Renowned Pakistani scientist Prof Atta-ur-Rahman has been conferred the prestigious 4th IETI China Lifetime Achievement Award for 2026, a distinguished honor recognizing his extensive global contributions to chemical sciences, higher education reform, and scientific innovation, an official from the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS) confirmed on Friday.
According to the ICCBS spokesperson at the University of Karachi, the International Engineering and Technology Institute (IETI) officially announced the laureate of the 2026 4th IETI Ramesh Agarwal Lifetime Achievement Award in Science, Engineering or Technology on December 4.
The accolade acknowledges Prof. Rahman”s exceptional achievements in natural products chemistry over several decades. It also celebrates his visionary leadership in establishing a world-class research institution and his significant influence as one of the globe”s most highly cited researchers. It is notable that Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman was also elected a Distinguished Fellow of IETI in 2025.
Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman stands as Pakistan’s most decorated scientist, holding four of the nation”s highest civil awards: the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Hilal-i-Imtiaz, and the Nishan-i-Imtiaz.
His international distinctions are numerous and include the Fellowship of the Royal Society (London), the UNESCO Science Prize, the TWAS Prize for Institution Building, and the Austrian government”s high civil award.
In a testament to his strong scientific collaboration with China, the laureate was previously honored with the People’s Republic of China’s highest scientific prize-the International Science and Technology Cooperation Award. He was also appointed an Academician (Foreign Member) of the esteemed Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Prof. Rahman”s legacy is further cemented by several research centers in China, Malaysia, and Pakistan that are named in his honor, including the Academician Professor Atta-ur-Rahman One Belt and One Road TCM Research Center in Hunan, China, and the Atta-ur-Rahman Institute on Natural Product Discovery (AuRINS) in Malaysia.