Islamabad Campus

DIRECTOR
Dr Waseem Shahzad
PhD Approved Supervisor
Professor
PhD (CS), NUCES, Islamabad (2010)
MS (CS), NUCES, Islamabad (2008)
MIT, UAAR, Rawalpindi (2004)

The Islamabad campus is situated Business Administration, Analytics, and We look forward to welcoming you to
along the Srinagar Highway, offering a Accounting and Finance. Additionally, our campus and witnessing the vibrant
breathtaking vista of the picturesque we provide Master of Science and atmosphere of academic excellence
capital city renowned for its beauty Doctor of Philosophy programs and innovation.
and tranquility. Nestled in such an in Computer Science, Software
exquisite locale, the campus provides Engineering, Artificial Intelligence,
a captivating and delightful view of the Data Science, Computer Networks
city. and Security, Electrical Engineering, Programs offered at
and Management Sciences.
Spanning over 15 acres of land, the Islamabad Campus:
campus is strategically located in Our graduates are highly sought after Bachelor of Business Administration
the academic heart of the city. Its by both national and multinational
infrastructure, including the newly corporations, holding prominent Bachelor of Science (Accounting and Finance)
constructed eight-story academic positions in companies such as Bachelor of Science (Artificial Intelligence)
block, reflects a futuristic approach. Microsoft, Oracle, NCR, LMKR, IBM, Bachelor of Science (Business Analytics)
With a steadily expanding covered Telenor, and Huawei. The campus
area, the campus’s academic is equipped with state-of-the-art Bachelor of Science (Computer Science)
programs are continuously evolving. facilities for both academic and Bachelor of Science (Computer Engineering)
extracurricular activities. Our spacious Bachelor of Science (Cyber Security)
Our campus boasts a highly qualified,
and well-equipped computer and
fully committed, and professionally Bachelor of Science (Data Science)
engineering labs provide students
stimulated faculty dedicated
with practical training, while audio- Bachelor of Science (Electrical Engineering)
to academic excellence. Our
visually supported and well-furnished Bachelor of Science (Financial Technology)
faculty members excel in teaching
classrooms offer an optimal learning
competence and are adept at Bachelor of Science (Software Engineering)
environment.
integrating the latest advancements
Master of Business Administration
in science and technology into their To promote physical fitness and
instruction. They are accomplished relaxation, we offer sports facilities for Master of Science (Artificial Intelligence)
researchers, contributors, and indoor and outdoor games, including Master of Science (Business Analytics)
developers in their respective fields, cricket, football, badminton, table
Master of Science (Cyber Security)
conducting research in areas such as tennis, volleyball, and chess. We
Intelligent Networks, Software Testing, also organize healthy programming Master of Science (Computer Science)
Software Engineering, Machine competitions and events, such Master of Science (Data Science)
Intelligence, Image Processing, Neural as NASCON, a national-level
Master of Science (Electrical Engineering)
Networks, Embedded Systems, RF competition highly regarded by both
Systems, and Control Systems. industry and educational institutions Master of Science (Software Engineering)
across the country. Doctor of Philosophy (Computer Science)
We offer undergraduate programs
in Computer Science, Software With over 24 student societies and Doctor of Philosophy (Electrical Engineering)
Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, clubs, we foster co-curricular activities
Doctor of Philosophy (Management Sciences)
Data Science, Cyber Security, to instill a sense of responsibility and
Electrical Engineering, Robotics, leadership potential in our students. Doctor of Philosophy (Software Engineering)

20 FAST-NUCES PROSPECTUS 2024

RESEARCH Islamabad

1. Artificial Intelligence and At our research lab, we’re on the networks. In recent years, the group
Machine Learning Lab frontlines of this battle. has also broadened its research
Introduction Our project, “Mitigating Financial agenda to encompass newfields, such
Fraud in the Age of Deepfake as cyber security, temporal information
At AIM Lab, we’re dedicated to pushing
Technology,” is developing robust retrieval, social network analysis, and
the boundaries of AI and ML across
detection and prevention methods to online privacy concerns. By leveraging
a range of core research areas. We
safeguard your financial security. our expertise in these diverse
are specialized in advancing artificial
intelligence (AI) and machine learning Here’s what we’re working on: domains, we aim to drive advances in
(ML) through research. These include computing and networking that will
Unmasking Deepfakes
Natural Language Processing (NLP), benefit society and contribute to the
where we work on understanding and We’re researching cutting-edge frontiers of research in these rapidly
techniques to identify deepfakes in evolvingfields.
processing human language for tasks
real- time, analyzing video and audio
like chatbot development, LLM fine-
patterns to expose these forgeries. The team ‘Patronus’ from the PCN
tuning and deployment.
Research Lab Islamabad has claimed
Building a Secure Future
Deepfakes, a rapidly evolving area the winning title of Pakistan’s first 5G
of AI, offer both opportunities and We’re developing preventative Innovation Hackathon powered by
challenges. Our deepfakes research measures for financial institutions, Jazz with Code for Pakistan (CfP) and
is focused on understanding and creating a multi-layered defense
Huawei serving as the implementation
mitigating the risks associated with against deepfake attacks.
and technology partners, respectively.
manipulated media. In today’s For more information visit the website
era where generative AI poses Research Collaborations
link: http://isb.nu.edu.pk/aim/
severe threats, we aim to combat PCN has enjoyed a thriving partnership
misinformation by developing Current Project
with the Distributed and Parallel
advanced detection algorithms and Mitigating Financial Fraud in the Age
Systems (DPS) research group at the
investigating authentication and of Deepfake Technology: Developing
University of Klagenfurt in Austria.
verification methods. Our efforts range Robust Detection and Prevention
from developing illumination-based Methods This collaboration, financed by the
techniques to deep learning-based OeAD-GmbH/ICM on behalf of the
Funding amount: PKR 1.494 million Federal Ministry of Science, Research
detection algorithms.
Research Group Members and Economics – BMWFW, Austria,
Committed to ethical AI, we ensure
1. Dr. Muhammad Ishtiaq provides invaluable international
fairness and transparency in all our
2. Dr. Hasan Mujtaba exposure to PCN research students
endeavors. Our research extends to
sustainable computing, healthcare 3. Dr. Hammad Majeed at NUCES, Islamabad. Through this
applica-tions, education, and industry 4. Dr. Waseem Shahzad collaboration, students receive expert
collaborations. Join us as we promote 5. Dr. Mirza Omer Beg guidance from esteemed researchers
innovation and contribute to the 6. Dr. Naveed Ahmed in the field of parallel and distributed
scientific community. 7. Mr. Hassan Raza computing.
Recent Collaborations 8. Mr. Owais Idrees Based on the accreditation and
9. Mr. Adil Majeed curriculum development activities
Protect Your Finances in the
Deepfake Age: Our Research Leads 10. Ms. Saira Qamar of the PCN members, we are
the Way 2. Parallel Computing and participating in an Erasmus Capacity
Networks (PCN) Lab Building Project, i.e., Strategic Support
Financial institutions are under
siege from a new kind of fraudster: for Accreditation of Programs and
The Parallel Computing and Networks
deepfakes. These hyper- realistic research group (PCN) is conceived Internationalization at South Asian
forgeries can manipulate videos and based on the interconnected research Higher Education Institutes / SSAPI
voices, potentially enabling criminals areas of the founders in 2014 including (2021- 2023) on behalf of National
to impersonate customers and steal parallel and distributed computing, University of Computer and Emerging
funds. as well as IP, wireless, and ad-hoc Sciences, Islamabad. Pakistan.

PROSPECTUS 2024 FAST-NUCES 21

 Islamabad

Current Projects real-world network traffic. Therefore, forest has outperformed by attaining
NRPU: NAS-News Analytics Service this research presents an experiment an accuracy of 0.96 for malware
using Spatiotemporal Information where a network infrastructure classification.
equipped with a honeypot was Research Group Members:
Funded by HEC NRPU 2021 deployed to capture real-world
1. Dr. Muhammad Arshad Islam
The article discusses how human network data. By using real-world
data, the researchers were able to 2. Dr. Muhammad Aleem
decision-making depends on
cognitive processing, but people often demonstrate the effectiveness of 3. Dr. Muhammad Azhar Iqbal
ignore information that conflicts with AI models in detecting threats and 4. Dr. Subhan Ullah
their beliefs. Web news documents preventing network disruptions, which 5. Mr. Asif Muhammad
provide rich cognitive information contributes to the growing body of 6. Mr. Ameen Chilwan
that can be useful for forming policies, research on the application of AI in For more information visit the website
but the geographical and temporal network security. link: www.pcn.net.pk
patterns in the collection of news Heuristics Analysis of Malwares in 3. Data Insight Research Lab
reports are important for building Sandbox Environment
a cognitive information retrieval The Data Insight Research Lab is
Funded by National Engineering and dedicated to the overarching goal of
system. The study proposes novel
Scientific Commission Pakistan advancing the field of data science
approaches to determine the geo-
temporal specificity and focus of news Currently, malware has been a critical and artificial intelligence. At its core,
documents, including defining geo- threat that attacks multiple platforms the lab endeavours to pioneer the
temporal classes, engineering news such as Windows, Android, and IoT development of robust systems and
geo-temporal features, and proposing etc. However, with the evolution of innovative AI-based models. In pursuit
new text classification methods. modern and sophisticated malware of this mission, the lab focuses on
Data science and machine learning categories, it has now become intricate tasks such as knowledge
approaches will be used to detect and difficult to differentiate between extraction, pattern recognition,
classify impactful news, and the overall malware and non-malware creating generating insights from data by
findings will demonstrate how valuable a challenging task to examine the leveraging cutting-edge AI tools,
geo-temporal insights can enhance behavior of malware applications. deep learning, and large language
the performance of information Due to the limitations of static-based models. In addition to its technological
retrieval systems. The proposed detection mechanisms, we propose pursuits, the Data Insight Research
system will map events based on their a heuristic machine learning-based Lab serves as a dynamic platform for
severity onto a map, which can be malware classification and detection fostering collaboration and cultivating
used to guide drones or personnel on technique that utilizes the static and a vibrant research culture by engaging
the ground. dynamic features to increase the academia with local and international
malware detection rate. The dataset industry.
Artificial Intelligence Based Network
employed in the study comprises8400 Research Spectrum
Anomaly Detection System Funded
malware applications, which were
by National Engineering and Scientific The primary focuses of the lab is to do
collected using different platforms.
Commission Pakistan research in following areas along with
Experimental results show that the
The increasing sophistication of proposed malware detection and relevant projects.
cyber-attacks has made it difficult classification mechanism is able to Core Research Areas
to detect and prevent them using detect and classify unknown malicious 1. Data Science
traditional methods such as signature- applications into malware and non- 2. Generative AI and LLMs
based intrusion detection systems. As malware categories using several
3. Data Engineering
a result, more advanced techniques machine learning algorithms such as
4. Data Mining and Machine
like Artificial Intelligence (AI) are SVM, Random Forest, and XGBoost.
Learning
being developed to identify suspicious Moreover, it has been noticed that
activities in real- time. However, most data from network activities can be 5. Computer Vision and Deep
research in this field has focused on used to classify and identify malware Learning
synthetically generated data, which more appropriately. The outcomes 6. Social Data Analytics
does not fully reflect the complexity of of the study illustrate that random

22 FAST-NUCES PROSPECTUS 2024

 Islamabad

Research Team Science (NUCES), Islamabad lab works closely with industrial orga-
The lab has established a strong Campus. The project will offer new nizations in Pakistan to design and
research team from both industry and job opportunities for our research develop real industrial problems of na-
academia. The academic research students and open up new research tional significance. Our team focuses
team consists of both international collaboration opportunities with on a number of key areas, including:
and national researchers plus PhD national and international researchers Cyber Threat Intelligence, Advance
and Master Students. and industry partners in this domain. Persistent Threats (APT), Smart City
The graphical overview of the project Governance, Blockchain, and the se-
Funding Grants is given below. curity to safeguard against cyber-at-
1. National Research Program for Research Group Members: tacks in distributed environment. Our
Universities (NRPU 2022) (PKR collaborations with industrial partners,
1. Dr. Muhammad Asif Naeem
7,654,500) 2. NESCOM (2022) including NCCS and Trillium Infor-
2. Mr. Saad Munir
(PKR 2,000,000) mation Security System (TISS), have
3. Mr. Hamza Khan
2. Capacity Building Grant (2020) further amplified our impact. These
4. Mr. Muhammad Umair partnerships foster the exchange of
(PKR 1,375,000)
A Funded Project by NESCOM knowledge, expertise, and resources,
Faculty Research Support (2020)
Professor Dr Muhammad Asif enabling us to push the boundaries
(PKR. 590,000)Publications
Naeem as a Principal Investigator of innovation in cybersecurity. With
The lab has published one book and has received a grant for RAC project NCCS funding, we’ve been able to
more than 120 peer reviewed journals, funded by NESCOM, Pakistan. The expand our research endeavors, un-
conferences and workshops papers project is about Detecting Fake News dertake ambitious projects, and drive
including in IEEE, ACM, and VLDB. using Machine Learning. We propose change on anational scale.
The lab recent research has been a bilingual approach for which we
published in VLDB Journal and in Core Research Areas/ Research
will collect bilingual dataset with Foster
Information Systems (ranked A* in enhanced number of features e.g.,
Computing Research and Education 1. Cyber Threat Intelligence
words per sentence, source of the
Association CORE), in Expert Systems 2. Critical Infrastructure security
news, domain of the news, language
with Applications (Q1 in Scimago of the text etc. We will not only rely on 3. Applications of Data Science
Journal Ranking SJR), and in ICDM text-based classification, but we will and Artificial Intelligence in Cyber
(ranked A* conference in CORE). also go with domain-wise classification security
Current Projects (e.g., Politics, Health, World, Sport), 4. Blockchain
source-wise classification, sentiment- 5. Smart city Governance
HEC-NRPU 2021 Grant
based classification, and opinion- 6. Internet of Things Security
Professor Muhammad Asif Naeem based classification. The abstract
as a Principal Investigator (PI) has Current Projects
level execution architecture for the
received National Research Program proposed approach is shown below. Cyber Threat Intelligence
for Universities (NRPU) 2021 research The project focuses on developing
grant for his project titled “Make Data Research Group Members:
key algorithms and techniques that
Useful from Rubble: An AI-based 1. Dr Muhammad Asif Naeem
could be seamlessly integrated into
Approach to Digitize Handwritten 2. Mr. Muhammad Saad Munir any threat intelligence platform as
Medical Prescriptions and to Build For more information visit the website plugins to provide actionable threat
a Recommender System”. The link: intelligence. Output of this project
grant is funded by Higher Education
http://isb.nu.edu.pk/datainsight/ will increase the number of threat
Commission (HEC) of Pakistan. The
intelligence sources and actionable
total funding amount is Rs. 7,108,500/- 4. PROTECT Lab threat intelligence to help different
and the duration of the project is 24
Introduction sectors of Pakistan (banking, health,
months. As one of the requirements
telecom, etc.) to protect their critical
of the grant, a research lab with name PROTECT lab has been established
infrastructures from any potential
Data Insight has been established at to focus on cross-subject collabora-
threat.
the School of Computing, National tion and provide innovative solutions
University of Computer and Emerging in the rich field of cyber security. The

PROSPECTUS 2024 FAST-NUCES 23

 Islamabad

Threat Gator (Intelligence from in industries like smart manufacturing Current Project
social media) and health. To subside such issues, we A flexible sensor for the detection of
Threat intelligence can be gathered provide a Zero Trust Network Access liver diseases, PKR 5.4 million, Funded
from a variety of sources, including (ZTNA) framework, which is UDP- by Higher Education Commission
social media platforms such as Twitter, based and guarantees speed and (HEC), Pakistan under the National
blogs, and Reddit. There are multiple effectiveness. It uses a centralized Research Program for Universities
sources from which threat intelligence management interface conformed (NRPU) initiative.
can be gathered and one of these is to various network environments
and helps provide secured access Research Group Members:
social media, in particular, Twitter and
Reddit. Due to the speed at which to mission-critical applications for 1. Dr. Shahzad Saleem
information is available on these increased operational agility. It 2. Dr. Muhammad Awais
platforms, social media is not just a proposes a novel framework based on 3. Dr. Arshad Hassan Khan
networking tool but can be a source Zero Trust (ZT) to achieve efficiency, 4. Syed Moiz Hussain
for valuable threat intelligence. The security, and utility. It aims to meet 5. Mr. Waqar Ahmad
challenge that lies here, however, is that the emerging demands of modern, 6. Mr. Ghayas Tahir
this data is in the form of unstructured industrialized network environments
that offer secure access.
6. Mars Research Lab
text and thus has to be manually
parsed, analyzed and correlated. Marine and Aerial Robotics System
Research Group Members:
(MARS) research lab is established
We propose a novel framework for 1. Dr Muhammad Asim with the objective of building
the automation of this task, using a 2. Dr Qaiser Shafi indigenous capacity to design and
pipeline approach, fine-tuning BERT 3. Mr. Abdullah Abid develop real world systems, especially
models for Named Entity Recognition 4. Mr. Mehmood ul Hassan in the field of marine science and
and then for Relationship Extraction
technology. Several projects are being
to bring this major chunk of threat 5. System Analysis & Flexible
initiated with the help of national
intelligence available on social media Electronics (SAFE) Lab
and international collaborative
into STIX format. STIX (Structured Introduction partners with active participation from
Threat Information Expression) is a
The system analysis and flexible both undergraduate and graduate
standardized method of sharing threat
electronics (SAFE) lab was established students. The lab aims to play a key
information in the form of a node
in 2022. Focus of the lab is on the role in enabling research culture in the
graph.
design, analysis, and implementation department while producing quality
ISO27K1 automation of digital systems using machine/deep work. The areas of expertise and
Revolutionizing Security Audits learning and field programmable gate ongoing projects showcase the lab’s
automate, streamline, and enhance arrays (FPGAs), design and fabrication commitment to cutting-edge research
security audits with the cutting-edge of flexible electronics-based circuits and development.
“ISO27k1” toolkit. Save time, reduce and sensors. Area of Expertise
errors, and ensure compliance with Collaborations 1. Magneto Inductive/Resonance
ISO 27001, NIST-SP 800-53, and Communication Systems
1. Center for Advanced Electronics
PCI DSS. Experience project planning, 2. Underwater Wireless Sensor
and Photovoltaic Engineering
automated asset inventory, risk Networks
(CAEPE), International Islamic
assessments, and treatment. Access 3. Design and Development of
University (IIU), Islamabad, Pakistan
the latest standards with the chatbot Indigenous Embedded System
2. Hamad Bin Khalifa University,
and generate comprehensive reports. Solutions
Qatar
A Zero-Trust Framework for Secure 4. RISC-V architecture
3. Harbin Engineering University,
Remote Access China Current Projects
Traditional Virtual Private Net- 4. Rawalpindi Medical University Design of Full Duplex Underwater MI
works (VPNs) generally experi-ence (RMU), Rawalpindi, Pakistan sensor Node Magneto-Inductive (MI)
performance, latency, and security 5. National Engineering and comm-unication has emerged as a real
issues, especially when supporting Scientific Commission (NESCOM), alternate mode of communication for
secure remote access to applications Islamabad, Pakistan challenging and complex environment

24 FAST-NUCES PROSPECTUS 2024

 Islamabad

such as indoor, underground and Low Power Scalable Multi-Core through medical images such as kidney
underwater. MI communication offers Embedded System tumor, pneumonia and pneumothorax
a lot of advantages and therefore Multi-core processor-based system detection through chest X-rays, and
attracts various applications but the requirements emerge with an increase skin lesion detection. As the name
use of lower frequencies to generate in demand of computational power. suggests AI is being extensively used
quasi static magnetic field, limits the But these multi-core processors are for the purpose including generative
data rate. With growing demand for typically accompanied with highpower AI, 2D and 3D deep learning models
using MI technology in underwater consumption. In this project, a micro- for classification and segmentation,
applications, there is also a demand operating system is being developed and mathematical approaches such
for higher data-rates. Achieving for execution of a multithreaded as Topological Data Analysis (TDA).
higher data rate is highly required. To embedded program with shared In the future we intend to incorporate
increase the data rate of MI based memory on multicore system. The gene sequencing data for diagnosis,
system we are working on a full prognosis, and treatment planning.
user program is divided into multiple
duplex communication system that We also aim to develop products and
threads with their own stacks and
doubles the existing data rate and commercialize them in the future. We
capability to context switch for
significantly improve and enhance the have so far attracted more than PKR
improved throughput.
capabilities. This project will enable 150 million rupees of funding from
real-time monitoring of underwater Collaborators and Partners: HEC and otherdonor agencies.
environments. The current projects at MARS lab Research Collaborators
Design of 32-bit RISC-V Processor are in collaboration with both national
1. Aga Khan University, Karachi
using Synthesizable SystemC and and international academic as well as
research organizations. 2. Pakistan Institute of Medical
High-level Synthesis
Sciences (PIMS)
The worldwide market for semi- 1. Harbin Engineering University
3. Rawalpindi Medical University
conductor Intellectual Property (IP) (China)
4. Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
blocks is expected to approach8 billion 2. Bremen University (Germany)
Medical University
by 2019. A growing variety of these 3. National R&D organization
IP blocks populates any System-on- (NESCOM) 8. XYLEXA (Industry Collaborator)
Chip (SoC) for embedded systems or Research Group Members: Pioneering research-based AI and
Internet-of-Things (IoT) and therefore 1. Dr. Niaz Ahmed Deep Learning solutions for medical
SoC architects seek the right mix of imaging, empowering clinicians
2. Mr. Ehsan Rehman
components for the target application worldwide to achieve superior clinical
3. Mr. Umair Fiaz
domain, while being pressured by outcomes Detection | Prediction |
stringent time- to-market constraints. 4. Mr. Ibad Rahman
Analytics
To cope with design complexity, 5. Mr. Adil Mubashar
6. Mr. Naqi Raza Potential Collaborations in Progress:
it is necessary to raise the level of
abstraction by embracing system- 7. Mr. Usama Sadiq 1. Duke University, USA
level design methods. These include 8. Ms. Kalsoom Tariq 2. NADRA, Pakistan
the use of high-level programming 3. NESCOM
languages, like C/C++ and SystemC, 7. Artificial Intelligence Diagnostics
Pakistan Research Team
for design specification and the (AID) LAB
1. Dr. Ahmad Raza Shahid
application of High-Level Synthesis Introduction
2. Dr. Umme Zahoora
(HLS) for design optimization. This AID lab was established in 2022
project thus works on the design and 3. Mr. Ansar Rehman
mainly focused on Medical Image
implementation of a 32-bit RISC-V 4. Ms. Salma Asif
Processing specifically in Brain Tumor
processor core with HLS to contribute 5. Ms. Ayesha Satti
Segmentation through brain MRI.
in the development of more efficient Other areas of concentration within 6. Mr. Usman Sadiq
and powerful processors for use in a the domain are outcomes prediction, 7. Ms. Zeba Saleem
variety of applications tumor grade detection, medical report 8. Mr. Hasan Nasir Khan
writing, and diagnosis of other diseases 9. Ms. Mutyyba Asghar

PROSPECTUS 2024 FAST-NUCES 25

 Islamabad

10. Ms. Anum Fatima University targets enhanced biopsy closely with industrial and academic
Research Grants accuracy during surgeries and aims partners and plays an important
to elevate patient care standards in role in the indigenous development
1. Grand Challenge Fund by
public and private healthcare settings. of dependable avionics systems and
HEC: Secured a 38.64 million
automation solutions. The lab has
rupees sub-award as part of a Brain Tumor Segmentation using
a specialty of working in the area of
collaborative funding initiative Topological Data Analysis and Deep
autonomous systems, cyber-physical
with Aga Khan University Hospital, Learning underFRSG
systems, and industrial automation
which totaled 96.77 million rupees.
This project utilizes Topological Data and utilizes state-of-the-art strategies,
2. Planning commission through Analysis (TDA) techniques to analyze including data science, machine
HEC: Won 97.57 million rupees of the shape and geometry of brain learning, digital twins, for development
research funding from HECunder tumor MRI, enhancing interpretability of reliable anddependable unmanned
the National Center of Artificial when integrated with other machine vehicles.
Intelligence (NCAI) project. learning algorithms. It also involves
3. NCAI Funding: Received 13.484 The UAV Dependability Lab is working
the fusion of TDA-based features
million in support from the NCAI on automated testing of avionics
with deep learning features, creating
Center for AI-driven healthcare systems for autonomous and semi-
a comprehensive approach for brain
innovations. autonomous UAVs to ensure the
tumor segmentation that combines
4. Pakistan Science Foundation: dependable development of such
hand-crafted and deep features,
Received the 10 million research systems. The Lab assists the local
improving the accuracy and efficacy
grant under the project titled industry in developing dependable
of the segmentation process. The
“Development of Artificial UAV avionics systems that comply
following diagram shows an end-to-
Intelligence based CADx system with international standards.
end pipeline.
for rapid diagnosis of COVID-19 Core Research Areas
patients using Chest X-Ray (CXR) Medical Imaging Diagnosis with
and Computed Tomography (CT) Patch-based 3D Attention U-Net from The Dependability Lab focuses on
scans” Multi-parametricMRI under FRSG: the engineering of reliable software
systems.
5. Faculty Research Support Grant: This project focuses on creating
Secured 1.2 million research fund tumor-centered patches to capture For this purpose, the Lab investigates
for the topic “Medical Imaging the entirety of the tumor while the use of model-driven approaches
Diagnosis Diagnosis with Patch- preserving boundaries, leading to a for developing high-quality software.
Based 3D Attention U-Net from more balanced distribution of training Software testing is a time-consuming
Multi-parametric MRI” data and streamlined attention process that requires specific expertise
6. Faculty Research Support Grant: mechanism for efficient and effective and automation to be cost- effective,
Secured 0.9 million research fund medical image analysis. Project end- which are often not available in the
for the Brain Tumor Segmentation to-end pipeline w. industry. The Lab aims to bridge this
project gap by developing novel strategies
9. NCRA – UAV Dependability Lab and tools for quality engineering and
Current Projects
UAV Dependability Lab targeting automated testing that are scalable in
ViBCOT under HEC Grand Challenge the dependable development of an industrial context. The real impact
Fund GCF-912 Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) of software engineering is visible only
The project Virtual Biopsy for is part of the National Center for when the practices/techniques are
Classification, Outcome Predic-tion, Robotics and Automation (NCRA) transferred to the practitioners or
and Treatment Planning of Brain and was established in 2019. The lab industry. Therefore, the lab focuses
tumors (ViBCOT), funded under HEC is the recipient of a funding of ~PKR on performing applied research by
GCF-912, leverages AI and machine 100 Million from the Higher Education solving real industrial problems.
learning to develop an automated Commission under the NCRA project. Major Achievements
system for brain tumor diagnosis, The lab has successfully secured
outcome prediction, and personalized external industrial and research Some of the key achievements of the
treatment planning. This collabo- funding of more than PKR 22 Million lab include:
ration between FAST and AKU in the last 3 years. The lab works 1. Development of an indigenous

26 FAST-NUCES PROSPECTUS 2024

 Islamabad

Ground Control Station (GCS) for 2. National Engineering and 1. Journal Publications: 19 plus
UAS Systems. The operators can Scientific Commission (NESCOM) publications in academic journals,
plan and simulate the complete 3. Software Testing Foundation and including an FT 50 publication,
mission on the ground control PSTB and seventeen impact factor
station before actual execution. 4. SQA Services Pvt Ltd publications.
The GCS supports heterogeneous 5. Quest Pvt Ltd 2. Conference Presentations: 15
UAVs (quadcopters and fixed-wing plus conference presentations
6. Simula Research Lab, Norway
aircraft) and allows the operation including papers at the Academy
7. Dr. Frigz International
of multiple UAVs simultaneously. of Management (US) conference
2. Development of a traffic monitoring Research Group Members:
and the British Academy of
and control system using the 1. Dr. Muhammad Uzair Khan Management conference.
indigenous GCS. The application 2. Dr Atif Aftab Ahmed Jilani 3. Industry Reports: Four major
is aimed at traffic police operations 3. Dr Syeda Javeria Imtiaz industry reports, and several
and supports live monitoring and 4. Dr Hassan Sartaj leaflets, summary finding sheets,
control of traffic and large-scale 5. Ms. Nigar Azhar and confidential company reports.
gatherings. 6. Ms. Maheen Arshad 4. Industry presentations: The
3. Automated strategies and Director MARC is routinely invited
Software-in-Loop test bed 10. Management Advancement
as a speaker at various professional
for testing of Cockpit Display Research Center (MARC) forms to share her findings and
Systems. The test bed allows the The MARC team is led by the Director thoughts with industry leaders.
developers to test the working MARC, Dr. Sadia Nadeem, Deputy 5. Academic Trainings: The core
of various widgets used in PFDs Directors Dr. Muhammad Abbas, team members of MARC deliver
using Artificial Intelligence. The and Dr. Shuja ul Islam. The core team research-related training at
AI algorithms generate test cases includes Qaiser Shafi, Sarah Khan, academic institutions in Pakistan
and place the aircraft in different and Hamnah Rahat. Other faculty and abroad.
scenarios that simulate real-world members, researchers, and students 6. MARC Student Projects: One PhD,
operations. join the MARC team on a project-by- and various MS and UG projects
4. Capacity building of national project basis. The team is committed have been completed under
organizations in the area of to taking on projects which contribute
MARC.
mission and safety critical systems to the body of knowledge, yet at the
7. Case Studies: One published case
development. Several engineers same time provide a bridge between
study and two unpublished cases
from national defense sector academia and practice.
produced from MARC projects.
organizations have been trained
Core Research Areas Current Projects
as part of lab activities on the
development and testing of safety- Dr. Sadia Nadeem: Leadership, Nation-building through Supporting
critical systems as per international gender diversity, Cross Cultural HRM, Females (NSF)
standards. This expertise is severely performance management, and HR
systems Project Code NRPU 15351
lacking in Pakistan and previously
the trainings used to be held at Dr. Muhammad Abbas: Islamic Principal Investigator: Dr. Sadia
foreign venues. work ethics, organizational politics, Nadeem
5. The Lab publishes in top- workplace stressors, and generative This projects aims to identify ways
ranking international journals artificial intelligence to reduce organizational challenges
and international conferences in enhancing gen-der diversity and
Dr. Shuja ul Islam: Behavioral decision-
in the areas of model- based inclusion in organisations. It also aims
making and project management
development, model-based testing, to understand the challenges faced
system and software engineering, Major Achievements
by women in attaining leadership
and Application of AI and ML in
The various projects of MARC, positions, and identify ways to
Software Engineering.
including the funded and non-funded overcome these challenges. Multiple
Partners and Collaborations work has resulted in the following studies will use a variety of qualitative
1. Pakistan Air Force outcomes: and quantitative data collection

PROSPECTUS 2024 FAST-NUCES 27

 Islamabad

techniques for various sub-studies of Impact of Business Education on For more information visit the website
the project. Students’ Values: Project Code NRPU link: http://isb.nu.edu.pk/Research/
4812): The project developed an in- Details/20
A double-edged sword? Examining the
depth understanding of how business
causes and consequences of Chat GPT 11 Knowledge Discovery and Data
educations impacts the values of
usage among students (CCC). FAST Science Lab
students, using data collected from
NUCES FRSG Fall 2023.
students over a period of three years The Knowledge Discovery and Data
Principal Investigator: Sarah Khan; to understand the change in values
Co-PI: Dr. Muhammad Abbas over time. Science Lab (KDD) is a research
This projects aims to identify the Management in Pakistani Culture facility that is dedicated to leveraging
positive and negative consequences (MiPC): Project Code TRGP-III/954. the power of Artificial Intelligence
of the use of Chat GPT among The project examined the impact and Data Science to solve real-
students. of national culture and values on world problems. The lab’s research
management of human resources has a significant impact on society,
Colonial Mindset Discrimination and its with practical solutions developed
Impact on HR Practices and high performance work systems
to identify practices which can in various applied areas. The lab
This project extends the work of Bano improve organizational effectiveness Core Research Areas/ Research Foster
and Nadeem (2018) by examining in Pakistan. (Place Diagram or in Bullet form)
a new concept of discrimination and
disadvantage in the labor market The MARC Gender DEI Toolkit Series The Lab specializes in the areas of
based on colonial mindset and (Volume I and II) and the forthcoming
Volume III, have been well received by • Data Science • Artificial Intelligence
international experience.
the industry. • Data Visualization • Machine Learning
International Collaborations: • Visual Analytics • Health Informatics
Reports written for the industry
GLOBE 2020: Collaboration with audience include: • Big Data Analytics • Smart Agriculture
Simon Frasier University, Canada, and
Nadeem, S. Fayyaz, I, Ahmad, M, • Social Networks
Thunderbird Business School, Arizona
Misbah, N., and Sohail, S. (2023). Analysis
State University, US, in an international
project to understand and compare Gender DEI Toolkit: A guide to resolve is a hub of innovation, fostering a
the Pakistani culture and leadership implementation challenges (Volume culture of scientific exploration and
behaviors with 140 countries across II). Islamabad: MARC, FAST NUCES. technological advancement.
the world. Nadeem, S., Siddiqa, A., Jamil, J., Khan,
Some Key Project Highlights
Projects Completed with Brief Details N., Fawad, R., and Bano. A. (2022).
Gender DEI Toolkit: Best practices to 1. Redesign the process of
Pakistanis in Chinese Organi-sations E-recruitment which will be based
enhance gender equality in Pakistan
(PiCO): Project Code NRPU- on AI and enhanced analysis of
(Volume I). Islamabad: MARC, FAST
10188. The project developed an temporal data. The product will
NUCES.
understanding of the adjustment be an AI-powered recommender
process of senior Chinese expatriates Nadeem, S. and Mumtaz, S. system that will help local and
in Pakistan and the eventual impact (2020). PICO 2020: Examining the international organizations
of their adjustment on social identity Relationship between Pakistanis enhance their human resource
change experiences of Pakistanis who and Chinese Working in Chinese management process and shortlist
work under their direct supervision. Organizations in Pakistan. Islamabad: candidates.
MARC, FAST NUCES. 2. Non-Invasive Estimation of body
The Management Advancement and
Planning Study (MAPS): Project Code Nadeem, S. and Rahat, H. (2018). vitals through Smart Phone’s
NRPU 3457. The project provided MAPS 2017: A Study of HR Practices sensors and cameras.
a comprehensive account of the in Pakistan. 3. Incorporating modern technology
state of HR practices and working life Nadeem, S. (2016). Management in and methods to redefine the
inside Pakistani workplaces using data Pakistani Culture. , Islamabad: MARC, capabilities of law enforcement
collected from 404 organizations and FAST NUCES. agencies and help ensure public
3,472 employees. safety.

28 FAST-NUCES PROSPECTUS 2024

 Islamabad

4. To provide a foolproof road safety Duration: Mar 2019 – Sep 2020 Accounting Finance and Technology
system using existing resources (CRAFT) was established in 2022
Funding Amount: 8.06 Million Rupees
optimally and is dedicated to the advancement
5. Leveraging News Reuse Analysis Current Projects of quantitative finance, accounting,
and Visualization for Informed 1. Title: e-Doctor: Remote Health Financial Technology (Fintech)
Decision-Making monitoring of Patients through the creation and spreading
Research Group Members: of innovative knowledge. The CRAFT
Source of Funding: NUCES.
aims to enhance understanding of
1. Dr. M. Faisal Cheema
Duration: Apr 2024 - present accounting, finance, financial markets,
2. Dr. Ahmad Din
Funding Amount: 1.5 Million Rupees and Fintech through the application of
3. Dr. Usman Habib advance econometrics and statistical
4. Ms. Khadija Mehmood 2. Title: Natural Language Text
techniques and methods in micro
5. Mr. Saad Salman Generation fields of finance like accounting
6. Ms. Hira Masroor Source of Funding: NESCOM systems, asset management, security
7. Ms. Daniya Jadoon Duration: Apr 2024 -present pricing, analysis of stocks, and Fintech.
8. Ms. Sana Razzaq CRAFT serves as a platform for those
Funding Amount: 0.1 Million Rupees
9. Ms. Kanwal Naz researchers who are keen in empirical
Potential Collaborations and Grants: examination of significant Accounting,
Research Grants
1. Collaboration with Road Safety Finance and financial technology
Completed
Project (HEC-GCF) related issues. The key purpose of
1. Title: Re-Designing E-recruitment 2. Collaboration with University of this research centre is to encourage
using AI for Temporal Analysis Southern Denmark, Denmark for the collaborative discussions among
Source of Funding: National Center for Leveraging News Reuse Analysis academicians, policy makers and
Artificial Intelligence (NCAI), Pakistan and Visualization industry professionals to generate
3. Collaboration with CDA concrete solutions of business
Duration: Mar 2021-present problems. This research centre also
Islamabad to provide solutions to
Funding Amount: 14 Million Rupees turn Islamabad into a smarter city. bridges the industry-academia gap
4. Initial Collaboration efforts with especially in emerging economies.
2. Title: Cyber Threat Intelligence
using Open Source Intelligence NADRA to get meaningful insights Current Project:
from their existing data warehouse NRPU-HEC Funded Project entitled,
Source of Funding: National Center
solutions. “Title: Microcredit and Poverty
for Cyber Security (NCCS), Pakistan
5. Initial Collaboration efforts with Alleviation: An impact analysis of
Duration: Mar 2021 – Sep 2022 Safe City Islamabad to enhance Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan –
Funding Amount: 13 Million Rupees capabilities of law enforcement Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme
agencies. (YES)”
3. Title: Smart Navigation with
Intelligence for Visually Impaired 12. CRAFT (Centre for Research Research Group Members:
People in Accounting Finance and 1. Dr Muhammad Bilal Saeed
Source of Funding: Islamic University Technology) 2. Dr Adnan Shoaib
of Madina, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Centre for Research in 3. Dr Muhammad Yasir

PROSPECTUS 2024 FAST-NUCES 29