Atta Ur Rahman

Member Board of Advisers

Prof. Atta-Ur-Rahman obtained his Ph.D in organic chemistry from Cambridge University (1968). He has 910 publications in several fields of organic chemistry including 701 research publications, 27 international patents. 117 books and 65 chapters in books published largely by major U.S. and European presses. He is the Editor-in-Chief of 12 European Chemistry journals and the Editor of “studies in Natural Product Chemistry” 37 volumes of which have been published by Elsevier Science Publishers (Netherlands) under his Editorship during the last two decades. Seventy six students have completed their Ph.D. degrees under his supervision.

Prof. Rahman is the first scientist from the Muslim world to have won the prestigious UNESCO science Prize (1999) in the 35 year old history of the prize. He was elected as Fellow of Royal Society (London) in July 2006. He has been conferred honorary doctorate degrees by many universities including the degree of Doctor of Science (Sc.D.) by the Cambridge University (UK) (1987), Honorary degree of Doctor of Education by Coventry University UK (2007), Honorary D.Sc. degree by Bradford University (2010), Honorary Ph.D. by Asian Institute of Technology (2010) and Honorary Doctorate from King of Malaysia (University of Technology, Mara (2011). He was elected Honorary Life Fellow of Kings College, Cambridge University, UK in 2007. Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman was conferred the TWAS Prize for Institution Building in Durban, South Africa in October 2009 in recognition of his contribution for bringing about revolutionary changes in the higher education sector in Pakistan. The Austrian government also honoured his wth its highest civil award (“Grosse Goldene Ehrenzeischen am Bande”) (2007) in recognition of his eminent contributions. Successive Governments of Pakistan has conferred four civil awards, including Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (1983, President General Ziaul Haq), Sitara-i-Imtiaz (1991, Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazeer Bhutto), Hilal-i-Imtiaz (1998, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif), and the highest national civil award Nishan-i-imtiaz (2002, President General Musharraf), on him.

He is president of Network of Academies of Sciences of Islamic Countries (NASIC) and the Vice-President (Central & South Asia) of the Academy of Science for the Developing World (TWAS) Council, Foreign Fellow of Korean Academy of Sciences, and Foreign fellow of the Chinese Chemical Society. Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman was the President of the Pakistan Academy from 1st January 2011 and continues in that capacity.

Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman was the Federal Minister for Science and Technology (14th March, 2000 – 20th November, 2002), Federal Minister for Education (2002), Federal Minister of Education (2002) and Chairman of the Higher Education Commission with the status of a Federal Minister from 2002-2008.

Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman was the Coordinator General of COMSTECH, an OIC Ministerial Committee comprising the 57 Minister of Science & Technology from 57 OIC member countries from 1996 to 2012. He is Distinguished National Professor as well as Professor Emeritus at Karachi University. He is also the Patron-in-Chief of International Centre of Chemistry and Biological Sciences (which comprises a number of institutes. including the Husein Ebrahim Jamal Research Institute of Chemistry and the Dr. Panjwani Center of Molecular Medicine and Drug Development) at Karachi University.