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 faculty members of SBA School of Science and Engineering and played a key role in the development of the chemistry department at Lahore University of Management Sciences (during 2010–2016). Hussain has also served as the chair of the National Nanotech Experts Panel at Pakistan Council for Science and Technology in 2015 and was awarded gold medals in chemistry by Pakistan Academy of Sciences (PAS) in 2007 (Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman Gold Medal in Chemistry) and 2014 (PAS Gold Medal in Chemistry). Currently, he has led the National Core Group of Nanotechnology under the Prime Minister Task Force on Science and Technology, Govt. of Pakistan (2019-2022), Currently, he is also leading National Nanotech Experts Panel/Group constituted by the Planning Commission, Govt. of Pakistan.

Early life and education Hussain was born and raised in a remote village 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 (Chemistry) 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 was promoted to Senior Scientific Officer in 2001. 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 2025 - Tang Au-Chin Chair Professor (Flexible) at Jilin University, Changchun, China. 2024 - Honored as Distinguished Scientist by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 2024 - Advisory Professor, Huazhong University of Science & Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China. 2022 - Fellow, International Engineering & Technology Institute (FIETI) 2021 - Fellow, Pakistan Academy of Sciences, Pakistan 2021 - Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry, UK (FRSC) 2020 - 2022: Chair, National Core Group of Nanotechnology, PM Task Force on Science & Technology (Pakistan) 2020 - 2022: Member, National Core Group of Chemistry, PM Task Force on Science & Technology (Pakistan) 2006-2019: Research Productivity awards by PCST, Ministry of Science and Technology (Pakistan) 2014: Pakistan Academy of Sciences Gold Medal in Chemistry 2007: Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman Gold Medal in Chemistry by Pakistan Academy of Sciences. 'Design of polymeric stabilizers for size-controlled synthesis of monodisperse gold nanoparticles in water' Langmuir, 2007. 'Aligned two-and three-dimensional structures by directional freezing of polymers and nanoparticles' Nature Materials, 2005. 'Size-controlled synthesis of near-monodisperse gold nanoparticles in the 1-4 nm range using polymeric stabilizers' JACS, 2005. 'Preparation of acrylate-stabilized gold and silver hydrosols and gold-polymer composite films' Langmuir, 2003.