The International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE) has awarded its prestigious 2025 Public Scholarship Award to Nafisa Nipun Tanjeem, associate professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Worcester State University.
The award recognizes excellent interdisciplinary research that has had a demonstrable impact on pressing public issues and honors Tanjeem’s impactful interdisciplinary work, especially its value to policymakers and practitioners addressing public issues.
Tanjeem is recognized as a feminist scholar, educator, and activist whose work is grounded in transnational feminist, anti-racist, and decolonial perspectives. Her research focuses on the lived experiences and concerns of marginalized communities.
“I aspire to challenge the restriction on knowledge production imposed by the ivory tower of academia and recognize the value of public scholarship in creating and circulating knowledge for the community,” Tanjeem said. “Public scholarship can play a crucial role in translating complex academic theorization and conceptualization into accessible knowledge for the public.”
Tanjeem’s work has covered critical issues such as improving working conditions for garment workers in Bangladesh, advocating for domestic worker unionization, and highlighting violence against gendered bodies, including trans and non-binary people. Her scholarship is published on platforms without paywalls and is accessible in both English and her native Bangla.
When asked what this award means to her, she said: “Receiving this award and being acknowledged for my public scholarship work will inspire me to dedicate more time and effort to producing public scholarship in the future. What this award establishes is that academia and activism do not have to live in silos. It highlights that public scholarship is a form of social justice activism. It is about making knowledge accessible beyond paywalls. It’s about challenging language barriers. It’s about challenging the divide between people who have college degrees and those who don’t. It’s about challenging the divide between the Global North and the Global South. It’s also about ensuring that research is actually useful and connected to the communities it is meant to support. It’s about tearing down the ivory tower of academia so knowledge can circulate where it’s needed most—in communities, on streets, in social movements.”
The IARSLCE award ceremony took place in Durban, South Africa. Tanjeem was able to attend and accept the honor in person thanks to the support of a Dean’s Discretionary Travel Grant and a Provost Travel Grant from Worcester State.