LAHORE: The president has conferred Tamgha-i-Imtiaz on Prof Dr Asghar Zaidi, the vice chancellor of the Government College University, Lahore, for his outstanding contributions to the field of research and education especially his innovative research on population ageing.

Working along the lines of the Human Development Index of Dr Mahbubul Haq, Prof Zaidi developed two global indexes, namely Global AgeWatch Index and Active Ageing Index. These indexes provided insights in studying the well-being of older populations around the world.

His contributions are also recognised for the first of its kind study of dementia experiences in Pakistan with Alzheimer’s Pakistan and in developing a nation-wide survey of human rights of older population for British Council, Islamabad.

GC University’s Academic Staff Association, faculty members and Old Ravians congratulated Prof Zaidi on the tremendous achievements he has made at the GC University since his arrival.

Prof Zaidi, who holds a PhD in economics from the University of Oxford, is a social policy analyst and renowned researcher. He holds a vast experience of working and teaching at the world’s top universities around the world and would wish to bring this experience towards improvements in higher education in Pakistan.

Asghar Zaidi’s reward was attributed to his international research works on population ageing, on older people and people with disabilities. Last year, the government of Shanghai also awarded him the 1,000 Foreign Experts Scholarship.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2020