Mirza Talha Baig is an aerospace engineer and plasma physicist, and National President of UK YLS, a rare combination of world-class technical achievement, international reach, and a genuine commitment to lifting others alongside him.
He earned a First Class BEng (Hons) in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Manchester and is pursuing a PhD in high-power electric propulsion held jointly between Manchester and MIT, the technology that may one day carry humans efficiently beyond Earth orbit. His research has run through some of the most demanding laboratories on the planet: Princeton’s Plasma Physics Laboratory, Germany’s Max Planck Institute, and RAL Space’s National Satellite Test Facility, and he co-founded a propulsion startup developing thrusters for Lunar Gateway missions, having already published twice and won an international best-paper prize judged by MIT and NASA before finishing his first degree.
As National President of UK YLS, Talha connects the energy and aspiration of young Pakistanis with the institutions, networks, and standards of the international research community, showing the next generation that world-leading science, leadership, and national pride are a single path, and opening the doors he walked through so others can follow.