Asif Hussain (PhD in Tourism and Infrastructure Development) from Lincoln University New Zealand. Asif is a passionate individual who cares deeply about community well-being and believes that collective community resilience is vital to ensure long-term sustainability. Asif is a dedicated social entrepreneur, social worker, philanthropist and has developed innovative solutions and facilitated numerous community projects that have led to life-changing outcomes. These community engagement skills have won him several scholarships, including a Fulbright scholarship.

Asif offers a unique world view as an indigenous person with deep ancestry of 30-50,000 years to the mountainous region of Gilgit-Baltistan, located at the junction of the Himalayas, Karakoram and Hindukush. Distressed with the dramatic loss of local indigenous traditions, customs, knowledge and cultural memory led him on a journey to study the impacts of transport infrastructure development. His fieldwork was in one of the most isolated, remote and politically insecure regions with multiple languages, complex social and political structures and security threats. His PhD research focused on mega-transport infrastructural development, including China’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ project on tourism-based livelihood strategies in isolated communities.

Asif holds a bachelor’s in economics and political science and a master’s in environmental economics. Asif Hussain is the founding director of Sustainability and Resilience Institute New Zealand. The institute’s long-term goal is to make communities and businesses  sustainable and resilient in the face of evolving global trends and shocks such as COVID-19.