Prof. M. Qasim Jan holds BSc Hons (Peshawar), MS (Oregon), PhD (London) and DSc (King’s College London) degrees. He became a lecturer at the University of Peshawar in 1968, professor in 1983, Director of the Centre of Excellence in Geology in 1988, and Dean of Science Faculty in 1997. He was a visiting professor at the University of Oregon, USA, in 1994-95. From 1997 to 2000, he was Vice Chancellor (VC), University of Peshawar; 2001 to 2003, the founder VC of Sarhad University, Peshawar; and October 2005 to February 2010, VC of the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. In 2004, he was given the title of Distinguished National Professor of the Higher Education Commission. Currently, he is Advisor COMSTECH, Islamabad, and Professor Emeritus of Geology at the University of Peshawar.
Jan has travelled extensively and delivered invited talks on the geology of the North Western Himalayas in Europe, USA, Australia, and Asia. He is/was a member of governing bodies of many institutions and Chairman of the Himalayan Regional Committee of the International Lithosphere Programme (1998-2004). He has received many honours and awards, including the ISESCO prize in Science; Civil awards of: Hilal-i-Imtiaz (2010), Sitara-i-Imtiaz (1999) and Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (1994); Gold medals from the Pakistan Academy of Sciences (1980, 1997); the National Book Foundation Best book-authorship prize (Natural Sciences, 1995-97 period); Earth Scientist of 1983; Scientist of the Year award (1990); and the Pakistan Academy of Sciences Distinguished Scientist of the Year (2009).
Dr Jan is a member of several learned societies, and Fellow of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS), Pakistan Academy of Sciences (currently Vice President), and honorary (emeritus) Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of London, and the Nepal Geological Society. He was also Secretary General of the Association of the Academies of Sciences in Asia (2008-2012).
He has carried out extensive investigations of the geology, mineralogy, petrology, and geochemistry of the north-western Himalayan region, with emphasis on crust-building and geodynamic processes. He participated actively in several national and international research projects, has published over 270 papers/abstracts, and edited/authored eleven volumes, including joint authorship of the seminal book ‘Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan’ in 1997.