The Press Institute Bangladesh (PIB) has selected four research proposals under its Guest Research Programme, with each researcher to receive a grant of Tk3 lakh to complete their study within six months.

A three-member jury board comprising a PIB representative and two university professors selected the proposals from 171 submissions through a three-stage evaluation process involving interviews and presentations.

The selected studies will examine international media portrayals of the July Mass Uprising, media coverage of extrajudicial killings, digital class divisions on TikTok and digital activism during crises.

Tashahud Ahamed Rafim, a student of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism at Dhaka University, will analyse how South Asian media portrayed the July Mass Uprising internationally.

Naeemul Hassan, an associate professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland in the United States, will conduct an artificial intelligence-based analysis of the media’s role in addressing extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh between 2009 and 2024.

Mir Hojaifa Al Mamduh, a researcher at Drik Trust, will examine digital class divisions on TikTok, focusing on experiences of marginalisation.

Muhammad Muzzammil Haque, a student of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism at Dhaka University, will research information flows during crises and digital activism, focusing on the use of new media during the July Mass Uprising in 2024.

PIB invited research proposals from Bangladeshi citizens through an announcement published in four national dailies on 26 August 2025. The programme prioritised contemporary issues, including changes in the media landscape, journalism, misinformation and disinformation, digital journalism, media narratives of history and the use of artificial intelligence in the media.

A total of 171 proposals were submitted from home and abroad by the deadline of 20 September 2025.

Following an initial assessment of their structure, content and budgets, 60 proposals were shortlisted. The jury subsequently selected 21 proposals for further evaluation before narrowing the list to 12 for interviews and presentations.

Although PIB initially planned to select five proposals, the jury finalised four, citing quality considerations.

The first instalment of the grants will be disbursed to the selected researchers soon. Each researcher will also be assigned a supervisor to support the completion of their study within the six-month period.