Professor Ali Al Shakarchi

Professor Ali Safaa Sadiq is Professor in Cyber Security and Director of the Cyber Technology Institute (CTI) at De Montfort University, which he joined in August 2026. Before DMU, he was Associate Professor and Cyber Security Research Group Leader at Nottingham Trent University. He has also held academic posts at the University of Wolverhampton, Monash University, and Universiti Malaysia Pahang. He is a Visiting Professor at Óbuda University, Hungary, and an Adjunct Professor at Torrens University Australia and Monash University.

His research focuses on intelligent and trustworthy cyber security. This includes post-quantum security, cyber ranges, self-healing cyber-physical systems, and the security of connected and autonomous vehicles and IoT. He has led and contributed to externally funded projects from EPSRC, Innovate UK, Ofgem, and industry. These include a £4.8 million Hybrid Cyber Range programme that emulates emerging cyber and quantum-related risks.
He has published widely in leading IEEE, Elsevier and Springer journals and was named in the World’s Top 2% Scientists list in 2025. He has supervised 16 PhD students. He is an EPSRC College Member, a Senior Member of the IEEE, and a Fellow of Advance HE. He also founded Tymlo Technology Ltd. In 2024 he received the Cyber Diversity Academic Champion Award from Cyber Quarter Midlands.

Cyber Technology Institute (CTI)

Publications and outputs (selected; full list on Google Scholar)

• Johnphill, O., Sadiq, A.S., Kaiwartya, O., Taheir, M.A. (2026) CROSS: A Cloud-Native Approach to Automated Remediation and Self-Healing in Cyber-Physical Systems. Cybersecurity, Springer.
• Mwanje, M.D., Kaiwartya, O., Jha, D.N., Khasawneh, A.M., Sadiq, A.S., Cao, Y. (2025) Misbehaviour Prediction in CAV Network using Aggregated Trust Analysis. International Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems Research.
• Mwanje, M.D., Bhagwat, G.P., Kaiwartya, O., Maladkar, R., Sadiq, A.S. (2025) Cyber Security Risks in Connected and Autonomous Vehicles – An Experimental Demonstration. IEEE CCGridW 2025, pp. 109–116.
• Das, D., Sadiq, A.S., Mirjalili, S. (2025) Optimization Algorithms in Machine Learning. Springer Nature.
• Rasheed, R., Sadiq, A.S., Kaiwartya, O. (2024) Elimination Algorithms for Skew Polynomials with Applications in Cybersecurity. Mathematics.
• Johnphill, O., Sadiq, A.S., Kaiwartya, O., Aljaidi, M. (2024) An Intelligent Approach to Automated OS Log Analysis for Enhanced Security. Information.
• Aljaidi, M., Aslam, N., Kaiwartya, O., Chen, X., Sadiq, A.S., et al. (2024) QoE-based Assignment of EVs to Charging Stations in Metropolitan Environments. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles.
• Ullah, F., Pun, C.M., Kaiwartya, O., Sadiq, A.S., Lloret, J., Ali, M. (2023) HIDE – Healthcare IoT Data Trust Management. Future Generation Computer Systems.
• Sadiq, A.S., Dehkordi, A.A., Mirjalili, S., Pham, Q.V. (2022) Nonlinear Marine Predator Algorithm for Fair Power Allocation in NOMA-VLC-B5G Networks. Expert Systems with Applications.
• Sadiq, A.S., Dehkordi, A.A., Mirjalili, S., Too, J., Pillai, P. (2021) Trustworthy and Efficient Routing Algorithm for IoT-FinTech Applications. IEEE Internet of Things Journal.
• Hosseini, E., Ghafoor, K.Z., Sadiq, A.S., Guizani, M., Emrouznejad, A. (2020) COVID-19 Optimizer Algorithm. IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, 24(10).
• Ghafoor, K.Z., Curran, K., Kong, L., Sadiq, A.S. (eds.) (2020) Security and Organization within IoT and Smart Cities. CRC Press.

Full list: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-YdfJ1YAAAAJ

Intelligent cyber security; trustworthy, explainable and secure AI; post-quantum security and quantum readiness; hybrid cyber ranges; self-healing cyber-physical systems; security of connected and autonomous vehicles and the Internet of Vehicles; IoT and mobile edge computing security; intrusion detection systems; heterogeneous wireless networks and mobility handover; vehicular ad hoc networks; nature-inspired optimisation and metaheuristics; big-data analytics.

Cyber Security; Network and Cloud Security; Threat Intelligence; Computer Networking; Software Engineering and Development; Data Visualisation; High-Performance Computing; IoT and Systems Architecture.

• PhD Computer Science (Secure and Efficient Handoff System in Heterogeneous Vehicular Communication Systems), (Awarded the best student award in 2014 batch with Distinction), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (2014)
• MSc Computer Science (Wireless Networks), (Awarded Pro-Chancellor as the best student in my batch with 3.91/4 CGP), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (2011)
• PGCert in Professional Practice in Higher Education, University of Wolverhampton (2021)
• BSc Computer Science and Information Systems, Mustansiriya University (2005)
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

• Previously taught courses:Advanced Topics in Cybersecurity (L6)
• Cyber Security (L7)
• Network and Cloud Security (L7)
• Proactive Network Defence (L7)
• Software Engineering (L7)
• Data Visualisation using Tableau (L7)
• Software Development and Implementation (L5)
• Network Security (L5)
• Networks Technology (L4) High-Performance Computing (L6)
• Systems Architecture and Internet of Things (L6)

• Cyber Diversity Academic Champion Award (Category 7), 2024, Cyber Quarter Midlands Centre for Cyber Security, for championing diversity in cyber security.
• World’s Top 2% Scientists list (Stanford/Elsevier), 2026, for research citation impact.
• Best Postgraduate Student Award, 2014, UTM 52nd Convocation, as best PhD student of the 2013/2014 cohort.
• Pro-Chancellor Academic Award, 2011, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, as best MSc student (CGPA 3.91/4).
• Best Presenter Award, 2016, ICSEMSS 2016.
• International silver medal (one), plus national silver medals (two) and bronze medals (two), Malaysia, at research innovation exhibitions.

• EPSRC Peer Review College, current, College Member, reviewing UKRI/EPSRC research proposals.
• Birmingham City University, current, External Examiner for MSc Cyber Security.
• University of Northampton and De Montfort University, external panel member for course accreditation.
• Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), member.
• Brooks Institute and Vanhoo Education Institute, Australia, Academic Board Member.
• Journal of Software Engineering & Computer Sciences, Editor.
• Conference committees, including ICONI 2021 (Program Committee), IEEE FMEC 2017 (Publication Co-Chair), IEEE ICC 2017 (TPC Member), and SSPA 2013 (TPC Chair).

• IEEE, Senior Member.
• Advance HE, Fellow (FHEA, ref. PR238884).
• IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Security and Privacy, member.
• IEEE Computer Society Technical Community on Cyber Security, member.
• IEEE Communications Society, member.
• IEEE Vehicular Technology Society, including its Technical Community on Connected Vehicles, member.
• IEEE Internet of Things and Big Data Communities, member.

• Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), Advance HE.
• PGCert in Professional Practice in Higher Education, University of Wolverhampton.

Selected Projects:

• Hybrid Cyber Ranges (HCR): emulating and simulating emerging cyber attacks on OT/IT environments.
• Consultancy Project: Understanding the Quantum-related risks on the current Cryptographic algorithms.
• SaferCAV: GPU-AMU synergy with edge AI for connected vehicle safety.
• Smart Recovery: an AI-powered digital twin for addiction support.
• Intelligent and Secure Warehouse Management System (iWMS): trustworthy AI analytics, IoT automation and cyber resilience.
• Drive with Confidence: mitigating remote vehicle hijacking.
• TrustMe: a secure and trustworthy AI platform for FinTech.
• CyberMIND: AI-based stress detection and management for cyber security professionals.
• PRAVE: proactive authentication and verification for critical cyber-physical systems.
• Crowd-sourced bug bounty platform for cyber security university students
• SOLVED: European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
• Multi-Verse Features Extraction Model to Identify Fraudulent Sources for e-Commerce
• Security, SEED Grant
• A Fundamental Study of Intrusion Detection System (IDS) using Hybridization of Artificial
• Neural Netwok (ANN), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Magnetic
• Optimization Algorithm (MOA)
• A Novel Weight Optimized Recurrent Neural Network for Real-Time MetOcean Predictive Analytics.
• Secure and Reliable Communication: Preventing Distributed Denial of Service Attacks on Internet of Things
• Privacy protection and efficient retrieval of data in cloud computing storage
• ADVANCED MOBILITY HANDOVER FOR MOBILE IPV6 BASED WIRELESS NETWORKS
• Proactive Digital Forensic Model for Identifying Sources of Cybercrimes in High
• Critical Networks

• Invited Keynote Speaker, ICATN’19, Coimbatore, India (February 2019).
• IEEE CCGrid Workshops 2025.
• IEEE I2CACIS 2024.
• ICONI 2021, Jeju, Korea (Program Committee).
• IEEE FMEC 2017 (Publication Co-Chair).
• IEEE ICC 2017, Paris (TPC Member).
• IEEE INFOCOM 2018 MiSeNet Workshop, Honolulu.
• WCECS 2013, San Francisco.
• IMECS 2011, Hong Kong.

• Area of expertise: Post-quantum security, cyber security risk and resilience, trustworthy and explainable AI, data visualisation.
• Previous consultancies:
  Post-quantum security engagement, producing a CBOM blueprint, PQ threat and cyber-range scenarios, and an NCSC-aligned Quantum-Readiness Roadmap.
• Local Government Management Agency (LGMA), Dublin: Tableau training and migration-plan consultancy.
• Currently available: Y

I have supervised more than 20 PhD students in the role of 1st and 2nd supervisors.
Current PhD student:
Faisal Majedin: Project title: Trust Calibration in AI-Assisted Operational Decision-Making within MissionCritical Communication Infrastructure (1st supervisor)
Jack Hughes: Project title: A Guide to Cyber Incident Management for Victims and Service Providers

• Hybrid Cyber Ranges / Cyber Security – Hybrid Virtualisation; Ofgem and industry; collaborative R&D; £4.8M; Work Package Lead.
• SaferCAV: GPU-AMU Synergy with Edge AI for Connected Vehicle Safety; EPSRC; research grant; £450k; WP Lead.
• ChargeVault: AI Powered Security for Wireless EV Charging, Innovate UK CyberASAP; £32k, CoI,
• Intelligent and Secure Warehouse Management System; Innovate UK; Knowledge Transfer Partnership; £277.88k; from February 2025.
• AI-enabled Data Intelligence for Warehouse Management; Divit Beauty Ltd; 50/50 industry studentship; £127.13k.
• Post-Quantum Security Engagement; Northern Powergrid; consultancy; £40k; Lead.
• Smart Recovery: AI-Powered Digital Twin for Addiction Support; Innovate UK; Accelerator KTP; £30k; WP Lead.
• TrustMe Phases 1 and 2; Innovate UK CyberASAP; academic start-up; £31.3k + £60k; PI; with H. Patel and Prof P. Pillai.
• Drive with Confidence Phases 1 and 2; Innovate UK CyberASAP; £32k; Co-I; with Dr O. Kaiwartya (PI), Prof D. Brown and Prof P. Evans.
• CyberMIND Phases 1 and 2; Innovate UK CyberASAP; £31.7k + £59.2k; Co-I; with Prof P. Pillai (PI).
• Crowd-sourced Bug Bounty Platform for University Students; Innovate UK CyberASAP; £32k.
• PRAVE; CIRIC, Nottingham Trent University; internal; £23k; PI; with Dr O. Kaiwartya, A. Konios and I. Cheheb.
• SOLVED; European Regional Development Fund, with Telford & Wrekin Council; SME digital adoption; £2.2M; Co-PI.

N/A. Software copyrights are registered instead, including the Non-Linear Lévy Brownian Generalized Normal Distribution Optimization and the Nonlinear-based Chaotic Harris Hawks Optimizer, published on MathWorks and GitHub in 2021.

• Quantum readiness for national energy infrastructure: For energy company, delivered a post-quantum threat assessment and an NCSC-aligned Quantum-Readiness Roadmap, with supplier commitments adopted by the network operator.
• National AI policy: Contributed to the ASM-CREST Position Paper on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Malaysia (2018), presented to Malaysia’s National Science Council.
• Diversity in cyber: Received the 2024 Cyber Diversity Academic Champion Award (Cyber Quarter Midlands) for widening participation in cyber security.
• Open research tools: Optimisation algorithms released openly on MathWorks and GitHub for reuse by researchers.

0000-0002-5746-0257