Dr Muhammad Zaman has been awarded as the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) best young researcher.
He is one of the world’s youngest sociologists, having written three books, book chapters, and 35 research articles in top-ranked journals worldwide.
He not only received his Ph.D. and post-doctoral degrees from world-class universities at the age of 28 but also established a unique consortium on three social problems: children’s wellbeing in 22 countries around the world; youth violence on three continents; and a national consortium on road safety research.
Dr Zaman not only initiated the research debate on road safety but also launched a campaign and mobilised national institutions to take action to solve those issues, saving the nation’s exchequer worth $14 billion and 4 per cent of the national economy.
In the social sciences, his concept of “adequate exchange”, which addresses the question of how exchanges between spouses become normalised and inculcated as oppressive communicative dispositions, brings a fresh slant on critical exchange theory and has gained prominence.
He has had his work published in the world’s leading research journals in the field, and it has had an academic impact on the scholarly community.
Read more: ‘HEC interference harmed universities’
Dr Zaman’s work has provided directions for additional academic research, inspired a generation of social scientists by continuing to engage with the research community, and is considered a significant contribution not only to the discipline of sociology itself but also to indigenous social knowledge.
His work on the marriage, family, and kinship is widely referred to, discussed, and debated among social scientists, particularly sociologists.
Dr Zaman is a leading sociologist who has received grants and funding totaling more than Rs100 million, which is extremely unusual in his academic field in Pakistan.
Despite the challenging academic environment for social scientists in the country, he was able to secure significant research funding from both Pakistan and abroad, making him one of the most credible young researchers.
Plos Biology Journal named him one of the top 2 per cent of scientists in 2020, with only one sociologist from Pakistan on the list.
