High Commissioner 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 various UK Universities namely, University of Westminster, University of Manchester, Imperial College, UCL and King’s College. The award ceremony took place at the High Commission on 19 November 2019, says a press release received from London here today.
High Commissioner, Mr. Zakaria, is ex-officio Chairman of the Board of Trustees. He has been a Trustee in 2010-2011 as well. Members Board of Trustee Professor Haroon Ahmed and Professor Maqsood Ali Siddiqui along with the awardees and officers of the High Commission attended the ceremony. 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. The High Commissioner said as the global economic gravity is shifting towards Asia, there are enormous opportunities in Pakistan waiting for them. Emphasizing on the importance of knowledge, Mr. Zakaria advised the students to enter new academic fields that have great promise for future like artificial intelligence, block-chain technology, etc. He 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 program by broadening the Trust’s asset base of funding for the Trust so that more students could benefit. He said the basic purpose of holding the award ceremony was to spread the word about this noble activity.
To elaborate on the High Commissioner’s remarks about opportunities, Prof Haroon Ahmed apprised the students about the academic landscape of Pakistan and 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 the country. He mentioned foreign partnership of technologically advanced countries in the university project which will have features like technology parks associated to 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 PhD 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.
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