I am a Senior Lecturer and Academic Program Advisor for the Cyber Security and Behaviour program in the School of Social Sciences. I am also co-leading the University's Global Challenge initiative, 'Realising Digital Futures'. My research spans multidisciplinary fields, including cybersecurity, healthcare technology, and distributed networking, with a strong focus on mitigating online harms, misinformation, and fraud, particularly among vulnerable populations such as Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities, while fostering healthier and safer communities. My projects aim to work towards a sustainable future by addressing cybersecurity challenges in critical infrastructure (e.g, healthcare, water), smart cities, smart agriculture, and marine pollution mitigation, leveraging AI and human-centred digital technologies. I have led several projects on chronic diseases, including adolescent diabetes detection, skin cancer detection, reducing hospital readmissions, and assessing mental health conditions in the workplace using Artificial Intelligence Technologies. These studies examine how technology can be leveraged to facilitate early diagnosis, enhance disease monitoring, and facilitate data-driven public health interventions. My work also addresses the social and digital determinants of health by ensuring that the tools developed are accessible, culturally sensitive, and protective of user privacy and security.

I have secured multiple external research grants and was a key researcher in obtaining the prestigious Google exploreCSR funding for two consecutive years. In 2024, Western Sydney University was proud to be one of only 22 institutions worldwide to receive this award. In 2023, I led the successful delivery of the Google exploreCSR program with a diverse cohort of students under the theme: "The Development of AI and Machine Learning to Detect and Analyse Threats for SOC Operations at the Western Clinic for Cybersecurity Aid and Community Engagement (CACE)."

I am currently leading  'I Can Act, Lead, Defend: Co-designing a Cyber Safety Education and Training Program for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Communities' a project funded by Google exploreCSR. This initiative engages CALD populations in co-designing a culturally relevant cyber safety program.  I am also working with my other colleagues in designing a cybersecurity online bootcamp for women in war-torn regions, also funded by the Google exploreCSR grant.  My work is primarily collaborative, engaging academia, industry partners, and diverse communities. I enjoy mentoring emerging researchers from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, thereby expanding the reach and impact of my research and community engagement.

I have over 15 years of experience spanning academia and industry. I joined Western Sydney University as a Lecturer in 2021, following my role as an Associate Lecturer in the School of Computer Science at the University of Sydney. Prior to transitioning to academia, I held several roles at IBM, beginning as an IT Specialist and Application Developer and later advancing to Project Manager. At IBM, I contributed to B2B application integrations, web marketing, and development projects for the company and its business partners, driving revenue growth through digital innovation.

Despite experiencing several career breaks due to caregiver responsibilities—interruptions that have affected my research trajectory—I continue to meet these challenges with resilience. I love to engage in impactful research projects, actively applying for grants, publishing scholarly work, collaborating across disciplines and seeking to inspire others who have faced similar career setbacks. Feel free to contact me to explore potential research collaboration or support.

Some of the projects I am currently working on:

• Ensemble Learning for IoT Cybersecurity via Bayesian Hyperparameters Sensitivity Analysis
• A Digital Inclusion Study among the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Population in Western Sydney from Usable Security and Privacy Perspectives
• Unlocking with Heart: A Study to Evaluate User Experience of ECG-based Biometric Authentication
• Cybercrimes in Smart cities
• The application of Explainable AI in different industries
• LLM and Cybersecurity
• I Can Act, Lead, Defend: Co-designing a Cyber Safety Education and Training Program for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Communities
• Malak: An AI-Assisted Platform to Combat Health Misinformation in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Communities
• Multimodal Large Language Models for Misinformation Detection