A zero-cost, project-based research training academy and its digital home at borabd.org — built on the premise that high-impact research requires attention and time, not capital.
Bangladesh has capable science graduates but lacks a structured, affordable bridge between finishing a degree and publishing research. Wet-lab research needs capital most students do not have. Dry-lab, computational, and epidemiological research — genomics, AMR surveillance, disease modelling, meta-analysis — needs only a laptop, an internet connection, and guidance.
The model is already proven. Remote, project-based, cohort-driven programmes have turned motivated students across the Global South into published computational scientists, entirely free to the learner, using open datasets, open-source tools, and volunteer mentorship. What is missing is a version scoped to Bangladesh’s own problems.
A searchable metadata index making Bangladeshi research globally discoverable while linking every paper back to its original publisher.
Explore BORR →Research starts with questions. It does not cost money. It costs time and attention.
“Scientific potential is evenly distributed, but opportunity is not. Across Bangladesh, thousands of brilliant students complete their degrees without ever formulating a research hypothesis or analyzing a real dataset. They are often told that meaningful research requires expensive laboratories and heavy funding. We founded BORA to break that myth. High-impact scientific inquiry begins with curiosity, open data, and rigorous mentorship.”
“True scientific progress occurs when tools, datasets, and knowledge are shared openly without paywalls or financial barriers. BORA is built on a non-negotiable principle: research education must remain completely free to every learner forever. By connecting motivated students directly with active mentors and peer-driven research pods, we let effort and dedication decide who gets to do science.”
| Role | Who | Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Founders | Nehal Hasnain & Rehan Hasnain | Set vision, build platform, oversee pipeline. |
| Moderators / Chief Advisors | 2–5 senior academics | Validate ideas, set standards, sign off outputs. |
| Researchers | ~10–20 scientists | Lead project groups and mentor students. |
| Team Leads / Alumni Mentors | Published alumni | Return to lead teams. |
| Student Volunteers | The cohort | Learn, process data, write drafts. |
Domain secured; website MVP built; advisors and mentors recruited; curriculum and authorship policy finalised.
First cohort on one track; run Stage 0–3 end to end.
Open additional tracks; produce first publications; build national visibility.
BORA’s output is real research produced largely by students. A clear authorship and integrity policy is what makes journals, universities, and admissions committees take that output seriously.
Students who perform the core analysis and writing are listed as first authors. Core mentors and chief advisors are listed as senior or corresponding authors, reflecting supervisory contribution. Order is agreed at Stage 0, not argued at submission.
Every manuscript requires sign-off from its supervising core mentor. Flagship outputs additionally require a chief advisor’s sign-off before any external submission.
All analyses run on open or properly de-identified public data. A lightweight ethics checklist applies to any project touching human health records.
Plagiarism screening and data-integrity verification are mandatory before any Stage 4 submission. No exceptions, including for mentor-led work.
Every published analysis ships with its code in a public GitHub repository and a documented environment. If it cannot be re-run, it does not go out under the BORA name.
We submit to a preprint server before or alongside journal submission, so the work is citable and visible immediately at zero cost.
Where a journal offers a free open-access route, we take it. We do not pay article processing charges we cannot fund.
BORA does not need grants, laboratories, or paid staff to change the shape of Bangladeshi science. It needs a clear pipeline, a handful of committed mentors, and students willing to put in the work. Every piece of this model has already been proven at global scale. Our task is to point it at Bangladesh’s own problems.