Research Scientist · Catalysis & Sustainable Fuels
TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany
I work on catalysis because the chemistry is genuinely interesting: how a surface can break and remake molecular bonds, how a small structural change in a zeolite can shift selectivity entirely. That curiosity has carried me from Lahore to Dhahran to Munich to Freiberg.
I grew up in Pakistan and completed my undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of the Punjab in 2010, graduating with distinction. A Saudi Government scholarship took me to KFUPM in Dhahran, where I earned my MS in 2015 working on photocatalytic CO₂ conversion. A DAAD scholarship brought me to TU Munich in 2017 for my PhD, five years developing modified graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) photocatalysts for water purification and hydrogen production, alongside supervising DAAD and Erasmus exchange researchers. Since August 2023 I have been a Postdoctoral Researcher at TU Bergakademie Freiberg, working on zeolite catalysts for methanol-to-olefins and sustainable aviation fuels within the REF4FU and OptiSAF projects, in collaboration with Ineratec and other industrial partners. The work sits at the intersection of fundamental catalysis and applied process engineering, which is where I find it most interesting.
I don't have a grand philosophy. I work because I have to, and I find meaning in the work itself even when I find little elsewhere. I'm not particularly attached to outcomes, not to legacy, not to impact statements, not to the idea that science will save anything. I just try to do the work carefully and honestly.
If that makes me seem indifferent, perhaps. But I think there's something more trustworthy about a researcher who doesn't overclaim.
As Fernando Pessoa said:
"I'm the gap between my desire and what life has made of me."