Professor M. Azizul Islam

Biography

Muhammad Azizul (Aziz) Islam, PhD, is a Professor in Sustainability Accounting & Transparency, Chair in Accountancy, and the Director of Research for the Accounting Discipline at the University of Aberdeen Business School. He is a Chartered Accountant (CAANZ). In 2025, he was conferred the Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) and featured as a leading social scientist by the Academy in recognition of his outstanding research impact.

Aziz has widespread experience in various leadership roles in academia. He won the School's Award for Excellence in Administration and Support and the Dean's Award for Team Teaching Excellence in 2011.

Aziz is widely recognised internationally as a leading sustainability accounting researcher. He investigates sustainability accounting and transparency issues including human rights disclosures, modern slavery disclosures, social audits, climate change accounting and anti-bribery measures. His research has been funded by  ACCA, CPA (Australia), CAANZ, UKRI-AHRC, and GCRF-SFC among others. He has received two prestigious grants for studies on corporate accountability in relation to modern slavery in global fashion chains, which support social movements advocating for Fashion Watchdog in the UK.

Aziz has received two Vice-Chancellor Excellence Awards: Research Project of the Year 2022 and Research Impact 2023 among others. He was a finalist for the Green Gown Award in association with UKRI twice (2022, 2023), and he was a finalist for the Project of The Year category at the Times Higher Education Awards in 2023. He was honoured to receive the Scottish Fair-Trade Award in 2022.

Aziz’s research appears in high-impact journals (ABDC A*/A, ABS 4*/3*, FT's top 50), attracting widespread media attention and influencing policy changes. His research and opinions appear in the BBC, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Times, Raconteur, Sunday Post, Conversation, Sydney Morning Herald, Prothom Alo, IFAC-Gateway, AccountingWeb, among many others.

Internal Memberships

Member of the Senate at the University of Aberdeen, representing the Business School

Teaching Responsibilities

BU5850:Accounting Profession 

BU5574/75: Financial Analysis

BU5847/48: Studies in Accounting/Finance

AC4033: Accounting Theory