IoT, Networks and Cyber security Research Unit

Irfan Awan is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Bradford. He received his PhD degree in Performance Modelling of Communication Networks from the University of Bradford, UK in 1997. He joined the University of Bradford as a Lecturer in Computing in 1999 and then promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2004, Reader in 2007 and became Professor of Computer Science in 2009. 

Professor Awan was partly seconded to Namal College, an associate college of the University of Bradford between 2008 - 2011 to act as its first Vice-Chancellor. 

His research focuses on Network Security, Cyber Security, Performance Modeling of Cloud and Communication Networks. His research work won Best Paper Awards from 24th IEEE AINA 2010, Australia and 8th BWCCA 2013, France. His research work has been published in IEEE Transactions, IEE Proceedings, IEEE Computer Magazine, among others. He is a member of editorial board of the Elsevier journal of Simulation, Modeling and Practice and served as a guest editor for various special issues. Professor Awan organised and chaired several international conference and workshops and edited proceedings. He has successfully supervised 34 PhD students and 10 students are currently registered for PhD under his supervision. Professor Awan is a fellow of HEA, fellow of BCS and member IEEE.

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I am an early career researcher. I have been conducting research in Cyber Security since 2011, mainly focusing on topics such as human factors in security; cybercrime; and cyber security measures in organisational settings. I have completed a PhD in Cyber Security in 2016 (National University of Ireland Galway), where I investigated how various factors affect employee security behaviour in organisations. I I worked at the University of Leeds as a Research Fellow in 2016-2019, focusing on topics such as ransomware; cybercrime in the cloud; and cryptocurrencies. After that (2019-2020) I worked with the University College London where I continued my research on ransomware.

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Dr Ibrahim Ghafir is a Lecturer in Computer Science at Faculty of Engineering and Informatics, University of Bradford. He received his PhD in Computer Science (Cyber Security) from Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Ibrahim also has another PhD in Informatics (Computer Systems and Technologies) from Durham University, UK and Masaryk University, Czech Republic (European Doctorate). Prior to joining Bradford, Ibrahim worked as a Research Associate in Cyber Security at Loughborough University, UK from 2017 to 2019. Before Loughborough, he worked with Masaryk University as a Research Assistant from 2013 to 2015.

Dr Ghafir’s current research interests include network security, intrusion detection systems, wireless communication, machine learning and performance optimization. He has been a researcher and publisher in the field of cyber security. Ibrahim has published more than 30 technical journal and conference papers in cyber security. For an updated list of his publications, please see his Google Scholar profile.

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Dr. Dhaval Thakker joined the Faculty of Engineering and Informatics at the University of Bradford in May 2015 and is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science. He is currently the Director of Postgraduate Research (DPGR) in the faculty and leads the Internet of Things (IoT) Innovation Lab. Dhaval has over fifteen years of working experience in the European Union(EU) and industrial projects researching and delivering innovative solutions. He is also part of the University’s Research Practice Innovation Group led by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Knowledge Transfer) to help shape the university’s research and innovation (R&I) strategy.  

His broad area of research interest and expertise is interdisciplinary focusing on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things(IoT) technologies for the betterment of society. His current and evolving research interests include exploring the role of AI and IoT technologies in the context of Smart Cities, Digital Health, and the Circular Economy. He actively publishes in leading high impact factor journals such as the Semantic Web Journal, Elsevier Journal of Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies. He regularly reviews for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). ​

To date, he has been successful as Principal and Co-investigator in over £1 million worth of R&I projects (UoB share) funded by national, international funding bodies and commercial organisations. Some of the notable funders have been the European Commission, Innovate UK, HFCE, and GCRF focusing on projects addressing societal challenges surrounding themes such as Smart Cities, Air Quality Monitoring, Flood Monitoring,  Children's Health, Industry 4.0(Smart Factories), and Archeological & Drone-based surveys in Worn-torn areas. ​

He was awarded Ph.D. in computer science by the Nottingham Trent University in 2008 for his work on 'An intelligent framework for dynamic web services composition in the semantic web'. He has completed his MSc in Data Communication Systems from Brunel University, London.  Prior to joining Bradford, he worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Leeds from 2011 to 2015 and was leading semantic web/AI related research in several EU projects. Before Leeds, he worked in the industry with UK's national news agency (Press Association, now PA media group) as a Research & Development Consultant to provide strategic and technical leadership in implementing Semantic Web/AI and Linked data related projects to improve access to their media repositories.​Details of the group Dhaval leads at Bradford, it's research staff, and Ph.D. students are available here. Google Scholar profile provides an extensive publication track record.  His research has been rewarded with multiple best paper awards (2019 at the 10th IEEE conference on IoT, Big Data and AI for a Smart and Safe Future; 2015 at 12th the European Semantic Web Conference). 

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Dr. Amr abdullatif is an experienced researcher proficient in research and developing of machine learning and deep learning techniques with a demonstrated history of working in the different companies (GE Oil & Gas, Ansaldo, Bombardier, …), and universities (Bradford, PISA, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Genoa, Cairo, AASTMT, …) . His research interests focuses on Artificial Intelligence techniques applied in Automotive Industry (e.g. prognostics and health management), Oil & Gas Digital Transformation, Computer vision, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Predictive Diagnostic, Health-care, and Online Learning from non-stationary Data Streams. He is currently working as a Lecturer at Bradford university. Formerly was leading machine learning projects at Baker Hughes, a GE company as a research fellow.

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I am a Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science, University of Bradford. I am also an Associate Fellow of the HEA. I received my PhD in Computer Science and MSc in Embedded Systems from the University of Hull in 2016 and 2012, respectively. I obtained my BSc degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Bangladesh University of Professionals. Prior to joining the University of Bradford, I was a Research Associate in the Dependable Intelligent Systems (DEIS) Research Group at the University of Hull. In 2011, I worked as a Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Asian University of Bangladesh.

My research primarily focuses on safety, reliability, and security assurance and certification of cyber physical autonomous systems. I also have interests in model-based safety analysis, probabilistic risk assessment, dynamic reliability analysis, and stochastic modelling and analysis. I have published over 30 papers in these areas. I have contributed to EU projects on safety, including MAENAD and DEIS, working with Siemens, General Motors, Volvo, Continental, and DNV-GL, among others. In 2018, I received the research excellence award from the University of Hull. 

More information about my teaching and research activities can be found on my personal website.

Find out more about Sohag on his staff page.

Savas Konur is a Reader in the Department of Computer Science, University of Bradford, where he was previously Lecturer and Senior Lecturer. He received the B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from METU (Turkey), RWTH Aachen (Germany) and University of Manchester (UK), respectively. He previously held positions in the Verification and Testing Group (Department of Computer Science) at University of Sheffield and the Logic and Computation Group (Department of Computer Science) at University of Liverpool. His research interests involve Formal Methods (mainly modeling, verification and analysis of complex, concurrent and stochastic systems) and design/development of software systems/tools/methods facilitating Formal Methods in various application areas, including Systems and Synthetic Biology, Ubiquitous Systems, Real-time Systems, Safety-critical Systems, Autonomous Systems and Multi-agent & Systems. Dr Konur is an experienced researcher and involved in several research projects, requiring a wide range of interdisciplinary collaborations both across other research institutes within the university and with external partners. He has published his results in numerous leading journals and conferences. In addition, he was involved in the development of various software and programmes, and worked on different phases of software development life cycle, including requirement engineering and testing.

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