Also known as Asif Nazrul, Dr. Islam is a law professor, researcher and civil society activist. He wrote a number of book chapters and research papers on constitutional, international legal issues in leading journals and books published including by Kluwer, Routledge, Brill | Nijhoff and Oxford University Press. He presented papers in conferences held in USA, Europe and South Asia on constitutional reform, election integrity and good governance issues. He was a Bureau Member of the South Asian for Human Rights from 2011-17. His book in international watercourse law is due to be published by the UPL in November, 2022.

He did PhD and post-doctoral research in international law from School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He worked as a Consultant to European Union Delegation in Bangladesh, UNDP, ADB, DANIDA, SIDA, CARE, TIB and other organizations on issues of good governance, access to justice and human rights and as a post-doctoral research fellow in SOAS, University of London and IUCN-Environmental Law Center in Germany.