Shayeb was born and raised in Bangladesh, where he completed a Bachelor in Soil Water and Environment and a Master’s in Environmental Science from the University of Dhaka. His MSc research was focused on food chain contamination of arsenic and heavy metals and the potential remediation techniques. After graduation in 2007, he joined a nongovernmental organization as Program Officer and afterward in a research and consultancy firm as Research Officer. In 2009, he joined in public service as a Scientific Officer under the Biological Research Division, Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR). During his employment, he worked in soil and water pollution (including arsenic, mercury, and heavy metals toxicity and food chain contamination; phytoremediation and other management options), nature conservation, land application of biosolids, and organic waste management to claim carbon credit under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

While working in the BCSIR, he was awarded the Commonwealth Scholarship in the United Kingdom and completed another Master’s in Environmental Management from Liverpool Hope University with research focused on organic waste management. Immediately after graduation, he came to Canada to pursue his Ph.D. in Biogeochemistry and Sustainable Soil Management at the Department of Soil Science, University of Saskatchewan. During his Ph.D. study, he worked as a Research Assistant for the Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS) and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) under Research Affiliate Program. He worked as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Soil Science, the University of Saskatchewan, before joining the GIFS. His Ph.D. and Post-Doctoral Researcher positions at the Department of Soil Science focused on the land-use effects on shallow groundwater hydrology, salinity, nutrients, carbon, greenhouse gases, and extracellular enzyme activities involved with C, N, P cycling in the soil of the Prairie Pothole Region.

He is primarily interested in Root and Microbial Exudates and their role in improving salt tolerance in plants and carbon sequestration in soil. Within the scope of Root-Soil-Microbiome Interactions and Resilient Agriculture programs at the GIFS, his research will primarily explore the role of root and fungal exudation in the interaction of the endophytic fungi (i.e., Trichoderma) with the root, and in enhanced salt tolerance in plants. His current research will characterize the targeted and non-targeted root and fungal exudates using IC-MS, visualize and quantify root exudation using the ¹⁴C imaging technique, and belowground processes and mechanisms by computed tomography (e.g., Bio PETx detector).