Pakistani scientist Dr. Kashif received 'Green Talent Award 2017' in Berlin

BERLIN: Outstanding green visionaries from 21 countries were on the two-week tour in Germany where leading young scientists met Germany´s sustainability researchers.

On Friday, in a festive award ceremony of 9th “Green Talents – International Forum for High Potentials in Sustainable Development” 25 Green talents from all over the world were honored by German Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Berlin.

Matthias Graf von Kielmansegg, General Director "Policy Issues; Strategy; Digital Transformation" at the BMBF, honored 25 young scientists from 21 countries.

This year's competition attracted 602 applicants from over 95 countries. For the first time Egypt, Fiji, Iraq, Slovakia, Sweden, and Uganda are among the Green Talents winner countries. A high-ranking jury of experts selected the most outstanding ‘green’ visionaries, who come from an impressively wide range of academic research areas with diverse achievements.

Dr. Kashif Rasool's research seeks to provide a solution for advanced sustainable and economical water treatment.

The jury was particularly encouraged by the potential of Kashif’s research to deal with one of the world’s most pressing concerns: water security. Reclaiming water for reuse applications instead of using freshwater supplies is currently considered globally as the most critical element of sustainable water management. Kashif already has a pending patent application, thus demonstrating the groundbreaking promise of his research.

The 33 years old Pakistani young scientist’s research focus is in environmental and energy engineering/biological wastewater treatment in aerobic/anaerobic processes. Dr. Kashif Rasool is taking on two of the world’s most pressing environmental concerns; water contamination and water security. He is developing innovative methods for extracting contaminants from industrial wastewater so that it can be safely and sustainably returned to the freshwater supply.

Industries involved in the production of domestic products are producing more and more pollutants. Many of these pollutants, such as nutrients, heavy metals, and dyes, end up in the water supply, thus raising the prospect of damage to human health. Kashif’s research seeks to provide a solution for advanced sustainable and economical water treatment. He is focusing on the biological removal of organics, heavy metals, nutrients and emerging micro-pollutants from a variety of wastewater streams, coupled with renewable bio-energy production.

The awardees were invited to participate in the two-week #ScienceForum during which they visited top locations for sustainability research in Germany.

In his laudation, Mr. Falko Leukhardt from the German Council for Sustainable Development stressed the importance of the Green Talents Programme for future international science cooperation. “I am deeply impressed by the scientific expertise and strong motivation of this year ́s 25 Green Talents. Their research is clearly making a contribution to tackling global challenges and I am glad that they will become part of the German research landscape.” 

 The extremely varied programme of workshops and events placed a special focus on this year’s motto of “Sustainable Production and Consumption”. The young researchers learned about state-of-the-art approaches and technologies and exchanged ideas with leading experts in individual meetings thereby obtaining a deep insight into Germany’s innovation system and discovering new opportunities for prospective collaborations. Their efforts are supported by the invitation to return to Germany in 2018 for a fully funded research stay at an institution of their choice.