New Delhi:  Prof. Tasneem Fatima, a renowned biosciences expert, was recently named as Pro Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia. She is regarded as one of India’s and the world’s foremost botanical scientists. She completed many high-quality research works over her nearly forty-year teaching tenure at JMI, earning her numerous distinctions.

Prof. Fatima has been appointed to the job by Vice Chancellor Prof. Najma Akhtar, according to the Registrar of Jamia, Dr. Nazim Hussain Jafari. The Department of Higher Education, the Central Ministry of Education, the Chairman of the University Grants Commission, the Secretary General of the Association of Indian Universities, and the Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia have all received the notification. It’s no coincidence that the chancellor, vice chancellor, and pro vice chancellor of this famous 100-year-old university are all women.

Prof. Fatima is a well-known botanist. She extracted insulin from cyanobacteria, created bioplastics, discovered new water pollution monitoring systems based on cytoplasmic streaming velocity, discovered cyanobacteria’s anticancer activity, and investigated its biomedical applications.

Prof. Fatima has also completed ten important research projects costing crores, including prominent DRDO, CCRUM, UGC, DST, and ICMR programmes. Institutions are included in the list. UGC has also given her a BSR Faculty Fellowship for 2021, as well as a NESA Fellowship for 2019.

The prestigious organisation “Rola Awards” has given her the “International Research Peace Award 2019” in appreciation of her world-class original, unique, and high-level research services in environmental biology and cyanobacterial biotechnology. The Society for Plant Research has also given Prof. Tasneem Fatima the Prof. YSK Sharma Memorial Award in appreciation of her remarkable research contributions in the Algi Branch of Botany.

Her research articles have been published in 125 international and national publications, and she has presented scientific research papers at around 60 international and national seminars. She has produced 30 chapters for international standard scientific books. So far, she has supervised over 40 research scholars who have earned their PhDs.

She has held major positions in academia and administration, including Head of Department of Biosciences, President of Jamia Millia Islamia, Department of Mass Communication, Coordinator of the University’s e-Content, and Research Committee of the Department of Biosciences.

Prof. Fatima received government funding to spend a year in the United States and six months in Germany and Italy as a Visiting Scholar. In Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Canada, she has presented at international scientific conferences. She received a Gold Medal in M.Sc. from Lucknow University, as well as a Ph.D. from the same institution.