Abstract

The emergence of deepfakes in recent years has created much sensationglobally due to its usage in spreading disinformation, disrupting governmentfunctioning, financial frauds, hoaxes, etc. Technological advancement ingenerative adversarial networks (GANs) has resulted in the generation of amassive number of deepfakes which represent the synthesized AI-generatedvideos and audios. Deepfakes videos along with the deepfake audios can beused as a potential tool to create havoc in society by empowering non-stateactors and criminals. There exist potential knowledge gaps in current state-of-the-art deepfakes detection methods i.e., lack of a unified framework to combatthe audio-visual deepfakes, inability for accurate detection of manipulatedvideo against multiple visual forgeries, lower generalizability, degradedperformance for blurry images/videos and multiple types of visual deepfakescreated via different generative methods, lower interpretability of detectormodels, less robust to compressed videos and detection on the wild, etc. Themultimedia forensics research community has tried to combat deepfakes bypresenting both handcrafted features-based and end-to-end deep learning-basedcountermeasures. The development of robust deepfakes detectors is still in theearly stages. Last year, Microsoft has released a face-swap deepfakes detector,but still, we need more robust unified deepfakes detectors capable of detectingboth the audio-visual deepfakes while addressing the aforementionedlimitations. Seeing the current trends, “we have a long way to go” to counterthe challenges of malicious deepfakes.

Bio

Dr. Ali Javed is serving as an Associate Professor and Director of the Multimedia Signal Processing research lab in Software Engineering Department at UET Taxila, Pakistan. He served as a Postdoctoral Scholar in the SMILES lab at Oakland University, USA in 2019 where he worked on one NSF funded project on Audio Forensics and one Brain Aneurysm Foundation funded project on Brain Aneurysm detection and rupture prediction. He also served as a visiting Ph.D. scholar in ISSF Lab at the University of Michigan, USA in 2015. He received Chancellor’s Gold Medal in MS Computer Engineering degree. His areas of interest are Computer vision, Multimedia Forensics, Video Content Analysis, Image Processing, and Multimedia Signal Processing. He has published more than 90 papers in leading journals and conferences. Dr. Javed is a recipient of various research grants from HEC Pakistan, National ICT R n D Fund, NESCOM, and UET Taxila Pakistan. As an International collaborator, he worked on several funded projects in the domain of computer vision at Oakland University, Korea University of Technology and Education, Qassim University, and University of Jeddah. He has also served as a HOD in Software Engineering Department at UET Taxila. Dr. Javed got selected as an Ambassador of the Asian Council of Science Editors from Pakistan in 2016.

Abstract

Dr Amir Qayyum is Dean, External Linkages and International Collaboration at CUST, Islamabad. He did his PhD from University of Paris-Sud, France. He is actively involved with Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), currently serving as the NomCom Co-chair. He also served as the Chair in IEEE Islamabad Section and Board of Directors of Internet Society (ISOC) Islamabad Chapter. He is the founding CEO of Corenet Systems Ltd, working in the domain of emerging network technologies and its applications. He is the Project Director of several national and international funded R&D projects. In recognition of his services, he was awarded the medal of "Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques" by the Government of France.

Bio

Dr Amir Qayyum is a professor and Dean, QEC at Capital University of Science and Technology (CUST), Islamabad. He did his PhD in mobile wireless networks from University of Paris-Sud, France. Since 1997, he is actively involved with Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and is also a co-author of an RFC on MANETs. He is also involved with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), since 2012 and served as a member of ICANN Nominating Committee (2014-2017) representing APRALO-ALAC, and currently serving as Fellowship Selection Committee (2018-2020), representing RSSAC (Root Server System Advisory Committee). Dr Qayyum is also the Chair, Board of Directors of Internet Society (ISOC) Islamabad Chapter (2014-2019) and is one of the founding members of the chapter. He is the Member Board of Directors of Pakistan Internet Exchange (PKIXP). He is actively involved with IEEE activities since 2004, and currently serving as the Chair, IEEE Islamabad Section, and also served as Chair Professional Activities (2014-2016), Chair IEEE Computer Society Islamabad Chapter (2009-2014), and the Secretary and Treasurer of the section (2011-2013). He is the founding Director of Center of Research in Networks and Telecom (CoReNeT), and is the Project Director of many national and international funded research and development projects in the domain of wired and wireless networks. He is also the founding member Board of Directors of Pak France Alumni Network, and also served as the President and Vice-President PFAN. He is also a philanthropist and actively involved in community service and social work. He is the Chairman and member Board of Trustees of Rifah Trust (for education, health care and community service), member Board of Trustees of Ehsas Trust (for education), and member Board of Directors of Meethi Zindagi Foundation (for health care of diabetic patients).

Abstract

This talk will provide insights about the current advancements in distributed AI that are leading us to a future where self-adapting network of digital twins will become the mainstream cyber-physical systems. Digital Twins will bring together the cyber and physical systems in a single platform that will evolve as the underlying physical systems change over time. Example projects and applications will highlight advancements in systems, models and algorithms that have contributed to self-learning digital twins and how emerging applications will necessitate a network of digital twins that evolve as individual physical components change and learn from the system behaviour. The talk will conclude with the challenges and opportunities that are driving the evolution towards distributed AI and its applications for digital twins.

Bio

Ashiq Anjum is a Professor of Distributed Systems at the University of Leicester, UK. His areas of research include data intensive distributed systems, distributed machine learning models and high performance analytics platforms for continuous processing of streaming data. Prof. Anjum has participated in a number of large projects including the EU funded projects on healthcare and medical data analytics, distributed clinical intelligence and integration and iterative genome analytics. He has been investigating large scale distributed systems and analytics platforms for the LHC data in collaboration with CERN Geneva Switzerland for the last fifteen years. He has also been working with aerospace, rail and automobile companies to investigate how infrastructures and services can benefit from real time analytics by intelligently analyzing IoT data streams for accuracy, reliability, safety and capacity. He has been closely working with leading telecommunication companies and VR providers to commoditise AI driven digital twins and enable real time visualization of data models and distributed algorithms for digital twins.

Abstract

Spatial information systems have increasingly proven to be critical when it comes to policy and decision making. Such systems are widely used in the developed economies while their diffusion in the developing world remains limited owing to the lack of spatial and demographic data, technical capacity, and political obstacles. Spatial decision support systems can be transformative in resource planning and economic development in a multitude of sectors across the public and corporate domains. This talk will cover an insight into visualizing healthcare and epidemiology using geographic information system in Pakistan. An analysis of the diffusion of GIS in Pakistan’s perspective will be discussed by highlighting key areas for technical, administrative and policy measures that can serve as a way forward for an optimum planning and monitoring of resources and the economic progress of the country.

Bio

Dr. Faisal Ahmad Khan is a tech leader and educationist. He is an Associate Professor and Co-Director of Decision Support System Lab at BUITEMS University Quetta. He is member of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on IT and Digital Economy.

He has also served as the Pro Vice Chancellor and Dean at BUITEMS.

His research interests include GIS applications, information security and cross-layer design in communication networks.

He received MS and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Georgia Tech, USA. He received BS degree in Software Engineering and MS degree in Telecommunications from Bahria University Karachi.

Dr. Khan is a Fulbright fellow, British Council’s Momentum award recipient and Senior Member of IEEE Association USA.

He has been the founding chair of the IEEE International ICE Cube Conference and co-founder of the Quetta Literary Festival. He is the national council member of National Computing Education Accreditation Council and member of the Board of Directors Ignite National Technology Fund Pakistan.

Abstract

The progressively increasing reliance on computing and communication technologies over the last few decades has simultaneously increased the prevailing insecurities in cyberspace. The growing prevalence of the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, blockchain, robotics, and virtual reality has inevitably augmented the importance of secure cyberspace for individuals, organizations as well as nation-states, irrespective of their economic standing, political orientation, or strategic direction. Due to the rapid increase in the number of devices connected to the internet for various purposes such as to control, monitor, and perform different tasks, the implementation of efficient cyber security procedures has become a challenging task. Identifying and overcoming the risks and threats of the technologies we are becoming dependent upon every day has become indispensable for states and enterprises to defend themselves against cyber attacks. Nations face an utmost need to develop and enhance their cybersecurity capabilities at the personal, organizational as well as governmental levels, in order to survive and make their place in the competitive league of cyberwarriors. The talk shall cover the emerging threats in cyberspace and challenges posed to securing cyberspace due to emerging technologies. The talk shall also discuss the way forward for a cyber-secure future.

Bio

Haider Abbas is a Tenured Professor, Head of Cyber Security and Director of the National Cyber Security Auditing and Evaluation Lab (NCSAEL) at MCS- NUST. He is a Cyber Security professional, academician, researcher and industry consultant who took professional trainings and certifications from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States, Stockholm University, Sweden, Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship, Sweden, IBM, USA and Certified Ethical Hacker from EC-Council. He received his MS and PhD from KTH, Sweden. Dr. Abbas has received many awards from National and International organizations. In recognition of his services to the international research community and excellence in professional standing, he has been awarded one of the youngest Fellows of The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) UK; a Fellow of The British Computer Society (BCS), UK and a Fellow of The Institute of Science and Technology, UK. He has been appointed as ACM distinguished speaker by ACM - Association for Computing Machinery, United States and has been elected to the grade of Senior Member of the IEEE, USA.

Abstract

Each year, software companies lose tens of billions of dollars from software piracy. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has seen a rapid surge in digital and software piracy, particularly as more employees work from home and organizations are forced to rely more heavily on digital technologies. Some reports indicate that digital piracy increased by more than 60% in some countries between 2020 and 2021. Organizations with employees who use pirated software face increased susceptibility to software malfunction or failure. The use of pirated software exposes the organization’s electronic devices to malware, viruses, and adware. It places the organization at greater risk as pirated software does not receive support (training, upgrades, customer support, bug fixes). Finally, employee use of pirated software exposes the organization to legal liability due to copyright infringement. In this talk, I will share user’s perspective of software piracy, based on synthesis of extant literature, and deliberate what can be done to curtail this phenomenon after understanding user’s concerns. Gaining insights into these causes will enable firms and governments to determine what anti-piracy measures should be adopted.

Bio

Irfan Butt is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Ted Rogers School of Management, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada. He received his PhD in Management from Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, Canada, MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University, USA and BA from The College of Wooster, USA. His prior teaching experience includes teaching at Lakehead University, Canada, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman and the Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan. His research interests include digital strategy and emerging markets. He specializes in systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis. He has published over thirty papers in peer-reviewed international academic journals with almost half of them using systematic review methodology. As an invited guest speaker, he has given talks at universities and conferences in Pakistan, Oman, Canada, and USA. He has also received best teacher awards. He uses experiential learning and business simulations as primary teaching pedagogy. He also teaches a graduate course on Systematic Review Methodology.

Abstract

Operational Technology (OT) refers to the programmable systems or devices (hardware & software) that are used to monitor and control physical processes, industrial equipment, devices, and infrastructure. Examples of such programmable systems (OT) deployed at industrial facilities in the process industry include Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems (SCADA), Distributed Control Systems (DCS) and Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS).
Operational Technology (OT) differs from Information Technology (IT) due to the fact the latter deals with digital information (flow and storage of data) while the former manages the operation of physical processes and the machinery used to carry them out. Over the past two decades, the design and capabilities of the industrial control systems have evolved making them advanced and more interconnected, which exposes them to vulnerabilities. In recent years, attacks on industrial control processes are on the rise to compromise such computerized systems.
In this talk, I will present the new emerging spectrum of OT cybersecurity risks that has emerged after the mentioned technological evolution in OT systems and that needs to be addressed for secure industrial operations in the times to come. I will also share insights on the cybersecurity risk assessment methodology gained from assessing cyber threat scenarios for such systems.

Bio

Mr. Khalil Sultan, a Fulbright Fellow, received his Masters in Engineering Management from Fuqua School of Business / Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University, NC, USA in 2015 and Bachelors in Industrial Electronics Engineering from NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi, Pakistan in 2004. He is recipient of the Presidential Award 2005 for Science & Tech given by the President of Pakistan.
He is an experienced energy industry professional with extensive engineering, management and leadership experience in the upstream and midstream segments of the global Oil & Gas industry. Currently, he is associated with the Enterprise Risks Management team at Pakistan Petroleum Limited as Deputy Chief Risk Officer. His prior major industry experience includes working with the Process Control Systems and Networks at multinational integrated energy corporations such as Chevron Kazakhstan, Chevron Bangladesh and OMV Exploration & Production GmbH in Pakistan.
Mr. Khalil is a Senior Member of the IEEE and is recipient of the 2004 Myron Zucker Undergraduate Design Award by IEEE Industry Application Society. He is also a Senior Member of the International Society of Automation (ISA) Inc, USA and a professional member of the Institute of Measurement & Control (InstMC), UK. His broader research interests include Functional Safety Engineering in Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) and ICS/OT cybersecurity. He is a qualified Functional Safety Engineer (TÜV Rheinland) and ISA/IEC 62443 Cybersecurity Expert.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khalilsultan/

Abstract

Protecting critical information against eviction-based cache side-channel attacks has always been challenging. In these attacks, the attacker reveals secrets by observing cache lines evicted by the co-running applications. A precondition for such attacks is that the attacker needs a set of cache lines mapped to memory addresses belonging to the victim, called eviction set. Attacker learns eviction by loading the cache lines at random and then it observes their evictions as a result of victim access. In this talk, I will be discussing how the relation between the incoming memory location and the resulting evicted cache line eases the learning of an eviction set. I will also discuss our recently proposed Indirect Eviction Cache (IE-Cache) that is based on the principle of indirect eviction to harden the building of eviction set. In an eviction process of IE-Cache, incoming memory triggers a series of replacements based on the cached memory addresses and a secure-indexing function, and the last replaced cache line is evicted. This increases the set size and introduces non-evicting cache lines in the eviction set. I will also show some experimental results for a 4-way set associative IE-Cache having 1MB. The talk will include general discussion around the challenges of microarchitectural security as well.

Bio

Dr Khurram Bhatti is a Marie-Curie Research Fellow. His research interests are interdisciplinary. He is a strong advocate of using technological interventions for climate monitoring, adaptation & mitigation. He also works extensively in the domain of Information security with a particular focus on embedded systems, security vulnerabilities at both hardware & software levels and Crypt-analysis. During his academic career, Khurram has taught at the University of Côte d'Azur, France, and COMSATS University Islamabad, Pakistan, and Information Technology University, Lahore, Pakistan. He has been working with prestigious European research institutes like INRIA, Lab-STICC, KTH, École Polytechnique de Paris, and LEAT research laboratory. His research work has been published in international peer-reviewed journals and conferences. Khurram has done his post doctorate at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. He holds a PhD in Computer Engineering and MS in Embedded Systems from the University of Côte d'Azur, France.

Abstract

Hyperscale data centers typically comprise tens and thousands of servers, where servers are generally added in stages over the years to meet every increasing compute, memory, and storage requirement of data-intensive workloads. This leads to performance and architectural heterogeneity, which must be addressed in managing data center resources especially for running modern enterprise, scientific, and high-performance computing (HPC) applications and platforms that are inherently distributed, highly scalable, and consume a huge amount of data during execution. Most of these software platforms, e.g., machine/deep learning (ML/DL) platforms, are designed for graphics processing unit (GPU) enabled homogeneous servers and show sub-optimal performance when executing in heterogeneous and asymmetric data centers in multi-tenant environments. In this talk, I will present opportunities and challenges that are introduced by the latest innovations in data center technologies, and will share insights gained in supporting resources heterogeneity, e.g., capabilities of GPUs and varying memory hierarchies, and leveraging emerging data center execution models, e.g., serverless computing, in improving the performance of ML/DL platforms.

Bio

Dr. M. Mustafa Rafique is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) where he spearheads the High Performance Distributed Systems Laboratory (HPDSL). He has more than fifteen years of professional and research experience developing practical solutions for large-scale enterprise applications and creating innovative solutions for massively parallel, distributed, and high-performance computing systems for a variety of application domains. Dr. Rafique’s research interests lie broadly in experimental computer systems, encompassing distributed platforms for cloud and high-performance computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and emerging data analytics platforms for machine learning. Before joining RIT, Dr. Rafique was a staff member in the High Performance Systems Group at IBM Research in Dublin (Ireland). He has also worked at NEC Labs (Princeton) and Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) on designing innovative solutions for adaptive and efficient resource management in massively parallel computing systems. Dr. Rafique earned his MS and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from Virginia Tech in 2010 and 2011, respectively. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE.

Abstract

Ensemble techniques are becoming increasingly important in both traditional machine learning and deep learning as they have repeatedly demonstrated the ability to improve upon the accuracy of single classifiers especially with highly imbalanced data populations. It is well known that an ensemble of classifiers can provide higher accuracy than a single best classifier if the member classifiers are diverse and accurate. ensembles can be homogeneous, in which every base classifier is constructed using the same algorithm, or heterogeneous in which base classifiers are constructed using different algorithms. This talk is mainly to give insights about these techniques and how these techniques can be used to improve performance in machine learning. First part of the talk is about traditional ensemble learning techniques followed by some practical deep ensemble learning applications in Abnormality detection in Surveillance Videos and GI-Tract disease classification.

Bio

Dr Muhammad Atif Tahir received his PhD from the School of Computer Science & Engineering at Queens University, Belfast, UK, MSc In Computer Engineering from King Fahd University, Dhahran, KSA, and BE in Computer Systems Engineering from NED University of Engg, and Tech., Karachi, Pakistan. He is also Academic Fellow of UK Higher Education. He is currently working as Professor in School of Computer Science, FAST-NUCES University, Karachi Campus, Pakistan with additional duty as Director of Karachi Campus. Before joining FAST-NUCES, he was working as senior lecturer at Northumbria university, United Kingdom. He has authored and co-authored more than 60 publications in top quality journals including IEEE transactions on pattern analysis and machine intelligence, pattern recognition, journal of machine learning research, IEEE transactions on multimedia with total citations of more than 3000+ and h-index of 28.

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), stroke is the secondleading cause of death and disability. In Pakistan, more than 350,000 peoplesuffer from strokes every year. The mortality rate for stroke patients inPakistan is around 30% which further highlights the severity of the scenario.Although there are techniques for the detection and diagnosis of strokes suchas MRI, CT scan etc., these systems are usually non-portable, available only attertiary care hospitals and require that a patient be transported to the imagingdevice thus increasing the time taken to apply treatments. Moreover, accordingto Pink Ribbon Organization, Pakistan has the highest rate of breast cancer inAsia with every 9th woman at high risk of getting breast cancer at some pointin her life. However, the existing diagnostic/ screening methods havenumerous drawbacks. For example, the conventional gold-standard X-raymammography uses ionizing radiations and so it cannot be repeated toofrequently. Microwave Imaging (MWI) has emerged as a suitable alternativescreening and diagnostic method for breast cancer screening and strokedetection. MWI technology exploits the differences in dielectric properties ofhealthy and non-healthy tissues. This technique can reconstruct the organimage maps by impinging microwave signals on the target and processing thereceived scattered signals. In this talk, we will discuss recent progress in thedesign, and implementation of low-cost and safe microwave imaging systemsfor diagnostic applications in low-resource settings.

Bio

Dr. Muhammad Zubair is currently an Associate Professor and Department Chair of Electrical Engineering at Information Technology University (ITU), Lahore. He has been a Visiting Faculty at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Before joining ITU, he was a Research Fellow at SUTD-MIT International Design Centre, Singapore. He received his PhD in Computational Electromagnetics (CEM) at Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy. He is principal author of the pioneering book on Electromagnetic Fields and Waves in Fractional Dimensional Space published by Springer, NY. He has contributed over 115 scientific works in peer-reviewed journals and conferences. His research has been funded nationally and internationally by funding agencies like HEC, PHEC, ICT Ignite, and QNRF. He is a Senior Member IEEE, and serves on AdCom of the award-winning IEEE AP/MTT/EMC Joint Local (Isb) Chapter. He was awarded URSI Young Scientist Award (YSA) 2021, and Punjab Innovation Research Challenge Award (PIRCA) 2021. He also serves as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Access, Moderator for IEEE TechRxiv, and Editorial Board Member for the PLOS One, International Journal of Antennas and Propagation, and IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation.

Abstract

Cyberphysical systems (CPSs) are part of the critical infrastructure. CPS security is challenging because the system can be attacked from both cyber and physical domains. In this talk, a comprehensive study is discussed to summarize the challenges and the proposed solutions for securing CPS from a physics-based perspective. Data-centric approaches are becoming increasingly common in the creation of defense mechanisms for critical infrastructure such as the electric power grid and water treatment plants. Such approaches often use well-known methods from machine learning and system identification, i.e., the Multi-Layer Perceptron, Convolutional Neural Network, and Deep Auto Encoders to create process anomaly detectors. Such detectors are then evaluated using data generated from an operational plant or a simulator; rarely is the assessment conducted in real-time on a live plant. Regardless of the method to create an anomaly detector, and the data used for performance evaluation, there remain significant challenges that ought to be overcome before such detectors can be deployed with confidence in city-scale plants or large electric power grids. This talk enumerates such challenges that we have faced when creating data-centric anomaly detectors and using them in a live plant.

Bio

Chuadhry Mujeeb Ahmed is an Assistant Professor in cyber security at the University of Strathclyde, UK. His research interests are in the security of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), the Internet of Things (IoT), Communication Systems, and Critical Infrastructures. Before joining the University of Strathclyde, he was a research fellow at the National Satellite of Excellence for Secure Critical Infrastructure in Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). He was a Presidential Graduate Fellow for the Ph.D. program at the SUTD. Mujeeb has been a visiting fellow at the EECS department at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His work has been awarded the best paper award at ACM CPSS 2020, and the best research project SoilBuild award at FIRST 2020 and Kulicke and Soffa award 2018. Mujeeb has been a delegate at the Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF 2019). Mujeeb has been PC chair of the CYBERSECURITY OF ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING AND SMART GRID RESOURCES (SECEVC2022) in conjunction with IEEE SmartGridComm, PC chair of the 2nd and 3rd International Workshop on Artificial Intelligence and Industrial Internet-of-Things Security (AIoTS2020/2021) in conjunction with ACNS. Mujeeb has delivered invited talks at 7th International Conference on Networks, Communications, Wireless and Mobile Computing (NCWMC 2022) in London and at the Workshop on Data Mining and Machine Learning Applied to Cyber Physical Systems in Singapore.

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions for Digital Health has exponentially grown in the last decade. And still, tech experts and researchers agree that the potential of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning is immense: applications in hardware, software, and service solutions is still one of the most important research and development directions in the field. In this talk different applications of AI in digital health with showcasing real examples of: medical imaging, natural languages processing and ML for electronic health records, emotion recognition (brain signals), emotional gym and fall detection system will be explained with focus on the technology behind and practical applicability.

The main benefits of innovative solutions are the ability to get information for many patients, real-time interference option, early diagnosis, and assisting course of illness prediction. As the main challenges, it is reasonable to highlight the reluctance of medical practitioners to adopt AI, lack of curated healthcare data, and lack of interoperability between AI solutions.

Bio

Professor Naeem Ramzan (S'04, M’08, SM'13) received the M.Sc. degree in telecommunication from University of Brest, France, in 2004 and the Ph.D. degree in electronics engineering from Queen Mary University of London, London, U.K., in 2008. Currently, he is a Full Professor of Computer Engineering in University of West of Scotland. Before that he was a senior research fellow and lecturer at Queen Mary University of London from 2008 to 2012. He is a Chair of Affective and Human Computing for Smart Environment (AHCSE) Research Centre. 

He is, a senior member of the IEEE, Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy (HEA), co-chair of MPEG HEVC verification (AHG5) group and a voting member of the British Standard Institution (BSI). In addition, he holds key roles in the Video Quality Expert Group (VQEG) such as Co-chair of the Ultra High Definition (UltraHD) group; Co-chair of the Visually Lossless Quality Analysis (VLQA) group; and Co-chair of the Psycho-Physiological Quality Assessment (PsyPhyQA).

He has been a lead researcher in various nationally or EU sponsored multimillion-funded international research projects. His research interests are cross-disciplinary & industry focused and include: video processing, analysis and communication, video quality evaluation,   Brain-inspired multi-modal cognitive technology, Big Data analytics, Affective computing, IoT/smart environments, natural multi-modal human computer interaction, eHealth/connected Health. He has a global collaborative research network spanning both academia and key industrial players. He has been the Lead supervisor/supervisor for about 20 postdoctoral research fellows and PhD research students, and six PhD students supervised by him, have successfully completed in UK. He has published more than 150 articles in peer reviewed journals, conferences, book chapters including standardised contributions. His paper was awarded best paper award 2017 of IEEE Transaction of Circuit and System for Video Technology and three conference papers were selected for best student paper award in 2015/2016.

He has been awarded STARS (Staff Appreciation and Recognition Scheme) award for 2014 and 2016 for “Outstanding Research and Knowledge Exchange” (University of the West of Scotland) and Awarded Contribution Reward Scheme 2011 and 2009 for outstanding research and teaching activities (Queen Mary University of London). Currently he is a Co-Editor-in-Chief of VQEG eLetter and served as guest editor in a number of journals. He is a Founding Associate Editor of Springer Journal “Quality and User Experience” and Associate Editor of number of Journals. He has chaired/co-chaired/organised more than 25 workshops, special sessions, and tracks in International conferences.

Apart from the research work at UWS, he led a team of young and enthusiastic lecturers to develop a highly innovative portfolio of post graduate studies including MSc Advanced Computing, MSc Big Data, MSc IoT, MSc eHealth. Advanced computing and networking technologies such as app development, advanced data science, intelligent systems, IoT, and cloud computing are taught in this programme.

Abstract

Bio

Omer F. Rana is Professor of Performance Engineering at Cardiff University, with research interests in high performance distributed computing, data analysis/mining and multi-agent systems. He is also the Dean of International for the Physical Sciences and Engineering College at Cardiff University, responsible for establishing and supporting collaborative links between Cardiff University and other international institutions. He was formerly the deputy director of the Welsh eScience Centre and had the opportunity to interact with a number of computational scientists across Cardiff University and the UK. He is a fellow of Cardiff University's multi-disciplinary "Data Innovation" Research Institute. Rana has contributed to specification and standardisation activities via the Open Grid Forum and worked as a software developer with London-based Marshall Bio-Technology Limited prior to joining Cardiff University, where he developed specialist software to support biotech instrumentation. He contributed to public understanding of science, via the Wellcome Trust funded "Science Line", in collaboration with BBC and Channel 4. Rana holds a PhD in "Neural Computing and Parallel Architectures" from Imperial College (London Univ.), an MSc in Microelectronics (Univ. of Southampton) and a BEng in Information Systems Eng. from Imperial College (London Univ.). He serves on the editorial boards (as Associate Editor) of IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, (formerly) IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing, IEEE Cloud Computing magazine and ACM Transactions on Internet Technology. He is a founding-member and associate editor of ACM Transactions on Autonomous & Adaptive Systems.

Abstract

Future wireless networks are expected be more than allowing people, mobile devices, and objects to communicate with each other. The sixth generation (6G) of mobile networks are envisioned to include high data rate applications and ultra-massive, connected things. This also includes bio and nano-internet of things (IoT) tele-operated driving, unmanned mobility, haptic communications, unmanned aerial vehicles, and many more. Given the size of nano-sensors, THz frequency is proposed to do various sensing activities at this scale. However, it will be ideal to use the same radio frequency for communications as well. Furthermore, THz is also proposed as an enabler of extremely high data rate applications in 6G communications. The talk will be focused on how 6G joint communication and sensing feature will help in achieving proactive future healthcare.

Bio

Qammer H. Abbasi (SMIEEE, MIET, FRET, FRSA), Dr Abbasi is a Reader with the James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, U.K., deputy head for Communication Sensing and Imaging group (110+ researchers), Program Director for Dual PhD Degree, deputy theme lead for Quantum & Nanotechnology in the University’s Advance Research Centre and lead for healthcare and Internet of things use cases with Scotland 5G Center Urban testbed. He has grant portfolio of £7M+ and contributed to more than 450+ leading international technical journal (including Nature Portfolio) and peer reviewed conference papers and 10 books and received several recognitions for his research including URSI 2019 Young Scientist Awards, UK exceptional talent endorsement by Royal Academy of Engineering, Sensor 2021 Young Scientist Award , National talent pool award by Pakistan, International Young Scientist Award by NSFC China, National interest waiver by USA, University Research Excellence Award from TAMUQ in two consecutive years, Reward for Excellence from University of Glasgow, Research Culture award University of Glasgow, 10 best paper awards, Teaching excellence award by Chancellor UofG, Best chapter award 2021 as chair from IEEE APS and IEEE MTT both, most downloaded paper in IEEE Terahertz Transaction, cover of MDPI journal twice, Editor’s choice paper from MDPI Sensor 2021, and best representative image of an outcome by QNRF. In addition, his work received media coverage by Analog IC tips, Microwaves & RF newsletters, Vertical news, Pakistan Dawn news, BBC news, Scotland TV, Fiercewireless, City42, Dunya news, Chinese news and many other media houses. He is a committee member for IEEE APS Young professional, Sub-committee chair for IEEE YP Ambassador program, IEEE 1906.1.1 standard on nano communication, IEEE APS/SC WG P145, IET Antenna & Propagation and healthcare network. He is Industrial fellow for Royal Academy of Engineering, Senior Member IEEE and Fellow of Royal Society of Arts.

Abstract

The growth of Skin Cancer incidence causes a delay in its detection due to the shortage of specialists, there is a clear need of use decision support systems based in multispectral images analysis and processing using advanced artificial intelligence techniques to aid coping with the increasing demand and shortage of resources. At this talk the most recent imaging-based developments in artificial intelligence applied to Skin Cancer will be outlined.

Bio

Ricardo Vardasca, PhD, ASIS, FRPS is a Full Professor in Computer Science at ISLA Santarém (Portugal), Integrated Researcher at INEGI-LAETA, University of Porto (Portugal), Visiting Researcher at University of South Wales (UK) and External Professor at University of Valencia (Spain). At ISLA Santarem he is the director of the MSc in Web Services and Technologies Engineering and Post-Graduation in Data Science degrees and the coordinator of the Projects Support Office. He has been awarded with a PhD in Computer Science and a BSc (hons) in information technology from the University of South Wales (UK). He is a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society (UK), where he was also recognized as Accredited Senior Imaging Scientist. He acts since 2015 as General Secretary of the European Association of Thermology. Prof. Vardasca is the current Editor in Chief of The Imaging Science Journal and the Associate Editor of The QIRT journal. He is also member of the editorial boards of the journals: Thermology International and International Journal of E-Health and Medical Communications.

Abstract

Cyber-Physical System (CPS) or Internet-of-Things (IoT) appears as a potential avenue for enhancing applications including object-to-object, human-to-human, and human-to-object communications in both the real and virtual worlds. Smart Grids (SG), Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), and transportation networks are a few examples. However, the pervasiveness of sensors presents additional challenges to the systems, such as intrusions from external agents and failures originating from within network nodes. Generally, these internal failures are referred to as faults. It is important to design intelligent solutions that can detect the abnormality in time to avoid any unwanted circumstances. In addition, the ideal system be aware of the environment to identify environmental affect against the unwanted abnormal situation. Artificial Intelligence, or Machine Learning, provides pathways to achieve these goals within the intrinsic properties, such as limited resources, of sensors.

Bio

Dr. Sana Ullah Jan is an experienced researcher with more than 8 years of cutting-edge research and teaching experience in prestigious institutes including the University of the West of Scotland, the University of Ulsan (South Korea) and the University of Lahore (Pakistan). He is currently enrolled as Assistant Professor in Edinburgh Napier University, UK since September 2021. He was previously enrolled as Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Center of Affective and Human Computing for Smart Environment at the school of computing, engineering and physical sciences, University of the West of Scotland since September 2020 to August 2021. He has (co)authored more than 20 papers in international journals and peer-reviewed international conference proceedings. His research area is closely related to the Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning-based cyber security and privacy in the Internet-of-Things, Cyber Physical Systems and eHealth. He has taught various courses both at Undergraduate (UG) and Postgraduate (PG) levels during his career. He is invited reviewer for several leading high-impact journals and conferences. He has been endorsed as Global Talent by the Royal Academy of Engineering of the UK

Abstract

Bio

Dr. Sartaj Khan has more than 20 years service in marine technologies and is holding various prestigious research awards. Dr. Khan completed his PhD from Harbin Engineering University, China in 2022 in the field of underwater acoustic engineering. Earlier, Dr. Khan completed his M. Phil and MSc in Physics from Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, Pakistan respectively in 2001 and 2000. Dr. Khan published 9 articles in international peer-reviewed high impact journals during his PhD and presented his research work at seven international conferences around the world. He is serving invited reviewer for several high impact journals. His research is focusing on air-sea interaction as well as the effects of complex ocean environments such as mesoscale vortices and internal waves on sound field

Abstract

Researchers around the globe have been exploring and inventing many technologies. But there are few that truly delivers value to the end user. Adoption of R&D into product and services heavily rely on what people are willing to pay for.

The opportunity has always been in ‘delivering value to the end user’. In this perspective blockchain technology is becoming more and more relevant as it has great potential to disrupt the existing business models, organizational structures, management processes, currencies, finance, and the entire web as we know it. Blockchain Technology enables transacting assets, both tangible and intangible, in a business peer to peer without any third-party intermediary.

My talk shall focus on two core aspects: blockchain technology in changing the way we do business and its potential to change the edge, the networks, and the protocol stack. If the Technology delivers to its promise, it can be as significant as Internet was in 1990s.

Bio

Dr Shoab Khan received his PhD from Georgia Institute of Technology USA in 1995. While in US he got extensive experience of working in several top-notch technology companieslike Scientific Atlanta, Picture Tel and Cisco System.

In 1999 Dr Shoab Khan co-founded an exciting startup named Communication Enabling Technology (CET). The startup raised US $17 Million in venture funding in 2000. CET with Dr Khan as chief architect designed world highest density media processor chip for VoIP media gateways. For his innovate technology work, Dr Khan has 5 US patents to his credit. Dr Khan has contributed 330+ international publications and a world class textbook on Digital Design of Signal Processing System published by John Wiley & Sons and followed in many universities across the globe. He is an Adjunct Professor of Computer and Software Engineering at NUST College of EME.

He is also a co-founder and Chancellor of CASE and CEO of CARE. CASE is a federally chartered primer engineering institution whereas CARE has risen to be one of the most profound high technology engineering organizations in Pakistan. The organization is catering for dire technical needs of defense and strategic organization by executing cutting edge technology including many national level projects relating to Cyber Security.

For his eminent industrial and academic profile, Dr Shoab has been awarded with numerous honors and awards. These include Tamgh-e-Imtiaz Pakistan, NUST best teacher award, HEC best researcher award and NCR National Excellence Award in Engineering Education.

He is currently serving as a member & focal person of Prime Minister Task Forces on Technology Driven Knowledge Economy, Science and Technology and IT and Telecommunication, Former Deputy Chairman of National Computing Education and Accreditation Council (NCEAC) under HEC, Board Member of Shifa International Hospital and has served as Chairman Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) for year 2014-15.

Abstract

Underwater release is an acoustic remote device which is used to unlock the link between submersible buoy and the sinker weight. It is an essential equipment in ocean engineering to retrieve underwater instruments. There are some acoustic release companies in the world including Benthos from the United States, Sonardyne from the United Kingdom and IXBLUE from France. They produce different functional release to meet different requirement which varies mainly about the payload weight and working depth. In this presentation, I will introduce the design consideration of a underwater release developed by our team. It is composed of water proof housing, transducer, electronic hardware and release mechanism component. The feature is that it can work in the deepest sea with the payload up to 10 tons as well as acoustic communication ability, and the Mariana trench experiment will be given. In the future, the release might be integrated with some instruments as a single device to simplify the underwater buoy system.

Bio

Songzuo LIU is currently a full professor in College of Underwater Acoustic Engineering, Harbin Engineering University. His research interests lie in the areas of underwater acoustic communication, design and implementation of underwater acoustic modem and release. He received B.S. and Ph.D. degree in signal and information processing in 2008 and 2014 respectively. In 2016, he worked as a Postdoc researcher with Underwater Wireless Sensor Networking (UWSN) group in SENSE lab, Sapienza University of Rome.He has been the session chair of IEEE OCEANS、CPMI、IFOI、ICNAME、FIT conference

Abstract

The "digital divide" is a new social divide brought about by the growing importance of digital technologies and data to the global economy and daily life. Although the term "digital divide" is frequently used to refer to variations in physical access to digital technology, it is equally crucial to consider the inequalities in how effectively individuals can access the right information from the growing data particularly healthcare data. Despite recent advancements in information retrieval techniques, significant barriers exist towards seeking quick access to online healthcare information. It is mainly because most healthcare content are unstructured with minor or no explicit machine-interpretable semantic (context-aware) markups or annotations. Adding semantic annotations to biomedical content is critical for improving their search and retrieval precision rate by enhancing the context-aware indexing of search engines, e.g., Google.

In this talk, I will share an out-of-the-box socio-technical approach that our team has developed to enhance medical and healthcare content FAIRness (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability) and to bridge data-induced digital divide. Our approach democratizes the process of semantic content authoring currently available to sophisticated users by extending cutting-edge semantic web infrastructure to research and education communities at large. Furthermore, our system enables peer-to-peer knowledge creation that will open career progression opportunities for a socio-economically diverse pool of learners, especially the under-represented minorities in research and academia.

Bio

Dr. Bukhari is an Assistant Professor and Director of Healthcare Informatics at St. John's University, New York. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of New Brunswick, Canada, and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University. He was also a core research team member at CEDAR Metadata Center, Stanford University.

With the Stanford team, he studied scientific experimental reproducibility and completed several projects to improve biomedical data FAIRness and reproducibility. Dr. Bukhari received NIH (ORISE) NCBI fellowship in 2016 to work at National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), Bethesda. Dr. Bukhari developed protocols and pipelines (MiAIRR, CAIRR, and CEDAR-to-NCBI ) for the standardized authoring, validating, and submitting scientific data to the NCBI repositories with NCBI Scientists. His developed resources are now considered de facto resources for several biomedical communities such as AIRR-C & Antibody society.

At St. John's University, he teaches healthcare Informatics and computer science to graduate and undergrad students. His current research efforts focus on addressing several core problems in healthcare informatics and data science. Dr. Bukhari has received multiple internal and external grants to support his research efforts. His lab (bukharilab.org) has recently received an NSF grant to work on biomedical content authoring and structured publishing.

Abstract

The demand for wireless capacity is continuously growing with the advent of the Internet-of-Everything system, connecting millions of people and billions of machines. To date, the fifth generation (5G) wireless networks are being rolled out in the world, providing a new vision to mobile communication. While 5G is still in its commercialization phase, the research on Beyond 5G (B5G) and sixth generation (6G) communication has already started ground work on innovative technologies that support the capacity growth of future networks with lower cost, energy consumption, and hardware complexity. In order to meet the stringent demands on spectral and energy efficiency, B5G and 6G will rely on new and advanced technologies ranging from cell-free massive MIMO, Terahertz band communication, pervasive artificial intelligence, ambient backscatter communications, to smart radio environments. In this talk, we discuss the basic concept of these technologies, covering the "expectations" part, and then overview the research challenges that are seen to address their "inception".

Bio

Syed Ali Hassan (Senior Member, IEEE) received the M.S. degree in mathematics and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA, and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Stuttgart, Germany. His broader area of research is signal processing for communications. He was a Research Associate with Cisco Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA, USA. He is currently a Professor with the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS), NUST, where he is also the Director of the Information Processing and Transmission Research Group, which focuses on various aspects of theoretical communications. He has (co)authored more than 250 publications in international conferences and journals and has organized several special issues/sessions as editor/chair in leading journals/conferences. He is also the CTO of Adept Tech Solutions, a US-based start up having its R&D office in Pakistan, providing efficient solutions to engineering businesses.

Abstract

The introduction of wearable gadgets has revolutionized personal data collection on a large scale which has enabled us to introduce such concepts as mobile healthcare. Today, smart wearable gadgets (such as a smart watch) can record a multitude of signals from our bodies, such as heart rate, blood pressure, ECG, etc. With constant monitoring, a large amount of data is generated but its useful application, data transmission, and power consumption remains a major challenge for researchers and medical practitioners alike.

Fortunately, machine learning can and has been widely used to learn useful information about our health without the need to go to a dedicated medical lab and acquire the services of an experienced doctor. This talk highlights the role of machine learning in mobile healthcare and discusses recent breakthroughs for timely diagnosis and constant monitoring of patients.

Bio

Syed Fawad Hussain obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science, specializing in Artificial Intelligence, from the University of Grenoble, France and an MS in Computer Science from the Marie Curie University (now Sorbonne), Paris.

Dr. Fawad is a professional member of the ACM, a senior member of the IEEE, co-chair of the HEC National Curriculum Committee for Computer Science, member technical of the Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF). He is recipient of multiple research and teaching awards, including the Best University Teacher Award (BUTA) by HEC, the Best Research Award at the GIK Institute, and Google/IBM award for his paper at SDM conference. He is a Distinguished International Scholar by COMSTECH.

Dr. Fawad had been associated with the GIK Institute from 2010-2022 in the faculty of computer science and engineering as well as the dean of graduate studies. He is currently associated with the School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham. His research interests lie in supervised and unsupervised machine learning algorithms with focus on feature engineering, co-clustering, multi-view learning, random walk models, and semantic kernels having diverse applications in text mining, bioinformatics, social media, and agricultural and medical data.

Abstract

Digital transformation and Automation is one of the key features in bringing transformation, transparency, and accurate understanding of the data for decisions making. For improving the services and governance within public sector, it is imperative in automating all the workflows, explicitness in academic and administrative establishments. Technology Transformation/Risk Management disciplines are often linked to a few simple frameworks that can be easily understood and applied, not only by managers but also by the majority of individuals. In contrast, project risk management and transformation methods have tended to be too complex to be easily understood and applied by non-experts. Modern change management methods were developed primarily in 1980s by expert practitioners for practitioners. The pivotal assumption of the digital transformation and project risk management methods has been that documenting every aspect of a transformation and change management in detail will provide a high level of control of the planned activities during the implementation. Many change managers ended up producing massive numbers of documents and swathes of paperwork, leading to an overall feeling that the role was primarily administrative leads to a never normal situation.

The emergence of Open Distance Learning (ODL) frameworks has potential to fully gauge the academic landscape with target of transforming e-Learning from information transmission to knowledge-construction. Such cyberspace driven knowledge entities have potential to build the hubs of inventive activities across the globe. It is imperative to revamp the structure of ODL phenomenon by integrating knowledge engineering with prevalent technologies in Managed Learning Ecosystem (MLE). Effectiveness of ODLs within MLE greatly rely on content development and delivery followed by assessment-driven adaptivity of learning material for maximize learner’s productivity. It involves learner profiling/categorization, annotation of learning contents, adaptive recommenders, m-learning and Augmented Reality (AR). Scientific and Technological change management advances are at a point where challenges to our education, health, governance, environment and wellbeing may be defined and potentially addressed in a way that could not have been imagined in a mere decade ago. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have transformed every aspect of our lives and offered unprecedented opportunities and challenges for EdTech domain and governments across the globe.

Bio

Technology integration and Risk Management Consultant at Government of Pakistan, IDB (Islamic Development Bank) and Higher Education Commission Of Pakistan, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Worldwide Technologies & Consulting Pty Australia. Having 25+ years of experience as an ICT Professional, primarily in the field of Technology Risk Management, Digital Transformation, Change Management, Project management, Systems Integration, Business Intelligence, Applications Services Framework consultancy in Public sector, EdTech, Oil & Gas, Public Health and telecom sector. Heading the Service Delivery group of a multi-disciplinary consulting practice that delivers solutions using a wide variety of IT Automation technologies and solutions, management and orchestration platforms of tier 3 datacentres and cloud solutions. Expert in project planning, execution and monitoring & control. Encompasses strong leadership, successful team-building capabilities combined with technical, and communication skills. Diverse technical expertise derived from rapid learning and effective application of cutting-edge technology. Facilitate problem-solving teams that accurately assess technical challenges and successfully transform ideas into appropriate, workable solutions. As a hard core portfolio and program manager, managed a number of international and national level projects of 1000+ Man Months at large platform of tier 3 on SaaS and PaaS mode. As a Principal Applications Framework Consultant primarily responsible for integration and design of Applications services Framework across large infrastructures. Writer, speaker, researcher and consultant in the fields of Technology Management & Middleware Risk Management and evaluation. Today, In addition to all I serves as an adviser, policy maker and Board Member to several National (Public sector) and International organizations.

LinkedIn: http://ae.linkedin.com/in/tanveerahmedpmp

Abstract

This talk will argue that the cellular control plane poses one major bottleneck in supporting mobile edge applications that require ultra-low latency (self-driving cars, AR/VR, multiplayer online gaming, remote surgery, among others). We will also present the design and performance of Neutrino, a newly designed cellular control plane that promises to address the latency caused by control plane procedures in the cellular packet core.

Bio

Dr. Zartash Afzal Uzmi is an academician, a researcher, and an entrepreneur. He holds a PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, USA.

Zartash has been in the faculty of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering departments at LUMS University since 2002. He has served on numerous committees, both within LUMS and at the national level (e.g., Higher Education Commission, UET Lahore, ITU, Punjab University, National Computing Council). He is the founder of various LUMS initiatives including the space observatory, the 4G/5G lab, and the LUMS Center of Entrepreneurship (now the National Incubation Center, Lahore). Zartash has co-founded multiple successful Pakistani software and hardware ventures including Confiz Limited, Pakwheels, Simplicant, WiMetrix, and Data Plain. He has been instrumental in building a strong bi-lateral channel between industry and the top academia of the country, serving on several advisory and selection boards within industry and academia. Zartash has extensively published at top international conferences and journals and has also contributed to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the body which standardizes Internet protocols and standards. His current research interests lie in computer networking protocols, internet censorship, applications of blockchain technology, and optimizing service provider networks for cost-effective operations.