MANSEHRA: Professor Dr Hameedullah of Hazara University’s Chemistry Department has won Pakistan-France joint research project under PERIDOT offered by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Ministry of Higher Education of France.
Dr Hameed and Dr Pierre Bonnet of the Institute of Chemistry Clermont-Ferrand, France, have submitted a joint project simultaneously in Pakistan and France under the Pak-France joint research programme (PERIDOT) 2016. Dr Hameed is actively involved in research and academic activities, and has also won couple of the projects in the past.
His research focus is upon the development of non-materials for applications in devices used for harvesting renewable energies (solar), and energy storage (rechargeable batteries). “Dr Hameed has been recently awarded a research productivity award by the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (Ministry of Science and Technology),” according to a university statement.
The project was evaluated by experts from Pakistan and France based on relevance of to the priority areas, scientific quality of the proposed research, competency of the principal investigator, potential for long-term collaboration between Pakistan and France, and impact on economy and society. The final selection was made in a high-level joint committee meeting of the Pakistan-France PERIDOT Research Programme (Phase-II).
Only nine universities from all over Pakistan have qualified successfully including Dr Hameed from the Mansehra-based Hazara University. The research project is focused upon addressing the growing energy problems of the world in general and Pakistan in particular. The collaborating partners from Pakistan and France will work upon the development of rechargeable batteries having high energy capacities to be used for powering electronic gadgets, and specifically, vehicles.
This will help in overcoming the energy problems on one hand, and on the other hand will help in availability of clean energy source which will not contribute to the global warming, a serious issue facing by the world at the moment. The three years research grant has funds allocations for the travelling and living expenses of a four-member team from the research group of Dr Hameed, Pakistani partner, and a two-member team of Dr Pierre Bonnet, French partner.
The research teams will work upon the different parts of the research project in Pakistan and France, simultaneously. The project will help, particularly, in training of research students from Pakistan in top university of Europe. The exchange of scientific and academic personnel will help in establishing long-term collaborations between the two universities that is Hazara University and Blaise Pascal University of France
