Waqās is Artistic Director at The Khalili Collections – one of the most comprehensive and diverse private art collections in the world – where his work includes partnering with Google to make the art more accessible through digital curation and visual optimisation. As an artist, his own paintings have been commissioned and acquired by major institutions worldwide.
In parallel, Waqās is completing his postgraduate studies in Neuroscience at Kings College London, where he is investigating multidisciplinary approaches to the research and treatment of chronic pain.
Before this, Waqās was a diplomatic journalist and publisher. As Global Correspondent at FIRST Magazine, his exclusive interviews included heads of government, business leaders and public intellectuals worldwide. He became editor of the Official Reports for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (2011-2015) and most recently Holy Makkah – the first holistic exploration of the sacred city in the English language – which received praise from UNESCO, the Commonwealth and the Vatican.
Waqās began his career exploring different fields: he qualified as a fitness professional, trained with an elite division of the British Armed Forces, was an investment promotion analyst in the Gulf, worked at the forefront of strategic communications and became visiting lecturer in International History at the University of the West of England.
Born and raised in Britain, Waqās has since lived in several countries across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. He has degrees in Economics (BSc, SOAS) and International Relations (MSc, LSE), but his real education came from the five years he spent travelling the world researching and writing The Polymath, his first book.