Overseas PhD Scholar of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Mian Kashif Safeen, successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled "Growth Study and Characterization of TiO2 Based Thin Films for Low Temperature Synthesis of Transparent Conductive Films" at Department of Physics, University of Trento, Italy, which is among the top 200 universities in the world. His thesis was supervised by senior scientist Dr. Nadhira Bensaada Laidani from Fondazione Bruno Kessler, which is a prestigious research center in Italy. His external examiners were Dr. Eric Tomasella from Institut de Chimie de Clermont-Ferrand, Blaise Pascal University, France and Prof. Umberto Scotti Uccio from Department of Physics, University of Naples "Federico II, Italy. His internal examiner and president of the committee was Prof. Paolo Fornasini from Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita' di Trento, Italy. All members of the committee were experts in the field of condensed matter physics.

Kashif Safeen earned the University of Trento and Fondazione Bruno Kessler PhD fellowship in physics in November 2012. He joined the program in February 2013 and in about 3 years he has completed his PhD under the umbrella of faculty development program through self-support platform.