Pakistani researcher Bilal Mustafa has been awarded the Young Researcher of the Year Opinion Award by the International Council for Conservation of Game and Wildlife (CIC), becoming the first Pakistani to receive the prestigious international honour.
The CIC, one of Europe’s oldest hunting and wildlife conservation organisations, selected Mustafa’s research from submissions received from around the world.
Mustafa’s award-winning research focuses on the impact of trophy hunting on mountain carnivores, ungulates and local communities living in and around Pakistan’s Karakoram Mountains.
His work explores the relationship between wildlife conservation and community livelihoods, aiming to better understand how conservation policies affect both biodiversity and the people who depend on these ecosystems.
Currently, Mustafa is pursuing a PhD at Tarleton State University in Texas, United States, under the co-supervision of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
Speaking about the achievement, Mustafa described the award as a significant milestone not only for his academic career but also for Pakistan’s growing contribution to global wildlife conservation research.
He expressed hope that the recognition would encourage more Pakistani researchers to pursue conservation science and strengthen international collaboration in biodiversity research.
The award highlights Pakistan’s increasing presence in global scientific research and underscores the importance of studying sustainable wildlife conservation in ecologically significant regions such as the Karakoram Mountains.
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