Shujaul Mulk Khan

My name is Shujaul Mulk Khan. I was born in a village of District Swat, Khyber Pakhtun Khwah Pakistan. I got various distinctions in my school and college level education career. Being topper of all the college of District Swat in BSc (Graduation), I achieved Quaid-i-Azam award. I did my MSc Botany from Government Post Graduate Jahanzeb College Saidu Sharif Swat with 1st position in Malakand Division and 3rd in the whole province. I got my MPhil degree from Hazara University in 2008 and was considered as 1st MPhil Scholar of the University. I went to UK for my PhD studies in 2008 under HEC Scholarship. I got my PhD degree from University of Leicester, UK in 2012 with a best thesis award in the School of Biological Sciences. I completed my Post Doctorate Fellowship in 2013 from the Centre for Landscape and Climate Research, University of Leicester, UK. During this period I was invited by the prestigious journal Annals of Botany to write a review for them on Himalayas Conservation.

My research mainly focus on Plan Ecology of Himalayas which is the world’s largest mountains range with fastest uplift rate hosts enormous physical as well as biological resources. The Himalayan region of Pakistan is actually the well-known Western Himalayan Province famous for its unique flora of endemic and threatened nature. The Himalayas of Pakistan not only preserve the precious biodiversity but also provide precious ecosystem services including supporting, providing and cultural services. My aim is to introduce the potential and problems of biodiversity and ecosystems of this region and to mitigate the issues through proper involvements of the relevant stakeholders. The Himalayan highlands of Pakistan provide uncountable environmental benefits and socioeconomics standing to the dwellers of the region. The area is blessed with the world’s highest plateaus, glaciers, snow fields, forests, wildlife and immense unexplored genetic resources. We are expanding our research to the plains and deserts of Pakistan. Another targeted region of our research is combating air, water and soil pollution via cultivating natural hyper accumulator plant species. We are also focusing on ecological distribution and phytochemical screening of medicinal plants of these mountains. Our near future’s targets include preparation of Red Data book for Threatened flora of the country in general and Endemic in particular.