Dr Javaid R Laghari is the President and Project Director of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology. He specialises in Leadership, Higher Education, Information Technology, High Voltage Systems and Space Power Technology, and has published over 120 research papers and presented over 70 papers at International Conferences. Prior to joining SZABIST, Dr Laghari was the Director of Graduate Studies and Tenured Full Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the State University of New York (SUNY), USA. Dr Laghari attended the NATO Advanced Study Institute, UK in 1991 and the NATO Advanced Study Institute, Italy in 1983.

He has also been a Member of the Ministry of Science and Technology Human Resource Development Committee, Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (PCST), and the Sindh Information Technology Board (SITB). He is currently a Member of the ACM (USA) and Chairman of the ACM (Karachi Chapter), Senior Member of the IEEE (USA), Member of the New York Academy of Sciences, and the Executive Committees of the Federation of the University of Islamic World (FUIW) and the Asia University Federation (AUF). Dr Laghari is the recipient of the Distinguished Leadership Award 1987, the International Cultural Diploma of Honor 1988, the IEEE Award for Leadership and Dedicated Services 1994, and the coveted national award ‘Tamgha-e-Imtiaz’ conferred by the President of Pakistan in 1998.