Rubaiyat Hossain is an interdisciplinary research scholar. She has attended Smith College to obtain her B. A. in Women Studies, M. A. in South Asian Studies from University of Pennsylvania, USA, and M. A. in Study of Religion (Islam) from SOAS (University of London), UK. Her primary fields of interest are Sufism, Bengali nationalism, formation of Bengali modernity and finally female sexuality.
Rubaiyat Hossain's MA Thesis 'Heroic One or the Shamed one' is in the process of publications from UPL, Dhaka, Bangladesh. She has worked for prominent women's rights NGOs in Bangladesh such as Ain O Shalish Kendra, Naripokkho. Rubaiyat Hossain was the co-coordinator for the first international workshop of Sexuality and Rights organized by BRAC School of Public Health in 2007. She has worked as a part time lecturer in the department of Economics and Social Sciences at BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh since 2006.
Rubaiyat Hossain has been interested in film as a young girl from watching the films of Satyajit Ray and Rittwik Ghatak. Later she pursued her interest seriously and completed a Diploma in Film Direction from NYFA, USA in 2002. Since then, she has made few short films that has screened at national and international film festivals. Rubaiyat Hossain intends to utilize the research skills she has acquired in the academy to continue making films about Bengali identity, culture, politics and history.