THE BORROWED EARTH PROJECT ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF THREE PAKISTAN NEXTGEN CLIMATE FELLOWSHIPS 2026
The Borrowed Earth Project is thrilled to announce three outstanding future youth climate leaders as the winners of our competition to find Pakistan NextGen Climate Fellowships 2026:
Maryam Sial - Research Fellow
Maryam is based in Rahim Yar Khan, South Punjab. She will be investigating the governance gaps between policy and practice to deal with extreme heat – regularly exceeding 49oC - especially in the health sector, where she works as a medical student.
Maryam is an MBBS student. She completed the Climate Finance Academy Graduate Certificate, led a Green Growth initiative in Rahim Yar Khan, and built ‘'EpiGuard,' a dashboard analysing the 2019 Lahore dengue outbreak against environmental drivers. She has also served as a Student Ambassador for other youth climate initiatives.
Shoukat Aziz , Engineeering Fellow
Shoukat is based in Gulmit, Gilgit-Baltistan, and will be carrying out a feasibility study for the development of simplified and affordable Early Warning Systems against Glacial Lake Outburst Floods, which The Borrowed Earth Project hopes will then be developed further by Engineers Without Borders Pakistan.
Shoukat completed a BSc in Environmental Engineering at NUST University, Islamabad, and has done internships at the Sustainability Office for NUST and the Gilgit-Baltistan Environmental Protection Agency. His research is informed by a devastating flood which hit his own village last year, caused by the extreme melting of two glaciers.
Manahil Asad – Research Fellow
Manahil is based in Karachi, Sindh, and will be studying how rising heatwaves are affecting youth participation in sports and exercise outdoors.
Manahil has a degree in Business Economics & Management from University of Nottingham Malaysia, where she was Sports Officer for the university’s Student Association. She is also herself a competitive athlete, and works for a sports organisation in Pakistan.
Mentors
We are lucky to have lined up some brilliant mentors to help these fellows develop their studies – our grateful thanks to Nouman Alam, Marium Naveed, Riaz Ahmed and Anique Siddiqui as well as the team from The Borrowed Earth Project!
How you can help…
We think they will do a fantastic job and are working on short reports of real significance, but if you have ideas, knowledge of studies or contacts who can support this work, or would like to help host a meeting with these fellows to discuss their findings, please get in touch with us!