Dr Yarjan Abdul Samad who holds the distinction of being the first Pakistani space scientist to be working at the University of Cambridge has been announced as the winner of this year’s Young Leaders Award 2020.

Young Professionals Society (YPS) recognizes ‘excellence’ and 'honours outstanding young professionals' who have shown outstanding achievements during the early years of their professional careers.

Dr Samad is a Senior Research Associate and a Teaching Fellow in the Cambridge Graphene Centre and the Engineering Department of Cambridge University. He is in the Nanomaterials and Spectroscopy Group in the Electrical Engineering Division.

Hailing from a small town in Balochistan's Kech region, Samad was in the team of scientists who launched Graphene in extreme environment of Space via the MASER14 Rocket of Europe Space Agency launched from Kiruna base in Sweden.

He was also part of European Space Agency zero gravity flight campaign held in Nov-Dec 2017.

Samad has developed sustainable methods of creating e-textiles and flexible and stretchable conductors and composites based on three-dimensional (3D) porous architectures of two-dimensional (2D) and layered materials typically graphene. Scientists and engineers have been benchmarking these methods for aerospace composite manufacturing, biosensing, water purification and energy storage.

Dr Samad is currently working on a research project on loop heat pipes for use in space applications.