Dr. Reza Montasari is a Senior Lecturer in Cyber Threats at Swansea University's Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law. He holds a BSc in Multimedia Computing and MSc in Computer Forensics from the University of South Wales, and a PhD in Digital Forensics from the University of Derby. His professional memberships include Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and Chartered Engineer (CEng). Montasari’s research focuses on Digital Forensics, Cyber Security, and Cyber Terrorism, with over 50 publications. He has authored/co-authored books like Cyberspace, Cyberterrorism and International Security (2024) and Countering Cyberterrorism (2023). His work bridges technical and legal aspects of cyber threats, addressing AI’s role in counterterrorism and national security. He has held roles such as External Examiner at the University of South Wales and leadership positions in cybersecurity initiatives. His expertise includes IoT forensics, dark web challenges, and digital policing strategies. Montasari also collaborates with law enforcement agencies like Cheshire Police and advises media on cybersecurity issues. Key contributions include editorial board memberships, conference presentations (e.g., ICGS3), and contributions to cybersecurity policy development. His research emphasizes ethical AI applications, privacy rights, and mitigating cyber threats in modern societies.
Mohamed Hefeeda is a Professor in the School of Computing Science at Simon Fraser University (SFU), Canada. He leads the Network and Multimedia Systems Lab (NMSL) and previously served as Director of the School from 2018 to 2023. His research focuses on multimedia networking, mobile computing, cloud systems, and hyperspectral imaging. He holds an ACM Distinguished Member designation and has received prestigious awards including the NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplements (2011) and multiple best paper awards at top conferences like ACM MM and IEEE Infocom. Education: Ph.D., Purdue University, 2004 M.Sc., University of Connecticut, 2001 B.Sc., Mansoura University, Egypt, 1994 Research Interests: Design of efficient multimedia systems and protocols for wired/wireless networks Cloud gaming optimization and video encoding techniques Hyperspectral imaging for healthcare and mobile applications AI-driven multimedia systems and mobile computing innovations Grants & Industry Collaborations: Funded by NSERC, CFI, and companies like AMD, Huawei, and CBC Co-founded Video Semantics (acquired by tech firm) Partnered with CBC on peer-assisted content distribution systems Awards Highlights: 2025: ACM Distinguished Member 2019: Best Student Paper Award at ACM MMSys 2015: NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplements Labs & Leadership: Network and Multimedia Systems Lab (NMSL) at SFU Contributed to creation of Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI)
Diogo Barradas is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. His research focuses on network security, internet censorship circumvention, and anonymous communication systems. He holds a Ph.D., M.Sc., and B.Sc. from Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal. His work addresses challenges such as website fingerprinting defenses, programmable network security, and steganographic techniques for censorship resistance. Education: Ph.D., Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa (2021) M.Sc., Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa (2016) B.Sc., Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa (2014) Research interests include: Network traffic analysis and obfuscation Security of programmable network infrastructures Digital forensics and information hiding Covert channels in multimedia protocols His recent publications explore cutting-edge topics like time series analysis for website fingerprinting detection, distributed traffic correlation on programmable networks, and satellite-based censorship circumvention. These contributions highlight advancements in both theoretical frameworks and practical tools for privacy-preserving communication.
Kok Sheik Wong is a Professor and Deputy Head (Research) at the School of Information Technology, Monash University Malaysia. He holds a Doctor of Engineering from Shinshu University, Japan, and Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics from Utah State University, USA. His academic leadership and research excellence are central to his role at Monash. B.S. Computational Mathematics, Utah State University (2002) M.S. Computer Science, Utah State University (2006) M.S. Mathematics, Utah State University (2004) Doctor of Engineering, Shinshu University, Japan (2009) His research focuses on multimedia signal processing and cybersecurity , particularly in data hiding , reversible data hiding , coverless steganography , and multimedia encryption . He is also expanding into digital health , applying AI to mental health in workplace environments. His work aligns with UN SDGs, particularly in health and education. The recent publication trends show a strong emphasis on reversible data hiding , image watermarking , and AI-driven health applications . His interdisciplinary work spans computer science, engineering, and public health, with increasing focus on real-world impact through EU and national grants. He has received several honors, including: Academic of Science Malaysia - Young Scientist Network (2020) Best Paper Award, IWDW 2019 ITEX 2021 Gold Medal for BAITRADAR School of IT Excellence in Research Award (2022) Dr. Wong actively supervises PhD students and leads major research projects, including the EU-funded WAge project. He has served as an associate editor for IEEE Signal Processing Letters and the Journal of Information Security and Applications, and is a member of IEEE IFS and APSIPA technical committees. His grants reflect strong external collaboration and funding in cybersecurity and digital health. He is involved in key research labs and teams through Monash University and international consortia, particularly in the areas of multimedia security and digital health innovation. His leadership in the WAge project connects him with European and Asia-Pacific research networks, enhancing global impact.
Dr. Siqi Ma is a Senior Lecturer at the UNSW Institute for Cyber Security (IFCYBER) within the School of Systems & Computing at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). He previously served as a Lecturer at the University of Queensland's School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (ITEE). He holds a Ph.D. in Information Systems from Singapore Management University (2018) and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Data61, CSIRO. He also visited Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in 2015. Current Role: Senior Lecturer, UNSW Institute for Cyber Security Former Role: Lecturer, University of Queensland Education: Ph.D. (Singapore Management University), Postdoc (Data61, CSIRO) His research spans automated vulnerability detection, mobile security, IoT security, network authentication, and graph-based adversarial robustness. Recent work focuses on drone configuration bugs, Android malware analysis via GNNs, federated learning privacy, and credential leakage in open-source projects. Key trends in his 2024-2025 publications include automated security analysis for embedded systems, deepfake detection in multimedia, and privacy-preserving mechanisms for distributed networks. He collaborates with institutions like Purdue University, Singapore Management University, and CSIRO Data61.
Prof Apostolos Antonacopoulos is a Professor of Pattern Recognition at the University of Salford, leading the PRImA research Lab (Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis). He holds a PhD from UMIST (1995) and has held academic roles at the University of Liverpool and Salford. His expertise spans Document Analysis, Computer Vision, and AI applications in Cultural Heritage. Education: PhD in Computer Science, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), UK (1995) Research Interests: Digitisation of historical documents and large-scale data Image Analysis and Pattern Recognition AI-driven solutions for cultural heritage preservation Performance evaluation frameworks for OCR systems Recent Projects: Leading a £750K ONS-funded project (2020–2025) digitising UK census reports Europeana Newspapers (€4M EU project, 2012–2015) for European Digital Library SUCCEED (€1.8M EU project, 2013–2015) for digitisation competencies Awards and Roles: IAPR/ICDAR Young Investigator Award (2005) Former President of International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR) Editorial roles in IJDAR and IEEE Transactions on Multimedia Labs/Teams: Director of PRImA Lab, collaborating with institutions like British Library and Wellcome Library. Active in industry partnerships for digitisation solutions.
Kede Ma is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK). He received his B.E. from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2012, and MASc and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Waterloo in 2014 and 2017, respectively. From 2018 to 2019, he was a Research Associate with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and New York University. Prof. Ma has been named to the Highly Cited Researchers list by Clarivate Analytics in 2024 and currently serves on the editorial boards of IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, and IEEE Signal Processing Letters. Prof. Ma leads the Multimedia Analytics (MA) Laboratory, an interdisciplinary research group focused on computational vision, computational modeling of human visual perception, perceptual multimedia signal processing, quality assessment, and multimedia forensics. His research spans computational photography, high dynamic range imaging and rendering, omnidirectional video analysis, camera processing pipeline design, and artificial intelligence safety in multimedia systems. His work integrates machine learning techniques including reinforcement learning, generative modeling, self-supervised learning, and continual learning for multimedia signal processing applications. His recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on image quality assessment, deep learning for multimedia processing, and multimedia forensics. His work bridges theoretical computer vision principles with practical applications in multimedia systems. The research trends show increasing integration of foundation models with specialized multimedia processing tasks, particularly in quality assessment and security applications. Highly Cited Researchers list by Clarivate Analytics (2024) Best Paper Award at IEEE International Conference on Virtual Reality and Visualization (2021) Best Paper Runner-Up at International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence Workshop (2021) Top 10% Award at IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (2015) Finalist for the Governor General's Gold Medal, University of Waterloo (2017) Spotlight presentation at NeurIPS (2022) Highlight paper at ICCV (2025) Oral presentation at ICLR (2025) Prof. Ma advises numerous PhD students and postdoctoral fellows in the MA Laboratory. His research is supported by various grants enabling work in multimedia analytics, image processing, and computer vision. The laboratory maintains active collaborations with researchers at institutions including SUSTech, ZJU, and HIT. Current projects focus on advancing image quality assessment methodologies, developing more robust deep learning techniques for multimedia forensics, and exploring new approaches to HDR imaging and omnidirectional video processing. The Multimedia Analytics Laboratory maintains a strong focus on both theoretical foundations and practical applications of multimedia processing. Current research directions include integrating large language models with image quality assessment, developing more robust deepfake detection methods, and advancing techniques for continual learning in multimedia applications. The lab emphasizes rigorous evaluation methodologies and maintains multiple datasets for multimedia quality assessment research.
Shujun Li is a Professor of Cyber Security and Head of the Cyber Security Research Group at the School of Computing, University of Kent. He also holds a Visiting Professorship at the Department of Computer Science, University of Surrey. His research focuses on cyber security, privacy, AI applications, and human-centric computing. He leads the Institute of Cyber Security for Society (iCSS), a university-wide interdisciplinary research centre. Education: PhD in Information and Communication Engineering (Xi'an Jiaotong University, 2003), followed by postdoctoral research at City University of Hong Kong, Humboldt Research Fellowship at FernUniversität in Hagen, and a 5-year Zukunftskolleg Research Fellowship at Universität Konstanz. Research interests include cyber security (usable security, digital forensics, misinformation), AI safety, human factors, and socio-technical systems. He has published over 100 papers, with awards including the IEEE Guillemin-Cauer Best Paper Award and EPSRC recognition. Awards: Includes IEEE Transactions Best Paper Awards, EPSRC peer review recognition, and multiple conference best paper awards. Active in interdisciplinary projects like MACRO (cyber risks in mobility systems) and ACCEPT (reducing human-related cyber risks). Labs/Teams: Directs iCSS, co-founded Kent & Medway Cyber Cluster, and leads the Kent Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Cyber Security (KirCCS). Collaborates with industry and government agencies on cyber resilience and AI ethics.
Lily Rui Liang is a Professor and Director of the MSCS Program in the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She joined UDC in 2004 after completing her Ph.D. at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her educational background includes: Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno Dr. Liang's research spans cybersecurity , digital image processing , artificial intelligence , and computer science education , with a dedicated focus on broadening participation in computing . Her technical work includes deepfake detection and reinforcement learning for cybersecurity, while her educational innovations develop inclusive curricula for commuter and underrepresented students through Minecraft, robotics, and service learning. Analysis of her recent publications (2024-2018) shows a strategic evolution from core AI/image processing research toward educational interventions, particularly addressing commuter student engagement in urban settings while maintaining technical contributions in multimedia security and deep learning. Her scientific awards and honors include: Fellow of Center for the Advancement of STEM Leadership (CASL) (2019-2020) Fellow of Opportunities for UnderRepresented Scholars (OURS) (2014) Outstanding University Service Award from School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, UDC (2014) Myrtilla Miner Faculty Fellow (2012-2013) Frontiers of Engineering Education (FOEE) Conference participant, NAE (2011) Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) Summer Leadership Institute participant (2011) Preparing Critical Faculty for the Future (PCFF) program participant (2011) Dr. Liang serves as Co-PI on multiple NSF grants including the UDC-CSEC-ENGAGE Project ($399,924, 2024-2027) for cybersecurity workforce development, CUE-T: HBCU Learning Community ($654,004, 2023-2026), and the AI-CyS Research Partnership ($152,350, 2021-2024) with six HBCUs and national labs. Her mentorship is evidenced through extensive curriculum development projects targeting K-12 and undergraduate students, particularly women and commuters. She leads the MSCS program and coordinates the AI-CyS consortium researching video authentication and autonomous cybersecurity agents, establishing UDC as a hub for HBCU cybersecurity education and AI research.
Dr. Mike Seymour is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney Business School, specializing in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Digital Humans, and AI ethics. He holds a BSc, MBA, and PhD from the University of Sydney. His research focuses on photorealistic digital faces for immersive interfaces, blockchain socio-technical systems, and agile project management in creative industries. Dr. Seymour is a member of the Sydney Nano Institute and leads the Motus Lab. He has published in top journals like *Harvard Business Review*, *Communications of the ACM*, and *Information Systems Research*. His current projects include ARC-funded research on digital humans for anti-racism initiatives and adaptive AI for brain injury patients. He has received awards such as the SOAR Prize and ECR Researcher of the Year. His teaching spans CX, UX, and project management courses (e.g., INFS2040, INFS3080). Media engagements include ABC News, Sky News, and *The Australian Financial Review* for commentary on AI ethics and film industry trends. Education: BSc (University of Sydney) MBA (University of Sydney) PhD (University of Sydney) Research Themes: Real-time photorealistic avatars Deepfake ethics Agile methodologies in VFX Grants: A$450K ARC DP25 grant for anti-racism digital humans Earned $200K in industry partnerships (e.g., Epic Games) Labs/Teams: Leads the Motus Lab and collaborates with the Digital Human Research Group.
Fabrizio Falchi is a researcher at the Artificial Intelligence for Media and Humanities (AIMH) Lab of the Institute of Information Science and Technologies (ISTI) within Italy's National Research Council (CNR). He also maintains an associate position at the Biorobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. His work focuses on developing advanced multimedia retrieval systems, with the VISIONE platform being his most notable contribution, which has won international competitions including the Video Browser Showdown in 2024 and placed second in 2023. Falchi's educational background includes: Ph.D. in Information Engineering from University of Pisa (Italy) Ph.D. in Informatics from Faculty of Informatics of Masaryk University of Brno (Czech Republic) M.B.A. from Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa His research spans deep learning, convolutional neural networks, deep features extraction, similarity search algorithms, distributed indexing systems, multimedia information retrieval, computer vision applications, and peer-to-peer systems. Falchi has made significant contributions to fine-grained visual understanding, cross-modal retrieval (particularly image-text matching), and robustness of deep learning systems against adversarial attacks. His work demonstrates a strong focus on practical applications of these technologies, particularly in video retrieval systems and safety monitoring solutions. Analysis of Falchi's recent publications reveals a strong focus on video and image retrieval systems, with the VISIONE platform being central to his work. His research shows increasing emphasis on fine-grained understanding in computer vision, cross-modal retrieval, and addressing practical challenges like cross-resolution face recognition. Recent work demonstrates innovation in making these systems more efficient through techniques like knowledge distillation (ALADIN) and leveraging virtual worlds for training data. His publications consistently bridge theoretical advances with practical applications in surveillance, safety monitoring, and multimedia search. Falchi's work has received significant recognition: Best paper award at CBMI 2024 for 'Is ClLIP the main roadblock for fine-grained open-world perception?' VISIONE 2024 won the Video Browser Showdown competition in Amsterdam VISIONE obtained second place at Video Browser Showdown 2023 in Bergen Best Paper Award for 'Learning Safety Equipment Detection using Virtual Worlds' at CBMI 2019 Falchi collaborates extensively with researchers at ISTI-CNR, particularly within the AIMH Lab. His work on VISIONE involves collaboration with Giuseppe Amato, Paolo Bolettieri, Fabio Carrara, Claudio Gennaro, Nicola Messina, Lucia Vadicamo, and Claudio Vairo. As co-chair of Ital-IA 2023, the 3rd National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, he plays an active role in the academic community. He is a member of ACM (since 2012), the Computer Vision Foundation, the Italian Association for Computer Vision Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning (CVPL), and the CINI Lab on Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Systems. Falchi is a key member of the Artificial Intelligence for Media and Humanities (AIMH) Lab at ISTI-CNR, where he leads research on video retrieval systems. The lab has developed the award-winning VISIONE platform, which combines multiple scientific results in content-based video retrieval. His team focuses on developing systems that enable users to search for target videos using textual prompts, drawing objects and colors, or images as query examples. The lab's work demonstrates strong interdisciplinary collaboration, bridging computer science with practical applications in media, safety monitoring, and urban environments.
Willem Jonker is a Full Professor at the Digital Society Institute, specializing in Semantics, Cybersecurity & Services. His research focuses on encryption schemes, access control, and privacy-preserving technologies. He has contributed to over 120 publications, with recent work addressing CVE-to-CWE mapping, anomaly detection in network traffic, and functional encryption systems. His expertise aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goals related to secure digital systems and privacy. Jonker has supervised 10 students and actively participates in academic conferences, presenting on topics like secure data management and cryptographic protocols. Research interests include cryptographic protocols, secure data management, and cybersecurity solutions. Notable projects involve developing methods for detecting covert channels, enhancing data privacy in healthcare, and improving secure search over encrypted data. He has also contributed to standards in digital rights management and forensic image recognition.
Christophe Charrier is a Full Professor in Forensics and AI at Université de Caen Normandie, affiliated with GREYC UMR CNRS 6072 and IUT Grand Ouest Normandie's Multimedia and Internet Department (Dept. MMI). He obtained his PhD in Computer Science from Université Jean Monnet (Saint-Etienne) in 1998, followed by an HDR (Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches) in 2011 from Université de Caen Normandie. His academic journey includes roles as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Université Laval (1998-2001), Associate Professor at IUT Saint-Lô (2001), and Visiting Scholar/Professor positions at University of Texas at Austin (2008) and University of Sherbrooke (2009-2011). His research focuses on Digital Image and Video Forensics (e.g., deepfake detection), Image/Video Quality Assessment , Computational Vision , and Biometrics (fingerprint quality, template update, presentation attack detection). He leads the SAFE research group since 2016 and collaborates with the E-payment & Biometrics team at GREYC. His work integrates machine learning for quality metrics, biometric system evaluation, and forensic analysis. Recent publications highlight advancements in deepfake detection , 3D mesh quality assessment , and biometric security . Articles span journals like Intelligent Service Robotics (2024), IEEE Access (2024), and conferences such as CORESA (2024) and Cyberworlds (2023-2024). His studies on fingerprint systems, behavioral biometrics, and environmental impacts on data quality underscore his interdisciplinary approach. Scientific Awards : Best PhD Paper Award (ASONAM 2022) Best Full Paper Award (CW2022) He has mentored 14 PhD students since 2003, including notable alumni like Xinwei Liu (Zhejiang Wanli University) and Antoine Cabana (ALTEN, Toulouse). His projects span biometric certification, latent space manipulation, and 3D mesh evaluation, often in collaboration with institutions in Canada, Norway, and Morocco.
Thaier Hayajneh , Ph.D., is a University Professor at Fordham University's Department of Computer and Information Sciences. He serves as Founder Director of the Fordham Center for Cybersecurity and Program Director for the MS in Cybersecurity program. Previously, he held academic roles at New York Institute of Technology and Hashemite University in Jordan. Specializes in cybersecurity, networking, and applied cryptography Focus areas include blockchain, IoT security, and wireless network vulnerabilities Active in NSF cybersecurity review panels and as a CAE reviewer for NSA Recipient of peer-review awards from Publons His research spans secure protocols for medical IoT systems, lightweight cryptographic algorithms, and smart contract implementations in healthcare. Publications in IEEE IoT Journal, IEEE Systems Journal, and Journals like Future Generation Computer Systems demonstrate his expertise in securing emerging technologies. Dr. Hayajneh has received research funding from federal agencies including NSA, Department of Defense, and NSF. He has published over 80 papers and maintains active editorial roles in prestigious journals. Scientific Awards: Peer-review awards from Publons
Vassilis Christophides is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Crete and holds an advanced research position at Inria Paris, where he leads work in the MiMove team. His research spans databases, web information systems, big data processing, and IoT analytics, with a strong emphasis on entity resolution, data integration, and scalable data mining. He has supervised numerous research projects funded by the European Union and the Greek State, and has published over 130 articles in top-tier conferences and journals. Research Interests: His primary research areas include Databases, Web Information Systems, Big Data Processing and Analytics, and Information Systems for the Internet of Things. He also focuses on entity resolution, knowledge graphs, streaming data, and explainable AI, particularly in the context of anomaly detection and fairness-aware data systems. His recent work explores hybrid attention models for entity alignment and causal analysis in time series classification. Recent Research Trends: Analysis of his recent publications (2021–2025) reveals a strong focus on entity resolution with fairness constraints, explainable anomaly detection, and adaptive scheduling in IoT edge analytics. He also investigates deepfake detection, crop type mapping using satellite data, and structural bias in knowledge graphs, demonstrating a broad and impactful research portfolio at the intersection of data management and machine learning. Scientific Awards: 2004 SIGMOD Test of Time Award Best Paper Award, ISWC 2003 Best Paper Award, ISWC 2007 Advising and Grants: While specific student names are not listed in the provided texts, Christophides has co-authored numerous papers with researchers such as Vasilis Efthymiou, Ioannis Tsamardinos, and Nikolaos Myrtakis, suggesting active mentorship. He has been the scientific coordinator of multiple EU and national research projects, indicating substantial grant leadership and project management experience. Labs and Teams: He is affiliated with the MiMove team at Inria Paris, a research group focused on mobility and data-intensive systems. His work bridges academic and applied research, leveraging Inria’s infrastructure for large-scale data experimentation and innovation in IoT and edge computing environments.
