“I’m happy to give my input for the betterment of humanity. It could be nothing, but a river becomes such with the collection of some drops”
Mountains, deserts, cross-land plateaus, breathtaking landscapes, historical infrastructures, the people. This is all what Muzammal loves the most about his country, Pakistan, which has visited far and wide. Muzammal was born in Hafisabad, but grew up in Lahore also known as the city of colleges for the number of international standards universities it has which reside in historical infrastructures of the 18th century, a legacy of British colonization. At the University of Sarghoda he earned a bachelor’s degree in Physics with a specialization in Nanotechnology, to then move back to Lahore for a master’s degree in the field at the Government College University Lahore, one of the oldest universities of the country. He later started teaching at the American Lyceum International School Lahore, and then became a quality assurance manager in its education branch. His love for travelling made him want to visit more, and as he wanted to continue his educational journey, he decided to apply for a PhD abroad.
“I really like to meet the people, explore the culture, their food, way of living and how they celebrate. This is really fascinating for me”.
He was admitted in two PhD programs abroad, in China and Italy, but as the first is almost a hometown for Pakistani people, he decided to visit a far-away culture part of the European Union. Italy offers many scholarship opportunities which attract international students giving them access to high-quality education and research environments. However, there is a fundamental contradiction related to the Italian bureaucratic system. This openness does not correspond to the provision of services and facilities for students, who are left alone in dealing with their domestic bureaucratic processes. His PhD was initially delayed for some months as he had a lot of issues in obtaining his visa from the Pakistani embassy, and once he reached Italy “almost one year gone, still my documents are not completed and this is the worst thing I experienced”. A process difficult to accept especially when compared to those experienced by Pakistani friends in Germany or The Netherlands where procedures are easier and faster as done with university channels. Due to a medical emergency, Muzammal faced a lot of challenges as he needed to have national health insurance which is very expensive for students who do not have any support from the university.
“Instead of wasting my time there I booked my flight ticket and I went back to Pakistan for my medical treatment only. I stayed one month in my country and now I’m better”.
Also to do a round trip for Pakistan was not cheap, but at least there, he had his family with him.
Muzammal is pursuing a PhD in Physics in Turin, under the group of Medical Physics, and he is having the opportunity to be both an academic student and a researcher on the industry side as his project is funded by ARPA (Regional Environment Protection Agency). Here he works on the evaluation of individual exposure to electromagnetic fields, also called non-ionized radiations. Which ones? Those to which we are exposed while receiving a call or using our cell phones for communication and entertainment or while working on a laptop that is using a Wi-Fi connection.
“We have to understand and evaluate what is the level of exposure in the environment and whether that is harmful for our health”.
Evolving Telecommunication technologies – which led from 2G to 5G – and high data transfer rates, have become the need of the hour. However, as we move towards even more powerful signals, the importance of this project increases. Indeed, whenever “one group of researchers does the innovation that brings to a new technology, another tries to counter it and check whether there are negative effects”. He is very passionate about his research and based on his findings he can tell that even when a smartphone is not actively used, there is still an RF exposure that increases when it is connected to the network. In both cases exposure remains below harmful levels, as much as Muzammal still sleeps with his phone on his nightstand!
“I’m happy to give my input for the betterment of humanity. It could be nothing, but the river becomes such with the collection of some drops, and I would love to be one of those”.
As an international student with a great passion for travels, he values international collaborations and believes that it is this type of exploration that makes research stimulating and interesting. He had the chance to visit several Italian cities, and travel to both Germany and Switzerland, unexpectedly realizing that European countries are very different from each other. In his opinion, Italy should be more welcoming to migrants by streamlining bureaucratic procedures. At the same time, it should increase Italians’ knowledge of English. A major language barrier he has experienced in both his professional and personal life, and the reason why he greatly appreciates his supervisor’s efforts to promote English and an environment where it is possible to exchange ideas and innovations with the international community. Talking in English could be his small contribution to Italy, as “with language as a tool, you can show your culture to the world and learn what the world is doing.”
The biggest difference he has noticed with Pakistan is in the culture and social system. He misses his family, friends, cities, spicy and Halal food, which he struggles to find here. In Pakistan, he would not have access to an integrated and shared technology, research and innovation as he has here in Italy with the rest of Europe, because of open borders and the ease of scientific collaboration. He would love to return and share all the useful knowledge he has acquired that is useful to the entire international community. Muzammal sees his future in Italy or Europe and would like to continue working on this innovative project. But if that was not the case, he hopes to be able to go to a country that “respects my mind and my research and guarantees me a satisfying lifestyle”. Before coming to Europe, he feared the experiences he might have. But he fell in love with Italy, he has met kind and helpful people and is grateful for the affection he continues to receive.