Chowdhury won the OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Award in 2022 for her contributions in conserving aquatic ecosystems and vulnerable species in Bangladesh. Chowdhury focuses on risk of plastic pollution in the country’s waterways. She is also empowering women from poor and marginalized communities to turn discarded fishing nets into products such as carpets to help create alternative sources of income for women while protecting the aquatic habitats. She is a member of the Zoological Society of Bangladesh and has been the co-chair of the South Asian Invertebrate Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

(Photo: Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World)