The Department of Chemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University, proudly celebrates a remarkable research achievement as two distinguished faculty members have been awarded highly competitive National Research Program for Universities (NRPU) Projects under the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Call 2025–26.
Prof. Dr. Zia-ur-Rehman has been awarded an NRPU project titled “Flow Capacitive De-Ionization Cells for Saltwater Desalination.” The project focuses on developing advanced and energy-efficient desalination technologies to help address the growing challenge of freshwater scarcity through innovative water treatment solutions.
Dr. Faroha Liaqat, Associate Professor, has also secured an NRPU project titled “Transforming Waste to Value: Energy Storage Applications of Nanocellulose Extracted from Municipal Waste and Biomass.” This research aims to convert municipal waste and biomass into high-value nanocellulose materials for sustainable energy storage applications, contributing significantly to environmental sustainability and waste management.
Both projects were formally recognized by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan on May 12, 2026, in Islamabad. These achievements reflect the department’s growing contribution to impactful research in the fields of energy, environment, and water sustainability.
The Department warmly congratulates Prof. Dr. Zia-ur-Rehman and Dr. Faroha Liaqat on this outstanding accomplishment and looks forward to the successful outcomes of their research projects and their contribution to scientific innovation and national development.
Prof. Dr. Humaira Masood Siddiqi was awarded the prestigious CAS President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) Visiting Scientist Fellowship by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China, for the duration of July 2025 to January 2026. This distinguished fellowship recognized outstanding researchers and promoted international scientific collaboration and academic exchange. During this period, Prof. Dr. Siddiqi contributed to collaborative research activities with leading scientists at CAS institutes in China.
Prof. Dr. Humaira Masood Siddiqi is a renowned academic and researcher in the field of chemistry, with significant contributions to advanced materials, analytical chemistry, and interdisciplinary scientific research. Her work focuses on innovative approaches in chemical sciences, fostering international collaborations, and promoting high-quality research and education. This achievement reflects her academic excellence and further strengthens research ties between Pakistan and China.
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Prof. Dr. Moazzam Naseer has recently been awarded the prestigious MSCA-Winning Normandy fellowship and is currently developing novel MTDLs for Alzheimer's disease at the University of Caen, Normandy. In 2016-2017, he was also granted the prestigious AvH Doctoral Fellowship to work at TU Dortmund, Germany. Additionally, he worked at KIT, Germany for six months in 2019 under the AvH Alumni sponsorship program and again for three months in 2023 at the Max-Plancks Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund. He has several awards to his credit, including the Rising Star Award from AsCA and SCANZ for his research work on "Non-covalent carbon bonding", the Early Career Chemist Award by ACS, and the IUPAC Travel Award for IUPAC-2015. He has also won several travel awards from HEC and received three research productivity awards from PCST, as well as three performance-based increments from Quaid-i-Azam University. |
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Arif Nadeem has been awarded the CAS President's International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI). He is currently working as a visiting Professor at the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry (CIAC), in China. In 2016, he was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt (AvH) postdoctoral fellowship. During his AvH fellowship, he worked at RWTH University Aachen, Germany. He is a member of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences (PAS) and part of the editorial board of the “Transition Metal Chemistry” journal. His research focuses on the rational design of Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) and nanomaterials for energy conversion processes.