Four Scholars Named ICTP Institute Associates

ICTP is pleased to announce that four researchers with longtime connections to ICTP have been appointed Institute Associates in recognition of their service and commitment to ICTP’s mission.

Imrana Ashraf of Pakistan, Karen Hallberg of Argentina, Swadesh Mahajan of India and the US, and Narayan Adhikari of Nepal have long been associated with ICTP and have contributed to its mission in multiple ways – from mentoring students to organizing conferences and training scientists working in the developing world. All of them have had a longstanding relationship with ICTP and the new Associateship recognizes their commitment to advancing science in their countries and to making advanced knowledge available to scientists from across the world.

• Imrana Ashraf, Researcher in Optics, Pakistan

  Imrana Ashraf Zahid is a professor at Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) in Islamabad, Pakistan. She specialises in atom, quantum and classical optics and was the first Pakistani woman to obtain a PhD in quantum optics. She was an ICTP senior associate from 2019 to 2024. She has visited ICTP many times as an associate, but also as a tutor, as a fellow of the ICTP Training and Research in Italian Laboratories (TRIL) programme and, since 2007, as a lecturer for the Winter College on Optics, which ICTP has been organising regularly. In 2004, Imrana received the ICO/ICTP Gallieno Denaro Award for her significant scientific contributions to the field of optics and photonics. Her exemplary dedication to mentoring students and young researchers and her tireless action to promote the education of young women earned her the 2017 Spirit of Salam Award. In 2022 Imrana also received the Diversity & Inclusion Advocacy Recognition Award from Optica, the leading society in optics and photonics. Imrana is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the ICTP Global Science Portal.

  A video portrait of Imrana Ashraf was produced as part of the video series “Science is our Common Language”, celebrating the Associateship Programme’s 60th anniversary.

• Karen Hallberg, Researcher in Condensed Matter Physics, Argentina
  Karen Hallberg is Secretary General of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, a professor of condensed matter physics at the Balseiro Institute and a research director at the Bariloche Atomic Centre in Argentina. She was an ICTP senior associate from 2018 to 2023. In 2019 she received the L’Oréal-UNESCO Prize for Women in Science for physics in Latin America for her computational approaches to the understanding of quantum matter through innovative and creative techniques. She has been Secretary General of Pugwash since January 2025.

  A video portrait of Karen Hallberg was produced on the occasion of her L’Oréal-UNESCO Prize for Women in Science.

• Swadesh Mahajan, Researcher in Plasma Physics, India and the USA

  Swadesh Mahajan is a research professor at the University of Texas and one of the historical directors of the ICTP-IAEA joint Plasma Physics School, which has been held regularly since the founding of ICTP more than 60 years ago. He personally has regularly organised plasma physics activities at ICTP since 1989. Fundamental knowledge in plasma physics is foundational to nuclear fusion technology, which holds the potential to propel us into a future of clean, practically unlimited energy.

  An article recounting the history of the joint ICTP-IAEA Plasma Physics School and the role played by Mahajan in perpetuating a legacy in plasma physics through generations of scientists in the developing world was published on ICTP's website.

• Narayan Prasad Adhikari, Condensed Matter Physics, Nepal
  Narayan Adhikari is full professor at the Central Department of Physics at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal. His connection with ICTP started more than 20 years ago, when in 1997 he was a Diploma Programme student in the field of condensed matter physics. ICTP has continued supporting his research over the years through its Associateship Programme. Adhikari was an ICTP regular associate from 2008 to 2015 and a senior associate from 2018 until 2023.

  A video portrait of Narayan Adhikari appears as part of the documentary “From Theory to Reality”, on the far-reaching impact of ICTP on scientific communities around the world.

The newly appointed Institute Associates will benefit from the possibility to visit ICTP regularly and to be accompanied by a student during their research visits for a period of three years starting on 1 June 2025.

ICTP warmly congratulates the four Institute Associates on their new appointments!