Meem Arafat Manab
Doctoral Researcher
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid • HARNESS Network
Risks and Opportunities of European Data Spaces
Doctoral Researcher
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid • HARNESS Network
Risks and Opportunities of European Data Spaces
I'm an interdisciplinary researcher from South Asia whose curiosity spans technology, philosophy, literature, and geopolitics. I mean, why pick just one existential crisis to study?
My academic journey began with computer science at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh and then a two-year sabbatical for politics and activism, followed by a surprise internship at Fujitsu Research Institute in Japan (where I learned that, yes, the stereotypes about Japanese work culture are mostly true, and yes, Tokyo is the greatest city on earth). I then returned home to Dhaka, sunny-side-up, to teach mathematics and data science at BRAC University before pursuing a master's (European Master's in Law, Data and AI) at both Dublin City University in Ireland and Universidad de León in Spain, meanwhile realizing I have commitment issues when it comes to settling somewhere.
My research experience includes collaborations with INCIBE (Spain's National Cybersecurity Institute) and Trinity College Dublin's School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies, because, of course, nothing says "career focus" like jumping between cybersecurity and theology. I have been, at various points of life, a copywriter, a driving test instructor, a forensic investigator, a very sloppy barrista, a dubbing script translator for soapy soap operas from Turkey, an interpreter (left it when I realized I am becoming this guy), a paralegal, a podcast host, a university journalist, a bar cleaner (demoted from barrista, haha!), a data scientist, a baby-sitter, and a loyal partner, among many many things. Currently, I'm pursuing my doctorate at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid as part of the HARNESS Network, where I work under Dr. Elena Montiel-Ponsoda and Dr. Víctor Rodríguez-Doncel exploring sectoral and regional data spaces, their potential and constraints (spoiler alert: there are many constraints).
Beyond technology policy research, I'm passionate about history (preferably the dramatic bits), podcasts (I have strong opinions about which ones are overrated), and travel (which has resulted in some questionable visa photo updates and many egg-cracking moments over the years). Also a big fan of left-wing populist politics, thrift shops, resistance training, and breadtube. I can speak in six languages with varying degrees of fluency, from "fluent enough to argue about who will be the next prime minister in your country" to "fluent enough to order food from the hotel without ending up asking if I can have the pillow sauce and the shampoo lasagna." And one more thing, I believe in the power of interdisciplinary team-building to tackle complex human challenges, because single-discipline approach and solo work are both way too narrowly focused for the mess we have created for ourselves.
English · Bengali · Hindustani (Hindi/Urdu) · German · Spanish · French
Grant Sanderson · Natalie Wynn · Celal Salik · Shoshana Zuboff · Timnit Gebru · Abeba Birhane · Julia Serano · Kate Crawford · Melanie Mitchell · Donald Knuth · Max Schrems
Investigating the risks and opportunities of sectoral and regional data spaces in Europe, focusing on their possibilities and limitations for data governance and policy implementation.
Contributing to interdisciplinary research on data governance, privacy, and AI alignment as part of the European training network focusing on harmonizing legal and technical perspectives.
X International Congress on Human Rights at University of Coimbra, Portugal, October 2025. Paper on AI companies' exploitation of human labour. The more you talk to lawyers, the more you feel like a new breed of translator, not Spanish to English, not English to Bengali, but from algorithms to legalese.
XXXVIII International Conference on Legal Knowledge and Information Systems (JURIX), Turin, Italy, December 2025. Paper on design patterns for interdisciplinary researchers in legal tech. Also, you can see my boss there too!
First time the whole HARNESS crew met in person, below the Real Alcázar of Segovia, Spain, December 2025. This castle appears to have inspired the castle in Disney's Cinderella! But we did not feel like royalty, we were still academics on a budget, no pumpkin carriage!!
I VIU Winter School on Digital Rights: Theory and Practice, San Servolo, Venice, Italy, January 2026. Beautiful, beautiful, place.
Graduation ceremony, European Master in Law, Data, and AI, Dublin City University, Ireland, March 2026. Ending on a good note here.
HARNESS Doctoral Network • Universidad Politécnica de Madrid • Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna • Spain • Italy
2025 – Present
Researching law, artificial intelligence, ethics, and European Data Spaces with focus on risks and opportunities of sectoral and regional data spaces.
View Research ProfileSide quests: Public Policy New Voices Europe Fellow, Salzburg Global Seminar (2026)
GEMS Project • Trinity College Dublin • Ireland
2024 – Present
Research on "Games as a Multi-layered Security Threat", investigating the intersection of gaming platforms, user behaviour, rise of alt-right and incel communities, and digital safety. Incorporated fine-tuned language models to predict radicalisation trajectories, bridging algorithms, political violence and communal identity.
View Research ProfilePanacea Cooperative Research • Universidad de León • Castilla y León, Spain
2024 – 2025
Collaborative research across multiple Spanish universities focusing on digital forensics.
Side quest: FGULEM Scholar, Institute of Business Competitiveness, Castille and León (2024)
EMILDAI Blog • Remote
2024 – 2025
Editorial work on AI and law topics for Dr. Edoardo Celeste.
In case you want to read the BlogADAPT Center, Trinity College Dublin • Insight SFI Research Centre, Dublin City University • Ireland
Summer 2024
Converted parts of the EU AI Act to industry standards at Trinity and extracted classification taxonomy from neural network models at DCU.
BRAC University • Dhaka, Bangladesh
2020 – 2023
Taught mathematics, data science, and computer science courses while managing the OSUN Science Shop program in collaboration with international universities from Budapest, Vienna, Vilnius, and Bishkek.
View Staff ProfileSide quests: Economy of Tomorrow Fellow, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (2023) · OSUN Experiential Learning Institute Fellow (2022) · CLASP Fellow, Bard College IWT (2021–2023)
Bard College • New York, USA
Spring 2023
Hosted by the Levy Economics Institute, contributing to the course GIS for Environmental Justice.
Oboyob Diversity Circle • Bangladesh
2020 – 2022
Facilitated diversity and inclusion workshops, conducted research on LGBTQ+ rights advocacy in cooperation with ILGA Asia, promoting social justice and human rights education.
The World Bank Group • Disaster Management Unit, South Asia Region • Remote
2020 – 2021
Consulting on disaster management and risk assessment projects across South Asia.
Fujitsu Research Institute • Tokyo, Japan
Fall 2019
Research and development experience in digital marketing, statistical analysis, and process automation.
For the most up-to-date list of publications, please visit:
Because yours truly can't stick to just one medium either
Theatre Adaptation • December 2017
I adapted this classic by Akhteruzzaman Elias for the stage because I honestly thought working in theatre was easier than debugging code. Girl, there is no debugging the backstage, you are lucky if you can come out unscathed.
Theatre Translation • December 2016
I translated this play by Julia Lee Dean thinking I can put my spin on it. The hubris of youth, the fire in our hearts. The only good memory was translating Manhattan Square to Kawran Bazar.
Translation • 2025
Translated the one and only Julio Cortázar's often forgotten poem Elecciones insólitas, on the futility of election, into Bengali for Desh Rupantor's literature page, and it was, by a twist of fate, published on our election day. Wish I had the nerves to translate Rayuela.
Read for yourself
Short Story • 2025
Published in the Easel Eid Special of The Business Standard. Fun fact: they somehow managed to lose my last name in the byline. I'm no more human (Manab) in the literary world.
The cover work was done by the amazing artist Mahatab Rashid. Do check out his other beautiful works here!
Translation • 2025
Translated Colombian writer Andrés Caicedo's phenomenal short story (read it, translated or not, in Bengali, Spanish, or English, I insist) into Bengali for Desh Rupantor's literature page. Clearly I needed to add "literary translator" to my already confusing CV.
Read for yourself
Short Story • December 2017
A farcical deconstruction of fiat monetary system, it was published in Golpokotha 2.0 by the U.S. Embassy's Edward M. Kennedy Center. Written in the days when I thought I had profound insights about capitalism (I was 19, forgive me).
Short Story • September 2016
Published in Himal Southasian's penultimate issue after responding to their open call for fiction before they went on hiatus for two years. I like to think it wasn't because of my story, and correlation doesn't imply causation, right?
Self-translated from Bengali because I'm a masochist when it comes to extra work.
Read for yourself
Executive Producer • 2025
Documentary on Bangladesh's July Revolution, directed by Abid Sarker Sohag. I switched between training diffusion models and producing revolution documentaries on the same afternoon. My career path makes perfect sense, duh.
Visit Project Page
Subtitle Supervisor • 2025
Supervised subtitles in four international languages for this historic documentary. My multilingual skills finally found a practical application that isn't just impressing people at parties.
Watch on YouTube
Op-Ed • Netra News • October 2024
Co-authored with Manjurul Mahmud Dhrubo. An analysis of mob justice in Bangladesh, from its psychology and its history to its uncomfortable relationship with state power. From Gustave Le Bon to La Violencia to a campus murder in Dhaka, all in one afternoon's writing.
Read for yourselfNovel in Progress (very much in progress)
A novel about a besieged city. Currently stuck on chapter 3, and I am positively scared this novel won't be finished any time soon.
Guest • "Does BNP know where it's heading?" • October 2025
A one-on-one conversation with veteran journalist Farhana Rahman, as we are torn between the vile repackaged ethnofascism of Jamat and its offshoots, and the old-school word-vomit and corruption of BNP and its look-alikes.
Watch on YouTube
Featured Guest • "Awami League is Dead" • July 2025
Discussion on political developments in Bangladesh after the July 2024 uprising. Part of the POST's political commentary series, "Beyond Binary". Hosted by Arif Rahman.
Watch on YouTubeFeatured Guest • "Rethinking China's Approach to Privacy" • June 2024
Pilot episode exploring current developments in digital legislation and policy in China, questioning traditional views on the country. Hosted by Felipe Alvarez Vega.
Listen on SpotifyBefore I forget about them, the sabbatical political years were the best, the craziest, the angriest years of my life. I spent two years (2017-2019) organizing with a big tent progressive left student organization at the University of Dhaka, back when the entire country was suffocating under Sheikh Hasina's Awami League. Free elections had become a punchline in underground stand up comedy shows, and then the police would show up on Pegasus to end the set.
Those were the years of Rampal, quota reform, and road safety, three movements that gradually put the left and the right on the same streets, all of them crushed with the same batons. The pressure had to go somewhere. It went into demanding elections. The Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) held its first vote in 28 years in March 2019, a body grand enough to be called Bangladesh's second parliament and corrupt enough to have earned that title too, its dormitories carved up between party factions and stocked with weapons, its history running through the 1952 Language Movement, the 1971 Liberation War, and every ruling party's stranglehold on campus since. I ran as candidate for International Affairs Secretary on the Progressive Students Coalition slate, a position that hadn't existed before and that I pushed to create. I ran from a place of hope, because students' rights don't advocate for themselves.
Electoral poster, March 2019
Electoral poster, March 2019
Electoral poster, March 2019
Door-to-door promotion, March 2019
Hunger procession, March 15, 2019
Press coverage, March 2019
We didn't win. Nobody outside Hasina's party was supposed to. The two outsiders who did win, Nur and Akhter, negotiated their way in, then shed layers of skins and scales like all good reptiles, and in 2026, ended up in parliament. The results were predetermined, the process a theatre of participation without the substance of it. Four progressives went on hunger strike at the Raju Sculpture demanding fresh elections. I joined on day two. By day five I was in the hospital. (Kids, start working out if you want your hunger strikes to roll into double digits.)
Candidate speech, January 2019
Hunger procession, March 15, 2019
The convergence we built in those days kept going for eight years, a lavender marriage between the two poles of a political spectrum held together by a shared rage against the same regime. It was what made July 2024 possible, when the dictatorship finally fell. What followed was a quick divorce between the left and the right, with DUCSU now in the hands of the extreme right as proof.
All sábados end. And so ended my sabbatical. The hunger strike was the last straw. I was tired of being an activist. I wanted to be me, without people projecting their inner angry young man onto me 24/7. So I entered academia, because as the great Paolo Freire had once said, an educator has the duty of not being neutral. And I was many things, but I was never neutral. This is where you can still find me, in academia's darkest corridors, one hand with a chalk, one hand clenched in rage against capitalism, rage against patriarchy, rage against the gender divide, rage against autocrats, rage against the machine.
Yes, I know this seems scattered. Welcome to my brain.
I'm always open to discussing research collaborations, opportunities in technology policy, or conversations about data governance and AI alignment. Or for a chat on Latin American literature, or political engagements. Or food. I think I forgot to tell you, I love cooking as much as I love fofocas.