Irshad Hussain


Irshad Hussain is a Pakistani Scientist in the field of chemistry and among the few pioneers to initiate nanomaterials research in Pakistan. He is among the founding members of SBA School of Science & Engineering and has played a key role to lead the development of Chemistry Department at LUMS. He is a Tenured Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, , Lahore University of Management Sciences, and has previously also served as a Professor of Renewable Energy Engineering at the US–Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Energy at the University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar, while on sabbatical leave from LUMS in 2017. Hussain has also served as the Chair of National Nanotech Experts Panel at Pakistan Council for Science & Technology in 2015 and was awarded Gold Medals in Chemistry by Pakistan Academy of Sciences in 2007 and 2014.. Currently, he is also leading National Core Group of Nanotechnology under Prime Minister Task Force on Science & Technology, Govt. of Pakistan.

Early life and education

Hussain was born and raised in a remote village i.e. Mauza Sadhana, Ahmedpur Sial, of Jhang, Pakistan. He received his early education from Samandoana and Ahmed Pur Sial, District Jhang. Then he moved to Multan and obtained F.Sc. and B.Sc degree from Government Emerson College Bosan Road Multan. He received his MSc degree in Chemistry from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad in 1993, and afterwards worked in the groups of Atta-ur-Rahman and Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary at Hussain Ebrahim Jamal Research Institute of Chemistry, University of Karachi. He joined NIBGE, Faisalabad, in 1997 and during his service at NIBGE, completed PhD in 2005 from the University of Liverpool, UK, under the supervision of Andrew Ian Cooper and Mathias Brust.

Career

Hussain joined National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faisalabad, in 1997 as a Scientific Officer and promoted to Senior Scientific Officer in 2001. He was Project Director of a ~US$2.5 Million project to initiate Nanobiotechnology research at NIBGE, Faisalabad, during 2005-2008. In Feb. 2008, he joined Chemistry Department at SBA School of Science & Engineering, Lahore University of Management Sciences and led the Chemistry department as chair from 2010 to December 31, 2016. While on sabbatical leave from LUMS in 2017, Hussain served as a Professor of Renewable Energy Systems at US-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Energy, University of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar, and as a Foreign Professor at the School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.

Research

The focus of Hussain's research group is on the synthesis of customized metal/metal oxide nanoparticles/nanoclusters for applications in diverse fields including biomedical sciences, energy technologies, environment and catalysis. He has established his research mark by developing reproducible methods for the synthesis of fairly uniform metal nanoparticles/nanoclusters with controlled size, shape and surface chemistry and using them as building blocks to develop new nanostructured materials with unique chemical and physical properties for applications in biomedical sciences, renewable energy technologies, environment & catalysis. He has published over 80 research articles in prominent journals including Nature Materials, Science Advances, Angewandte Chemie - Int. Ed., Advanced Materials, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Small, ChemCommun, Langmuir, and Nanoscale etc.

Awards and honours