NUST Alumnus Dr Raheel Nawaz awarded highest recognition of pedagogical credentials in international Higher Education

Dr Raheel Nawaz, having done Bachelors of Electrical (Telecom) Engineering (1999) and MS in the same discipline (2001) from NUST Military College of Signals (MCS), is one of the institution’s most celebrated alumni whose excellence and success continue to awe and inspire.

We are immensely proud to share his latest achievement – Dr Nawaz has been awarded the Principal Fellowship of Higher Education Academy (PFHEA), which is the highest recognition of pedagogical credentials in the international Higher Education sector. With this latest honour, he is now one of over 200 Higher Education Academy Principal Fellows in the United Kingdom (UK) and the first-ever in his faculty.

With a PhD in Text Mining from The University of Manchester, UK, Dr Nawaz is an eminent expert in AI Applications. He holds several international academic positions in Europe, North America, Middle East and South Asia, including adjunct professorships in seven universities and scientific/technical directorships in five research organisations. He is an active participant in international policy forums on the future of education, especially in the context of 4th Generation universities and industry-academia collaborations for co-designing and co-delivering high-impact curricula.

Currently, he is serving as Director of Digital & Technology Solutions, and Reader in Applied Artificial Intelligence #AI at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. He is the founding Head of the Apprenticeships Research Unit and the Text & Data Mining Lab at Manchester Met. He is also the founding Co-Director of Algorithms for Marginalised Communities.

Dr Nawaz has led over 30 funded projects in the UK, European Union and Asia, including projects with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Commonwealth, and the European Commission. He has published over 100 research articles in leading journals and conferences and has delivered keynote and invited talks at prestigious conferences and venues including European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Microsoft and Facebook. He makes frequent media appearances as an expert on AI, Digital Technologies, Industry 4.0 and Digital Education.

Dr Nawaz’s admirable spirit of giving back to his alma mater is evident from his advocacy for NUST at international forums and his continued contribution as a member of NUST’s Research & Innovation Steering Committee as well as the Director of NUST Trust Foundation United Kingdom.

The NUST Family congratulates Dr Nawaz for this illustrious honour and wishes him continued glory and success. We pray that he continues to do NUST and Pakistan proud and that his patronage of and partnership with NUST in different domains grows in years to come!