Dr. Md. Nazrul Islam, popularly known as Asif Nazrul, is a law professor, researcher, writer, and activist. He worked as a journalist before joining Dhaka University in 1991 and now is a leading columnist in the country.

He did his LL.B. and LL.M. from the University of Dhaka and his Ph.D. in international law from the University of London in 1999. He worked as a fellow at the IUCN-Environmental Law Centre in Germany in 2001 and later at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London in 2007.

He published research papers in leading journals and wrote chapters in books published by Routledge, Kluwer, Brill etc. He worked as a Consultant to EU Delegation, UNDP, and ADB and served as an elected bureau member of the South Asian for Human Rights.