Excellent Learning Experience for UAEU PhD Researcher

Students have long found the education experience at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) extremely beneficial for their own development. And Javed Muhammad Asad is one of them, as a PhD researcher at the University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who spoke of his educational journey as a worthwhile experience.

After applying to a number of different universities around the world, he selected, and was accepted by UAEU. “Looking back, when there was just a struggle to get selected among thousands to students striving for a PhD, it was a time that not only taught me to push myself beyond, but also to discover my limitations and boundaries,” he said. Following his application and interview process, he met the criteria to embark on his new journey to study microalgae, a green micro-organism which can perform photosynthesis. “The good thing about the project was that it was very unique because I was working on a similar project in my previous education,” he explained. “It is about the biohydrogen production from microalgae, which is a clean and sustainable source for energy.”

Such micro-organisms are able to grow like plants – they capture carbon dioxide and release the hydrogen and oxygen as a by-product of splitting of water. As a result, Javed and his team were able to use a simple phenomenon to split water to produce hydrogen. In the University’s laboratory, which was developed when he first joined the UAEU, he and his team of graduate students use different types of microalgae in live cultures. The laboratory, called the Water Lab Group, focuses on microalgae and water treatment, by working on different kinds of treatments to utilise the algae in order to produce energy and treat water.

For the UAE, such work is paramount, as water treatment is a critical part of daily life and producing clean renewable green energy is a global demand. “The water here is very saline and salty so, in our lab, we collectively work on water treatment and microalgae,” he said.

Within his specific project, Javed works on biohydrogen – an emerging field around the world that avoids using microalgae to produce biomethane, an extremely flammable greenhouse gas. Such a unique and green process could lead to building the concept of a green economy and a hazard-free environment.

The project has been ongoing for the past year and a half, including a shift to online learning for students due to the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. For Javed, who will enter his fourth semester in Fall 2021, the excitement of working at the UAEU was unparalleled. “Getting a PhD position with funding that relates to your previous research work is really limited due to the increasing competition,” he explained. “Moreover, I had checked the ranking of the University in the Times Higher Education and QS World University Rankings and it was so good.”

Even though he received an offer to study at an Australian university, he selected the UAEU after comparing their teaching styles and the quality of the research work being produced. He spoke of the University as investing valuable time in its students and their course work, along with a unique teaching method. Online learning was one of those experiences, as he described it as one of the best he had had in his educational journey so far. “It is a difficult thing to engage students in different activities, and analyse and evaluate them,” he said. “But here, we are doing online presentations, group activities and our mid-term and final exams online, and the teachers are really investing a lot.”

With three semesters spent in the University’s online teaching system, Javed expressed great satisfaction with his experience, thanks to engagements in social and extra-curricular activities.

His initial three months spent on campus in Spring 2020 were also rewarding, as he was able to experience live classes and was impressed by the UAEU’s environment and infrastructure. He described mixing with local students as a helpful and eye-opening interaction, while faculty members were constantly open to their students in any help that was needed. “You can just contact them or go to their offices and they will always help in the best way they can,” he concluded, as he looks forward to another two and a half years left in his studies at the University.
His research experience has been the best to date, when comparing with previous positions as a research project assistant in China. He felt immense gratitude to his professor for his help throughout his research journey and their work together in the laboratory.