Hargurdeep Saini (Punjabi ???????? ????), also known as Deep Saini, is a scientist and current Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Canberra.
He was previously a vice-president of University of Toronto and dean of the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario.An alumnus of Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana, and later the University of Adelaide, Australia, Saini joined many Indian-origin educationists holding high positions in Canadian universities.
Saini began his academic career in Canada in 1982 when he joined the University of Alberta as a post-doctoral fellow and had been the dean at the University of Waterloo since 2006.
Saini is a noted plant physiologist and is the past president of the Canadian Society of Plant Physiologists and the Federation of Canadian Plant Science Societies, Saini also visited India as part of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's 'Clean Tech Mission to India'.He is a member of the NSERC's 'Biological Systems and Functions' grant selection panel and the associate editor of the Canadian Journal of Botany (since 2003), and has also served as consulting editor of the Journal of Crop Production (1997–2000).In 2012, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his contribution to Canadian science.
On 9 March 2016, it was announced that Saini would take over as vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra beginning 1 September 2016.Elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales, as gazetted by the then Governor, General the Honorable David Hurley AC DSC(Rtd) February 2018.
On 16 May 2019, it was announced that Saini has been appointed president and vice-chancellor of Dalhousie University, effective 1 January 2020.