Muhammad Rafae Khan

Muhammad is a student changemaker from Pakistan who is revolutionising access to clean water, health care, and education for underserved communities through science-driven solutions. Growing up in Pakistan, he witnessed how a lack of infrastructure could harm entire communities. This led him to one of the most important projects of his student life: the Aab e Saaf Water Purification Project.

As Regional Head (Punjab) and Research Intern for Aab e Saaf under the Government of Punjab and WAPDA, Muhammad was part of a team tasked with addressing rural water contamination. The goal was to create an affordable, real-time water purification system that could be deployed on a mass scale. Muhammad’s work centred around the design of a device that detects harmful pollutants instantly and uses a UV system to sterilise the water without chemical additives. This was eventually deployed to serve over 600,000 people across Punjab, bringing safe water to communities at risk from industrial waste contamination.

Muhammad is also co-founder of the Zaria Foundation, established during the COVID-19 pandemic to address healthcare and education inequalities. What started as a small volunteer helpline offering virtual medical and mental health support quickly evolved into a full-scale organisation. As part of "Project Sehat," Zaria Foundation coordinated with doctors and volunteers to offer free online consultations to over 5,000 individuals during the lockdown. It also launched food drives during emergency periods, delivering ration packages to over 12,000 families in rural and urban areas.

Today, Zaria stands among the most active youth-led NGOs in the country. Recognising the lack of maternal healthcare, Zaria Foundation pioneered "MotherCare," a women’s empowerment and pregnancy support programme providing prenatal vitamins, educational workshops, and emergency hospital transport for expecting mothers in five remote villages near Lahore and Kasur. To support rural women’s financial independence, Zaria Foundation’s "SkillHer" initiative offered training in sewing, embroidery, and digital skills – enabling over two hundred women to earn sustainable incomes – while "Solar Saathi," a project that trained women in basic solar panel maintenance and installation, provided clean energy solutions and new income pathways for energy-scarce villages.

Academically, Muhammad ranks among the top STEM students in Pakistan, with 8 A*s at O Level, a Gold Medal in the National Chemistry Olympiad, and a Best Under-18 Researcher award for his development of mangrove-inspired filtration technologies for seawater treatment. Working as an independent researcher under supervision from a senior scientist, Muhammad has also contributed to a study on eco-friendly dye removal technologies by testing biosorbent materials, the findings of which were published in the International Journal of Environmental Solutions. Not only that, he led Pakistan’s team to a silver medal at the Cup of Experimental Sciences in Georgia, and received both the President’s Award and Best Prototype Award at the National STEM Expo for Aab e Saaf.

With a rare combination of scientific excellence, grassroots leadership, and quiet persistence, Muhammad is not only building technologies – he is building futures. If awarded the Global Student Prize, he plans to expand the Aab e Saaf Water Purification Project beyond Punjab into Sindh and Balochistan, installing 30 new purification units in villages along the Indus River basin where industrial waste continues to damage local health.