The 29-year-old, who is doing her PhD at the University of Glasgow, made headlines back in February when she was listed as a member of a team of scientists who had contributed to proving Albert Einstein’s gravitational waves theory.

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin tweeted yesterday, “I felt it was important to honour Hafizah Noor as our national youth icon today to inspire more young Malaysians to learn & embrace science.”

Khairy also posted a photograph of Hafizah receiving the award from Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi at the National Youth Day celebrations in Universiti Putra Malaysia yesterday.

Hafizah’s award was also mentioned in the University of Glasgow’s Facebook page.

The Machang-born student was involved in the project through the GEO600 experiment, which was conducted by a British/German collaborative team. The team analysed data from a device to search gravitational radiation from astrophysical sources.

She was previously a student and researcher at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) and Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA).