Sustainability Scholarship
This award is supported by:
THE CALL FOR APPLICATIONS IS OPEN for 2026. The deadline is February 10, 2026.
MetSoc’s Sustainability Section is passionately committed to creating a more sustainable global metallurgical and materials industry. The scholarship aims to encourage graduate studies in technical and environmental areas in the metallurgical and materials industry (i.e., research focused on the development of environmental practices and standards).
2025 Recipient
Javad Vahabzadeh Pasikhani
Polytechnique Montreal
Javad Vahabzadeh Pasikhani is a PhD candidate in Chemical Engineering at Polytechnique Montréal, supervised by Prof. Jamal Chaouki and co-supervised by Prof. Yassine Taha. With expertise in catalysis, nanotechnology, and chemical and material engineering, his PhD research focuses on recovering critical metals from industrial waste using low-carbon technologies. At PEARL group, he is developing a hybrid carbon-neutral hydrometallurgy and electrified pyrometallurgy process to extract magnesium metal from mining waste rocks. His research activities encompass sustainable process design, CO2 sequestration, microwave-assisted thermal reduction reactor development, thermodynamic simulation, kinetics study, process optimization, and techno-economic evaluation.
Javad earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tehran, graduating as a top-ranking student. His broader interests include photocatalytic wastewater treatment, photoelectrocatalytic hydrogen production, circular metal recycling, and waste valorization. He has authored over 20 peer-reviewed papers, a book chapter, and holds two patents. Alongside his academic work, Javad is a research engineer at NeoCtech Corp., where he has co-developed patented processes for rare earth metals recycling. He is also an experienced lecturer and mentor, teaching and supervising students and international interns in reactor design, mineral processing, and transport phenomena.
In addition to the MetSoc 2025 Sustainability Scholarship, Javad has received other prestigious awards, including the FRQNT doctoral scholarship, the Rio Tinto graduate scholarship, three internal scholarships from Polytechnique Montréal, the Elsevier Reviewer award, and the best master’s thesis in chemical engineering.
Scholarship Terms
The value of the scholarship is a single payment of $5,000 CAD. The amount of the award is reviewed annually by the Sustainability Section of MetSoc. No single individual should hold more than one scholarship award within MetSoc including its Technical sections in a given year. One award shall be made each year. However, the Award Committee may decide not to make an award if a suitable recipient is not identified.
Eligibility
To be eligible the candidate should be registered in a Master’s or Ph.D. program during the entire academic year in a Canadian university.
Recipient’s Obligation
The award shall be presented at the Conference of Metallurgists. At that time, the recipient may be requested to speak on a subject of major interest to them in the field of metallurgy.
We encourage student recipients to apply for student travel funding (if travel is more than 500km) through the MetSoc Student program to help subsidize travel costs. The Sustainability section may grant the student recipients a complimentary ticket for the award banquet.
Applications must include:
1) A copy of the applicant’s academic transcripts
2) A summary of the project, including preliminary results, a discussion concerning subsequent project orientation, and a list of prepared publications or conference presentations (2-3 pages maximum)
- Impact of research on the sustainability of the metallurgical and materials industry
- Superior academic ability
- Creative and original thinking
- Involvement in school or industry activities