Dr. Feridun Hamdullahpur

Biography:

Dr. Feridun Hamdullahpur is an engineer, educator, and academic leader with more than 40 years of experience in research and higher education. He has served as Chancellor of International Business University since 2021. From 2010 to 2021, he was President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Waterloo, where he played a key role in strengthening the university’s reputation for academic quality and research impact. He has held the title of President Emeritus since 2023.

Between 1985 and 2023, he held faculty appointments and senior academic administrative roles at several Canadian universities. Dr. Hamdullahpur has been committed to advancing research and supporting experiential learning. During his tenure, the University of Waterloo continued to build on its reputation as one of Canada’s leading institutions for innovation.

Dr. Feridun Hamdullahpur’s research focuses on thermo-fluids and energy engineering. He has published extensively in his field and supervised more than 50 graduate students. Since 1981, he has also undertaken consulting engineering work in power plants, thermo-fluids, and energy engineering, as well as human and academic capacity building in developing countries including work for the United Nations Development Programme and the Governments of Canada and Türkiye.

His contributions to engineering and academia have been recognized through his election as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2014 and as a Specially Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2018.

He continues to contribute to national and international academic, research, and governance initiatives through several roles:

• Chair, Board of Directors, Digital Research Alliance of Canada (since 2024)
• Chair and Independent Director, Board of Directors, AMTD IDEA Group (since 2019)
• Chair and Independent Director, Board of Directors, AMTD Group (since 2021)
• Member, Canada Foundation for Innovation (since 2025)
• Member, International Advisory Board, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) (since 2026)
• Member, Board of Directors, Canadian International Development Organization (since 2023)
• Member, Board of Trustees, Yeditepe University, Istanbul (since 2021)
• Member, International Advisory Board, King Abdulaziz University (since 2015)
• Founding Member and Steering Committee Member, University Global Compact for the UN SDGs (since 2019)

Previous roles include:

• Honorary Treasurer, The Association of Commonwealth Universities, London (2019–2024)
• Member and Treasurer, Board of Trustees, World Education Services, New York (2019–2026)
• Member, Board of Directors, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation (2023-2026)
• Member, Strategy Board, Sorbonne University, Paris (2012–2021)
• University Impact Champion, UN HeForShe Campaign, New York (2016–2021)
• Chair, Leadership Council for Digital Research Infrastructure in Canada (2014–2020)

Honours and Awards:

Dr. Feridun Hamdullahpur has received distinctions recognizing his contributions to education and international collaboration, including:

• Honorary Doctor of Engineering, Istinye University, Türkiye (2026)
• Member of the Order of Canada (2022)
• Chinese Government Friendship Award (2022)
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, Western Caspian University, Azerbaijan (2021)
• L’insigne de Chevalier des Palmes Académiques, awarded by the French Republic (2019)
• Honorary Doctor of the University, University of Strathclyde, Scotland (2019)
• Lifetime Achievement Award, South African Society for Civil Engineering (SASCE) (2019)
• Honorary Doctor of Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand (2016)
• Order of Merit, Republic of Türkiye (2014)
• Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2013)