Awanis is an Associate Professor majoring in membrane technology and fabrication at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Malaya. She started working at UM as a lecturer since November 2004 and became a senior lecturer in 2011. She pioneered membrane fabrication research using phase inversion process in UM since 2011. Prior to that, she worked as a Plant Engineer at Hitachi Semiconductor Penang upon  completion of her Bachelor Degree sponsored by Monbusho Scholarship (currently known as MEXT Japan). She received a PhD from Imperial College London, Masters in Environmental Biotechnology from University of Manchester (UMIST) and a Bachelor Degree in Chemical Engineering from Osaka University, Japan. Sekolah Tun Fatimah, Johor Bahru is her alma mater.

Awanis represented Malaysia in the ASEAN-US Science Prize for Women competition in 2014 due to her work in improving the availability and safe drinking water in ASEAN region through novel membranes. She was awarded Hitachi Research Fellowship by Hitachi Global Foundation in 2016 to perform research in collaboration with Membrane Research Centre, Kobe University and she received Yamaguchi University Visiting Scholar award and MEXT Global Networking award in partnership with Osaka University, both in 2019. Awanis was awarded the JSPS Bridge Fellowship Award in 2023 hosted by Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan. She was awarded a special grant in 2015 by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia through Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) special grant for disaster mitigation and prevention during flood using membrane technology. Awanis has been extensively involved in 16 research projects, in which she has been the Principal Investigator for 12 internal and external grants worth of more than RM1.5 million. 

Awanis is a Chartered Engineer of Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), UK and a Professional Engineer of Board of Engineers Malaysia. She is currently an Exco of JSPS-JAAM and the member of the Board of Engineers Malaysia. Since 2004, Awanis served in a number of administrative positions including; chemical engineering undergraduate program coordinator, faculty auditor, undergraduate curriculum review committee, design project coordinator, lab coordinator, departmental quality manager, and the timetable coordinator. She has been the Head for the Center of Separation Science and Technology from January 2020 until December 2021. 

Her recent research activities include 1. Membrane fabrication and modification 2. Membrane technology and separation 3. Separation processes 4. Water and wastewater treatment using membranes 5. Carbon dioxide capture using a membrane gas absorption process. Awanis has more than fifty published articles in ISI-indexed journals and she has presented papers in national and international conferences and seminars as a plenary speaker, invited speakers and oral presenters. Awanis is currently seconded at the Policy and Research Division, Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, where she can be reached via nurawanis.hashim@mohe.gov.my.