Al-Ihsan Social Development Center (USA), with Al-Ihsan Bangladesh as implementation partner
Research Scopes at Al-Ihsan
Al-Ihsan supports the education and residential care of orphaned and destitute girls in flood-affected regions of Bangladesh. Running that work well depends on answers we do not have, because we do not have a research department. Below are four open questions, defined and ready for someone to take on.
- Fouropen research scopes
- Two entitiesUSA direction, Bangladesh field data
- Defined deliverableseach scope ends in something we adopt
- Publishablewith our written approval and attribution
Each scope below is a live, unanswered question inside our operations, not a hypothetical research topic. Every one has a named supervisor, real source material, and people waiting on the output. What we do not have is anyone assigned to answer them.
The research scopes
Each scope stands on its own: a problem, a defined deliverable, and what background helps. One path to work on any of them right now is the remote internship described further down this page.
Zakat compliance framework
American donors increasingly want to know that Zakat funds reached genuinely eligible recipients, and that somebody checked. Very few organisations our size can show that on paper. This scope builds the framework that lets us.
Flood-risk mapping with GIS
The regions we work in flood on a seasonal cycle that is becoming less predictable. We make decisions about dormitories, classrooms and water access without a clear picture of exposure. This scope builds that picture from open data, so it can start on day one with nothing waiting on us.
Grant-ready research reports
We compete for funding against organisations with grant-writing staff. What we lack is the evidence base underneath the application: the published research establishing that the problem we address is real, severe, and best addressed the way we address it.
Donor communication and impact storytelling
Some Muslim charities retain donors year after year and most do not. The difference lies largely in how they communicate impact, which makes it a studiable question rather than a mystery.
The internship pathway
At present, the way a student takes on one of the four scopes above is our remote research internship. It runs ten weeks, is unpaid, and is built around the paperwork your own university requires. The details below cover supervision, structure, credit, ethics, eligibility and how to apply.
Who you would be working with
Al-Ihsan Social Development Center (AISDC USA)
The United States organisation: governance, fundraising, donor compliance and research direction. AISDC USA hosts this internship and signs university agreements.
Al-Ihsan Bangladesh
Our implementation partner on the ground: school operations, residential care, nutrition and health programmes. It is the source of the operational data and field knowledge your scope draws on.
Your supervision
You are supervised from both sides. Mohamed Salahuddin Khan, [TITLE], is your site supervisor and handles your university’s paperwork. Mahmuda Khanam, Program Director of Al-Ihsan Bangladesh, is your technical supervisor for programme data and field context.
How the term runs
Length
Ten weeks, May to July 2027.
Commitment
Flexible, eight to twelve hours a week, scheduled by you.
Supervision
A weekly one-to-one with your supervisor, a mid-term review, and a final presentation to Al-Ihsan leadership.
Time zones
Dhaka runs ten to eleven hours ahead of the United States. Our standing meeting window is early evening in Dhaka, which is morning on the East Coast and early morning in the Central time zone. Everything else is asynchronous.
Onboarding
You receive a project brief, a named data contact and the source material in week one. We consider it our failure if you spend week three still waiting on us.
Academic credit and university paperwork
Credit is granted by your own institution rather than by us. What we do:
- Serve as your official site supervisor, with a named individual on record
- Sign your university’s internship agreement, memorandum of understanding or learning contract
- Provide written learning objectives, a scope of work and hour verification
- Complete mid-term and final evaluations on your school’s forms and timeline
- Write a supervisor letter or reference on request
If your placement office needs anything else, ask. We would rather complete an unfamiliar form than lose a good applicant to paperwork.
Compensation
This position is unpaid. We would rather say that plainly than advertise a maybe.
We do seek dedicated funding for research stipends. If it is in hand when we make offers, a stipend is offered then. Please do not plan your summer around one.
Data, confidentiality and research ethics
Our beneficiaries are children, most of them orphaned. We take access to their records seriously and expect you to do the same.
- A non-disclosure agreement is required before any internal data is shared.
- Records are de-identified in Bangladesh before they leave the country. Names, dates of birth, addresses and photographs stay in Dhaka, and you work with pseudonymous identifiers. This is not negotiable, and it also works in your favour, since a de-identified existing dataset is usually a much faster ethics determination.
- Financial data is shared at the expense level where a scope requires it. Full statements are not shared by default.
- Publication is allowed and encouraged. Aggregate, de-identified findings may be published or presented with our prior written approval and attribution to Al-Ihsan. Most of these scopes suit a thesis, capstone or conference paper.
- Ethics review is your institution’s call rather than ours. All four scopes draw on secondary, public or organisational data and typically clear quickly, but confirm with your own review board before relying on that.
Who should apply
Undergraduate students at any year, and graduate students
Based in the United States
Able to work independently across a large time difference
Applicants of every background and faith are welcome. Several scopes benefit from familiarity with Islamic practice, and none require it except where noted.
Applications close 15 March 2027. We reply to everyone.
How to apply
Email us with the subject line “Research Internship” and your first-choice scope, and include:
- Your resume or CV
- A short statement, half a page is plenty, naming your first and second choice scope and what you want out of it
- One writing or project sample, whichever best shows how you think
admin@aisdcusa.com · Applications close 15 March 2027. We reply to everyone.
For faculty and placement offices
This programme is built around what placement offices and supervising faculty actually need, and we welcome input on it.
Write to admin@aisdcusa.com.
Scopes in development for future cohorts
- Programme evaluation framework. A full monitoring and evaluation system for the Bangladesh operation: indicators across education, nutrition, safety and mental health, monthly reporting templates, impact dashboards.
- Cost-efficiency benchmarking. Al-Ihsan’s cost structure against comparable organisations, covering food cost per child, teacher salary benchmarks and dormitory maintenance.
- Data digitisation and analytics. Converting paper records into structured datasets, with a database schema and automated dashboards.
- Alumni outcome tracking. A remote-friendly system for following graduates’ education and employment outcomes over three years.
- Curriculum enhancement. Global best practice in science education for girls, trauma-informed teaching and Islamic character development.
- Low-cost education technology. Feasibility and cost projections for offline tablets, solar-powered classrooms and digital Qur’an learning tools.
If one of these is your area, student or faculty, get in touch now.
Al-Ihsan Social Development Center (USA) works with Al-Ihsan Bangladesh as its implementation partner. Research internships are hosted and supervised by AISDC USA.