Professor Dr. Sardar Khan Ex-Vice Chancellor KUST was awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz by President of Pakistan

F.P. Report

KOHAT: The Cabinet Division Government of Pakistan that had announced conferment of the Pakistan Civil Award Tamgha-e-Imtiaz by President of Pakistan on 76th Independence Day has been awarded to Prof. Dr. Sardar Khan ex-Vice Chancellor Kohat University of Science and Technology (KUST) and currently Professor in Environmental Sciences University of Peshawar by Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in recognition to his contribution and excellence in the field of Environmental Sciences. The Civil award ceremony was held on 23rd March 2024 at Governor House Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Prof. Dr. Sardar Khan has been acknowledged with different award not only nationally but internationally for his excellence in the field of Environmental Sciences. Currently he served KUST as a Vice Chancellor.

He had also looking after the affairs of Khushal Khan Khattak University Karak (KKKU) as acting Vice Chancellor. The KUST has raised the standard of Innovative Research and Quality education during the tenure of Prof. Dr. Sardar as VC that has resulted in improving the university ranking not only nationally but internationally. A few months ago the fellowship of him was confirmed by the President of PAS. Dr Khan has completed his PhD from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing China under HEC PhD fellowships program for Basic Sciences in China.

He was promoted to the rank of Professor in 2014. Dr. Khan has specialty in the field of Environmental and Food Chain Contamination and Health Risk, Remediation of Contaminated Soil and Water, Biochar Application and its Environmental Benefits. He has done three Post doc from China related with organic waste resourcing and soil remediation and Biochar application for environmental and agronomic benefits. He has also been working as visiting/adjunct Professor in Hunan Agriculture University, and Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Since 2016. He was also remained as a Chairman Department of Environmental Science and Director of the Directorate of Advanced Studies, University of Peshawar. Dr. Khan is among the leading environmentalist in Pakistan and has published 174 research papers in the refereed international journals with total impact factor 833, Total citation of 12551 with h-index 54. He has also published 6 international book chapters. He has supervised 30 PhD scholars and 26 MPhil students.

Two patents are approved by IPO-Pakistan (SI No. 143733 and SI No. 143832), while another two are under review. In recognition to his research, academic and professional achievements, Dr. Khan has been awarded with several national and international awards, honors and commemoration certificates by various organizations including, PAS Gold Medal Award-2019, Young International Scientist award in 2011; Best University Teacher Award by HEC in 2008, Productive Scientists of Pakistan award by the Pakistan Council of Science and Technology; Eight times Research Productivity awards (2010 to 2017) by the Pakistan Council of Science and Technology and High citation award by the Elsevier Publisher on the basis of high citation of paper published in Environmental Pollution. According to a ranking conducted by Stanford University (USA November 2020 and 2021), Dr. Khan was ranked among the top 2% highly cited scientists on the global level. He is also included in the list of productive scientists of Pakistan 2016 and 2017 on second position in the field of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Besides teaching and research, Dr. Khan also made major contributions towards the promotion of academics, monitoring and management of environmental problems faced by the public during his 22 years of service. Dr. Khan is the members of different academic societies and has established collaborative linkages with different national and international institutions/Universities such as Chinese Academy of Sciences, Arizona University, USA, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo, Norway, University of East Anglia Norwich UK, Hunan Agriculture University, China.

So far his several research students have visited different labs present in USA, Switzerland and China for their research work. In this way Dr. Khan is contributing a lot towards the educational and socio-economic uplift of the nation and country. As far as the contribution of Prof. Dr. Sardar Khan as Vice Chancellor KUST is concerned, his leadership has impacted the academic uplift of the KUST not only nationally but internationally. Under his leadership, KUST received “Best Quality Assurance Award” from Higher Education Department (HED) Khyber Pahtunkhwa for maintaining the quality standards set for higher education. Also, KUST received “Best Financial Management University” award from Chancellor’s Office under his dynamic leadership for effective and sustainable financial management practices in the university.

The faculty members, administrative staff, support staff and the students of KUST, University of Peshawar and KKKU Karak congratulated Prof. Dr. Sardar Khan for the award of Tamgh-e-Imtiaz for his achievements and services to the society and country in promoting innovative research culture and uplifting academic standards of the HEIs.