Md Rezwan al-Islam

Working as social media specialist and conducting research on media usage in Qatar, Md Rezwan al-Islam is already translating his education into a full-time career as he prepares to graduate from Northwestern University in Qatar on May 9.
After completing coursework in NU-Q’s Media Industries and Technologies Programme in June 2011, he began working for leading Canadian internet application development company Fuego Digital Media at their offices in Qatar Science & Technology Park.
“The entire NU-Q educational experience, from screenwriting to digital production, has prepared me for this position,” said al-Islam. His job is to craft online communication strategies, help develop mobile applications with advanced features such as “augmented reality” for elite organisations in Qatar, and show clients how to take their website “to the next level” by integrating social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
“Rezwan has made the most of what Northwestern has to offer in media education and hands-on experience,” commented Dr Everette E. Dennis, dean and CEO of NU-Q. Al-Islam is also currently engaged in research on media consumption in Qatar. He began the research endeavour with Susan Dun, then a senior lecturer in the Communication Programme at NU-Q, while he was interning at QF Radio and became curious about who was listening to the programmes he produced.
When he discovered that there was very little data available on media consumption in Qatar, al-Islam delved into market research with Dun in the spring of 2011 to analyse Qatar’s media landscape. Their research was published at Middlesex University’s First International Conference on Business and the Social Sciences in Dubai in November 2011.
“We discovered that although Doha has an active media scene both digital and print, there is still room for considerable growth, with various gaps and niches in the industry that are ripe for further development,” the senior communication student said of their initial findings.
Al-Islam plans to address some of those gaps as he builds his experience in the field, and hopes to launch his own media ventures in the future. While studying at NU-Q, al-Islam also gained recognition as a promising young filmmaker in Qatar, after being selected for an exclusive seven-month training programme through the Doha Film Institute in 2010 and winning the ‘Made in Qatar’ award at the 2011 Doha Tribeca Film Festival with classmate Jassim al-Rumaihi for their film A Falcon, A Revolution.