EconFest 5.0 held at North South University

The fifth installment of EconFest, a two-day long event focused on the field of Economics, was broadcast live on Facebook on 16 and 17 October 2020.

The sessions were organised by Young Economists' Forum (YEF), a student-run academic club of North South University (NSU).

The event consisted of two sessions: Speakonomics and Experts' Dialogue.

During Speakonomics, an inter-university, international paper presentation competition, undergraduate students presented their research essays on this year's topic, "How is Bangladeshi Surviving the Pandemic?"

After a rigorous screening process, eight teams were selected to present their papers for Speakonomics' grand finale.

Experts' Dialogue is a live talk-show where eminent economists conducted a panel discussion on this year's theme, "Winning the New Normal."

Speakonomics' grand finale was kicked off with opening remarks by YEF's faculty advisor Dr Kanti Ananta Nuzhat.

The teams then presented their papers in front of the judge panel, comprising of Dr Gour Gobinda Goswami, professor and former treasurer, NSU; Dr Ahmed Tazmeen, assistant professor and chair, Department of Economics, NSU; and Dr Sakib Mahmud, associate professor, Sustainable Management (SMGT)/Economics and academic director, SMGT.

Each presentation was followed by a Q&A session by the judges.

The Experts' Dialogue was, once again, started off with remarks by YEF's faculty advisor, Dr Kanti Ananta Nuzhat.

The panel of speakers comprised of seasoned veterans in the field of economics: Prof Mostafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow at Centre for Policy Dialogue; Dr Syed Abdul Hamid, professor and director of Institute of Health Economics, University of Dhaka; and Dr Sayema Haque Bidisha, professor at Department of Economics, University of Dhaka.

The speakers delivered thought-provoking remarks on this year's theme and answered questions from the student audience.

The title sponsor of EconFest 5.0 was ACI Motor Ltd and the "powered by" sponsors were Clinical Research Organizations (CRO), Dettol, and Chittagong Stock Exchange.

The other event sponsors were Torun, Skillhub, The Capsule, Bahubrihi Technologies, and Smartifier Academy, which were partners for youth digital content, skill development, knowledge, e-learning partner, and youth engagement respectively.

The Business Standard was the programme's digital media partner.

Event organisers also included Bank Asia (banking partner), Banglalink (strategic partner), Veet Men (resource partner), and Goti Logisitics (logistic partner).

Radio partners were ABC Radio, People's Radio, Dhaka FM, and Radio Shadhin.

The Daily Sun and Kaaler Kontho were its print media partners, DBC News was broadcast partner.