Nobel laureate Omar Yaghi launches global science network

Research initiative will link institutions across seven countries to work on water scarcity, carbon capture, clean energy and climate resilience

Nobel laureate Professor Omar Yaghi has launched a global research initiative linking scientists across the United States, South Korea, the UK, Italy, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and China.

The Yaghi Science Initiative will support students, postdoctoral researchers and early-career scientists working on discovery science and sustainability challenges.

The network is built around Yaghi’s research philosophy of moving “from molecule to society and back”, connecting molecular discovery with practical work on clean water, clean air, clean energy, carbon capture and climate resilience.

Yaghi, founder and chief science officer of U.S deep-tech and climate-tech company Atoco, told The European that the appointments marked the first phase of a wider international network for research, education and innovation.

He said: “The Yaghi Science Initiative is built on the conviction that science is an equalizing force in the lives of people everywhere and that discovery is a universal language.

“By establishing these global institutes, we are creating a global environment where young scholars can work together to solve problems that affect us all.”

The initiative will focus on fields including molecular design, reticular chemistry, materials discovery, artificial intelligence for science, water harvesting, carbon capture and energy storage.

It is being set up as a non-profit global research and education initiative founded and led by Yaghi.

The programme will also work with Atoco’s research and development labs, which the company said would collaborate with YSI research centres on carbon capture and water harvesting.

Professor Yaghi, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2025, added: “Our goal is to make discovery science available to more people, in more places.

“The great challenges of sustainability – water, energy, air, climate, and the environment – cannot be solved by one country or one institution alone. They require young minds everywhere to be empowered, connected, and inspired.”

READ MORE: Meet Omar Yaghi, the Nobel Prize chemist turning air into water. From a childhood in a one-room home in Amman to chemistry’s highest honour, Omar Yaghi’s creation of metal–organic frameworks is reshaping how we draw water from the air and carbon from the atmosphere. The European’s Professor Tim Coulson and Professor Syma Khalid, both of the University of Oxford, spoke with him on their Science of the Times podcast.

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_{Main image: Main image: Omar Yaghi by Christopher Michel, 2025. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.}