Renowned Pakistani scientist Dr Nousheen Zaidi has become the first Pakistani to be awarded the prestigious Georg Forster Research Award.

Dr Zaidi, professor at the Public Health, Environment & Applied Research Lab (PEARL) at the Institute of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics (IMMG), University of the Punjab, received the honour in recognition of her academic and research contributions.

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The Georg Forster Research Award is granted annually by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to internationally recognised academics from developing and transition countries in acknowledgement of their research achievements. The award is named after German ethnologist Georg Forster (1754–1794) and is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. It carries research funding of 60,000 euros.

To honour Dr Zaidi’s achievement, Deputy Head of Mission of the German Embassy in Islamabad Arno Kirchhof hosted a reception for distinguished academic and scientific representatives at the Annemarie-Schimmel-Haus in Lahore on Friday evening.

She holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Tübingen, Germany, and has previously worked at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Janssen Pharmaceutical.

Beyond her laboratory research, Dr Zaidi serves as director of the Action Research Collective (ARC), through which she leads a nationwide water quality mapping initiative that is expanding to multiple cities across Pakistan.

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She also manages the Roshan Clinics initiative focused on stunting, working through community-based interventions to address key public health challenges. Her work has been described as an integration of advanced scientific research with grassroots impact.