PhD students from Pakistan awarded Wali Muhammad Trust scholarships

High Commissioner, Zakaria encouraged students to enter fields like artificial intelligence, block-chain technology

LONDON: Pakistan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Mohammad Nafees Zakaria awarded Edith Evelyn Wali Muhammad Trust Scholarships for 2019 to seven PhD students from Pakistan, currently enrolled in various academic disciplines of S&T at  University of Westminster, University of Manchester, Imperial College, UCL and King’s College.

The award ceremony took place at the High Commission on November 19, 2019, according to a statement issued by the High Commission on Wednesday.

High Commissioner, Zakaria, is ex-official Chairman of the Board of Trustees, he has been a Trustee in 2010-11 as well as Board of Trustee Professor Haroon Ahmed and Professor Maqsood Ali Siddiqui along with the awardees and officers of the High Commission attended the ceremony.

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The award winners were Syed Ibrahim Ghazanavi, Muhammad Zubair, Jaweria Amjad, Muhammad Zaid Hameed, Bushra Kanwal, Natasha Jafri, and Syed Waqas Arif.

In his remarks on the occasion, the High Commissioner felicitated the students and their parents on achieving this well-deserved award on merit.

Zakaria said as the global economic gravity was shifting towards Asia, there were enormous opportunities in Pakistan waiting for them.

Emphasising on the importance of knowledge, Zakaria advised the students to enter new academic fields that had great promise for future like artificial intelligence, block-chain technology, etc.

He also advised the scholars to avail these opportunities.

The High Commissioner also expressed his appreciation for the Trustees of Wali Muhammad Trust for managing its affairs in a professional and transparent manner.

He underlined the need to increase the capacity of the scholarship programme by broadening the Trust’s asset base of funding for the Trust so that more students could benefit.

Professor Haroon Ahmed apprised the students about the academic landscape of Pakistan and the new government’s initiatives to promote quality education and research facilities in the country.

He said in Islamabad a new technological university is being established to promote emerging technologies in Pakistan.

He mentioned foreign partnerships of technologically advanced countries in the university project will have features like technology parks associated with it to benefit from the commercial spin-offs.



He hoped that the scholars will go back to Pakistan and contribute towards its development.

Edith Evelyn Wali Muhammad Trust was established in 1957 by Professor Wali Muhammad and former Vice-Chancellor of Osmania University Hyderabad to support Pakistani students for the research in science, technology, and medicine.

Every year, the Trust awards scholarships to the best Pakistani students enrolled for PhD in various British Universities through an open and transparent process.

Besides the High Commissioner as its Chair, there are four trustees and an executive secretary.