Emeritus Professor Shahjahan Khan, a prominent Bangladeshi-Australian academic and community leader, was formally presented with the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) by Queensland Governor Dr Jeannette Young AC PSM at Government House in Brisbane on 17 September 2026.

The announcement of the award was made earlier on Australia Day, 26 January 2026, by Governor-General Sam Mostyn AC, honoring him for “service to the Islamic community of Australia,” recognizing decades of leadership and voluntary service in Queensland and nationally.

Professor Khan has combined a distinguished international academic career in statistics with more than three decades of community, multicultural and interfaith service in Australia.

Academic career

Professor Khan migrated to Australia in 1992 after completing his PhD in Mathematical Statistics at Western University in Canada and joined the University of Southern Queensland, now UniSQ, in January 1993. During his long career at UniSQ, he became the founding Professor of Statistics and held a range of academic, research and leadership roles. He established and led the university’s Statistical Consulting Unit and served on its Academic Council, program review and research committees and multicultural bodies.

He supervised 20 PhD students and has published more than 260 journal articles, delivered research workshops and keynote addresses, and presented extensively at international conferences. His books include Meta-Analysis Methods, published by Springer, as well as a book on statistical methods and models. He is also the founding chief editor of the Journal of Applied Probability and Statistics.

Professor Khan has received numerous international awards for his contribution to statistics, including the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) Gold Medal in 2001, the Islamic Countries Society of Statistical Sciences (ISOSS) Gold Medal in 2007 and the Q M Hossain Gold Medal from the Bangladesh Statistical Association in 2012. He has also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indian Association for Reliability and Statistics. As president of ISOSS, he helped organize international statistics conferences in countries including Malaysia, Egypt, Qatar, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia.

UniSQ appointed him Professor Emeritus in 2022 and established the Professor Shahjahan Khan Scholarship for international students in 2023.

From 2022 until January 2026, Professor Khan served as Vice-Chancellor of the Asian University of Bangladesh. He was also elected an Expatriate Fellow of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences.

Building Muslim community

Alongside his academic career, Professor Khan played a major role in developing Muslim institutions and multicultural relations in Toowoomba, Queensland's largest inland city. As founding president of the Islamic Society of Toowoomba and founding chairman of the Toowoomba Islamic Charitable Trust, he helped acquire a former church building that became Toowoomba’s first mosque.

He also helped establish the Toowoomba Annual International Food Festival and Mosque Open Day, bringing together thousands of people from Muslim and wider communities through food, friendship and interfaith engagement.

When the Garden City Mosque was damaged in two arson attacks in 2015, Professor Khan led efforts to rebuild the mosque, working closely with Muslims and non-Muslims and helping raise funds from across Australia.

The purpose-built mosque that emerged from those efforts can accommodate more than 500 worshippers and incorporates environmentally sustainable features including rainwater collection and solar power.

Professor Khan has consistently promoted interfaith understanding and engagement with civic and religious leaders, including parliamentarians, mayors, councilors, bishops, university leaders and government officials. His contribution to Toowoomba was recognized by the Toowoomba Chronicle in 2021 when it included him among the city’s most influential people.

Service beyond Toowoomba

Professor Khan’s community leadership has extended across Queensland and Australia.

He has served with the Islamic Council of Queensland and the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils and was a board member of Muslim Community Cooperative Australia (MCCA).

At UniSQ, he chaired the Multicultural Staff Network from 2013 to 2019, organizing multicultural and multifaith seminars, conferences and community events.

He also established and coordinated the UniSQ Islamic Centre from 2001 to 2013 and contributed to the establishment of Muslim prayer facilities within the university’s multifaith precinct.

Professor Khan has been active in initiatives promoting social cohesion and opposing racism, extremism and community division.

His humanitarian work has included supporting refugees, women, young people and other vulnerable members of the community, as well as helping organize fundraising appeals following cyclones, bushfires and other disasters in Australia and overseas.

Over the years, his community contribution has been recognized through a number of awards, including the Queensland Government Cultural Diversity Ambassador Award, Queensland Police Service Community Service Award, Queensland Multicultural Service Award and Islamic Council of Queensland Community Service Award.

He has also received UniSQ awards recognizing research publication, community service, cultural diversity and inclusion.

Professor Khan has continued to contribute to public debate and professional publications, including writing on higher education and the development of research culture in Bangladesh.

His career has been distinguished by two parallel areas of service: an international academic career in statistics and decades of voluntary leadership within Australia’s Muslim and multicultural communities.