Miss Orvila Sarker
Lecturer
School of Computer and Mathematical Sciences
Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology
Orvila Sarker is a Lecturer in the School of Computer and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Adelaide. She has 5 years of university teaching experience and 5 years of research experience in the area of human-centric software engineering, cybersecurity, and vehicular ad-hoc networks. She completed her PhD from the School of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, the University of Adelaide, Australia, in May 2024. After her PhD, she worked as a Research Associate at CREST at the University of Adelaide. Before starting her PhD in 2019, she worked as a Lecturer/Assistant Professor in the Department of Information and Communication Technology at Comilla University in Bangladesh from 2014 to 2019.
[This profile was last updated on 20 October 2025]
Research Areas and Interests
Orvila mainly works in the areas of Human-Computer Interaction, Usable Security, and Empirical Software Engineering. She published papers in leading software engineering and security venues such as the Journal of Systems and Software, ESEM, and Trustcom conferences. Orvila is passionate about incorporating diversity and inclusion in computing education, software, tools, and technologies. She is interested in developing LLM, NLP, and AI-driven personalised and inclusive technological solutions to address the usability and human-centric issues of existing educational and cybersecurity tools and technologies.
Through her PhD, Orvila gained experience in both qualitative and quantitative research methods. She has acquired knowledge in conducting systematic literature reviews, applying qualitative and quantitative research methods such as thematic analysis and grounded theory, conducting semi-structured interviews, and utilising Reinforcement Learning/Natural Language Processing techniques to solve cybersecurity issues and design user-friendly anti-phishing software and tools.
| Date | Position | Institution name |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 - ongoing | Lecturer | University of Adelaide |
| 2024 - 2024 | Associate Lecturer and Teaching Assistant | University of Adelaide |
| 2024 - 2024 | Research Associate | University of Adelaide |
| 2017 - 2023 | Assistant Professor | Comilla University |
| 2014 - 2017 | Lecturer | Comilla University |
| Date | Type | Title | Institution Name | Country | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Scholarship | Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre Scholarship for pursuing PhD | CSCRC | Australia | - |
| 2019 | Scholarship | Faculty of ECMS Divisional Scholarship from The University of Adelaide for pursuing PhD. | The University of Adelaide | Australia | - |
| 2012 | Award | University Grant Commission (UGC) award for achieving the highest score in Bachelor’s. | The University of Chittagong | Bangladesh | - |
| Language | Competency |
|---|---|
| Bengali | Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review |
| English | Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review |
| Date | Institution name | Country | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 - 2024 | University of Adelaide | Australia | Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) |
| 2012 - 2013 | University of Chittagong | Bangladesh | Master of Science in Engineering |
| 2008 - 2011 | University of Chittagong | Bangladesh | Bachelor of Science in Engineering |
| Date | Title | Institution name | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Google Professional Certificate on Foundations of Cyber Security | - |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2024 | Sarker, O., Jayatilaka, A., Haggag, S., Liu, C., & Babar, M. A. (2024). A Multi-vocal Literature Review on challenges and critical success factors of phishing education, training and awareness. Journal of Systems and Software, 208, 111899-1-111899-25. Scopus39 WoS23 |
| 2024 | Sarker, O., Jayatilaka, A., Haggag, S., Liu, C., & Babar, A. (2024). Understanding Practitioners’ Challenges and Requirements in the Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Anti-phishing Intervention. Journal of Systems and Software, 225, 26 pages. |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2024 | Sarker, O., Shen, H., & Babar, M. A. (2024). Reinforcement Learning Based Neighbour Selection for VANET with Adaptive Trust Management. In Proceedings - 2023 IEEE 22nd International Conference on Trust, Security and Privacy in Computing and Communications, TrustCom/BigDataSE/CSE/EUC/iSCI 2023 (pp. 585-594). Exeter, United Kingdom: IEEE. DOI Scopus3 WoS3 |
| 2023 | Sarker, O., Haggag, S., Jayatilaka, A., & Liu, C. (2023). Personalized Guidelines for Design, Implementation and Evaluation of Anti-Phishing Interventions.. In ESEM (pp. 1-12). Online: IEEE. DOI Scopus4 |
| 2020 | Sarker, O., & Kamrul Hasan, M. (2020). Routing protocol selection for intelligent transport system (ITS) of VANET in high mobility areas of Bangladesh. In Proceedings of International Joint Conference on Computational Intelligence: IJCCI 2018 (pp. 123-135). Bangladesh: Springer Nature Singapore. DOI |
| 2019 | Dey, R. C., & Sarker, O. (2019). Sentiment analysis on bengali text using lexicon based approach. In 2019 22nd International Conference on Computer and Information Technology Iccit 2019. IEEE. DOI Scopus5 |
| 2018 | Sarker, O., Hasan, M., & Istiak Chowdhury, N. M. (2018). A Secure Web Server for E- Banking. In 2018 21st International Conference of Computer and Information Technology (ICCIT) (pp. 1-5). IEEE. DOI |
| 2018 | Hasan, M. K., Majumder, M. M. R., Sarker, O., & Matin, A. (2018). Local Contrast Based Thresholding for Document Binarization. In 2018 4th International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Information & Communication Technology (iCEEiCT) (pp. 204-209). IEEE. DOI |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2023 | Sarker, O. (2023). User-Centric Design, Implementation and Evaluation Support for Phishing Interventions. (PhD Thesis). |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Sarker, O., Jamshaid, M., & Babar, M. A. (2025). Inclusive Employment Pathways: Career Success Factors for Autistic Individuals in Software Engineering. DOI |
Research Grants
| Grant provider | Project title | Year |
| University Grant Commission (UGC), Bangladesh | Design and performance analysis of finite impulse response lowpass filter using window method | 2017-2018 |
| University Grant Commission (UGC), Bangladesh | Design and development of a secure web server | 2018-2019 |
| Term | Course Code | Course Name | Role |
| Semester 2, 2026 | INFO1001 | Big Data, Machine Learning and Data Visualisation for Cyber Security | Course Coordinator |
| Semester 1, 2026 | ARTI6000 | Advanced Topics in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning | Course Coordinator |
| Trimester 3, 2025 | COMP SCI 7205A and COMP SCI 7205B | Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Research Project Part A and Part B (Capstone) | Supervisor |
| Semester 2, 2025 | COMP SCI 7100A and COMP SCI 7100B | Master in Computer Science Research Project (Capstone) | Supervisor |
| October to December, 2025 | ARTI 6000 | Advanced Topics in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning | Course Designer |
| Trimester 2 and 3, 2025 |
MATHS 7097A and MATHS 7097B |
Masters of Data Science Research Project Part A and Part B (Capstone) | Supervisor |
| Semester 2, 2025 | COMP SCI 1014 | Information Technology Project | Course Coordinator |
| Semester 2, 2025 | COMP SCI 2009 and COMP SCI 2009MELB | Programming for IT Specialists | Oversight Course Coordinator |
| Semester 1, 2025 | COMP SCI 7098 | Master of Computing & Innovation Project | Supervisor |
| Semester 1, 2025 | COMP SCI 7007 | Specialised Programming | Lecturer and Course Coordinator |
| Trimester 1, 2025 | COMP SCI 7717_7417 Combined | Applied Natural Language Processing | Lecturer and Course Coordinator |
| Trimester 3, 2024 | COMP SCI 4439_7412 Combined | Secure Software Engineering | Teaching Assistant |
| Semester 2, 2024 | COMP SCI 1013_1013UAC Combined | Introduction to Computer Systems, Networks, and Security | Teaching Assistant |
| Semester 2, 2024 | COMP SCI 4420_7007 Combined | Specialized Programming | Lecturer and Course Coordinator |
| Semester 2, 2024 | COMP SCI 4412_4812_7412 Combined | Secure Software Engineering | Teaching Assistant |
| Date | Role | Research Topic | Location | Program | Supervision Type | Student Load | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 - ongoing | Principal Supervisor | Understanding User's Privacy Practices using Large Language Models | The University of Adelaide | Master of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning | Master | Full Time | Eshrak Ahmed |
| 2025 - ongoing | Principal Supervisor | An LLM Powered Analysis of Real World Phishing Incidents | The University of Adelaide | Master of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning | Master | Full Time | Hasnain Hossain |
| 2025 - ongoing | Principal Supervisor | Demystifying Phishing Attempts: Leveraging Large Language Models and NLP Techniques | The University of Adelaide | Master of Computer Science | Master | Full Time | Sumaiya Tasmim |
| 2025 - ongoing | Principal Supervisor | Design of an Personalised AI Chatbot for Autistic Individuals | The University of Adelaide | Master of Computer Science | Master | Full Time | Sakib Mahmud |
| 2025 - 2025 | Principal Supervisor | AI Driven Emotion Aware Chatbot for User Interface Designers | The University of Adelaide | Master of Data Science | Master | Full Time | Aniruddha Biswas |
| 2025 - 2025 | Principal Supervisor | A VScode Extension and Python Library for Cyber Security Practitioners | The University of Adelaide | Master of Computing and Innovation | Master | Full Time | Yifan Li, Zuochang Yu, Shengming Wang, Zi Tao, Haotian Chang. |
| 2025 - 2025 | Principal Supervisor | AI Powered Augmented Security Knowledge Platform | The University of Adelaide | Master of Computing and Innovation | Master | Full Time | Cong Deng, Sheng Wang, Tianhua Zhang, Xin Wei, Yifan Gu |
| 2025 - 2025 | Principal Supervisor | AI Driven Tool for Supporting Software Developers in Addressing Security Challenges | The University of Adelaide | Master of Computing and Innovation | Master | Full Time | Yiming Qian, Rui Chen, Yiduo Chu, Yunsong Wang, Yan Ding. |
| 2024 - 2024 | Co-Supervisor | PhishGuide: An Anti-phishing Training Knowledge Base System for Cybersecurity Practitioners | The University of Adelaide | Bachelor of Computer Science (Advanced) | Honours | Full Time | Yen-Shuen (Jason) Huang |
| 2024 - 2024 | Co-Supervisor | PhishGuide: An Anti-phishing Training Knowledge Base System for Cybersecurity Practitioners | The University of Adelaide | Bachelor of Computer Science (Advanced) | Honours | Full Time | Dominico Tran-Nguyen |
| Date | Topic | Presented at | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 - 2024 | Anti-Phishing Training Programs: Understanding the Factors that can Sabotage or Support Your Efforts | Cyber Security and Social Influence Seminar in Adelaide | Defence and Security Institute and the Adelaide Data Science Centre | Australia |
| 2023 - 2023 | Reinforcement learning based neighbour selection for VANET with adaptive trust management | Exeter, United Kingdom | International Conference on Trust, Security and Privacy in Computing and Communications (TrustCom) | United Kingdom |
| 2022 - 2022 | Multi-Vocal Literature Review (MLR) on Challenges and Critical Success Factors for Phishing Education, Training and Awareness | Melbourne, Australia | Cyber Security Cooperative Research Center (CSCRC) student research symposium | Australia |
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