (0)20 3463 7399
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Languages: English, Spanish (basic)

Shaila specialises in United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) processes and global climate diplomacy. With expertise in advising least developed countries (LDCs), she served as a climate negotiator for The Gambia at UN climate negotiations. Her focus includes political analysis of adaptation finance under UNFCCC finance mechanisms.

Expertise

Climate diplomacy; climate finance; capacity-building; LDCs.

Before IIED

Before joining IIED, Shaila worked at CABI, where she led efforts to promote climate resilience in food systems through climate finance. Shaila also co-authored the climate resilience review paper for the CASA programme, which was funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Prior to working with CABI, Shaila provided strategic and technical advice to LDCs through various inter-governmental and non-profit organisations.

Shaila's involvement with the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) began at COP23 in Bonn through her work at the international centre for climate change and development to manage the LDCs universities’ consortium on climate change. She continued her participation in the COP process and served as a climate negotiator for The Gambia, where she supported the lead negotiator on long-term climate finance and new collective quantified goal agendas at COP26 and COP27.

Education

Shaila's experience in the UNFCCC negotiations inspired her MSc thesis on the political analysis of the North-South impasse in negotiating adaptation finance in the Green Climate Fund (GCF). In her thesis, she explored the dichotomy between adaptation and development in the GCF board meetings in a post-Paris Agreement period.

  • MSc, climate change and international development, University of East Anglia, UK as a Chevening scholar (2019-20)
  • BSS, economics, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh (2015)

Current work

Shaila is currently working as a climate researcher. Her primary responsibilities include developing and implementing the programme of work related to international climate change processes, such as the UNFCCC.