Ali Babar

Professor Ali Babar

Professor

School of Computer and Mathematical Sciences

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.


M. Ali Babar a Professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Adelaide.

During the more than 18 years of my research career, I have individually and as a team lead carried out World leading research on many topics that are considered vital for industrial software intensive systems and services. For the last 5 years, my team and I have started mainly focusing on developing approaches and tools for engineering Secure Software Systems and Services for/with emerging technologies such as Cloud Computing, Edge Computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and Big Data. Technologically our research falls at the intersection of Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence (ML/NLP), and Cyber Security; methodologically we use empirical research methods, both qualitative and quantitative. 

Traditionally, I have carried out research in Software Systems Engineering, an area that is being increasingly considered critical to Cyber Security. The results of my research have been published in more than 240 peer-reviewed scientific papers that have attracted 9900 citations with h-index 49 according to Google scholar, 2 March 2021. This level of citations is among the leading Software Engineering researchers in Aus/NZ. Along with my collaborators, I led the authoring of a paper that was awarded the most influential paper for Australasian Software Engineering Conference in 2014 and several of my co-authored papers have received the best paper award at different international conferences. I have built and led high performing R&D teams that have successfully carried out high quality research, mostly in close collaboration with industry.

I led the University of Adelaide’s participation, involving 16 researchers from 6 schools, in a successful bid for setting up a Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CSCRC), whose estimated budget is around A$140 Millions over 7 years with A$50 Millions provided by the Australia government. I was one of the key players who led the development of the business case for establishing the CSCRC consisting of two programs (i.e., Security of Critical Infrastructure and Cyber Security as a Service). I leads the theme on Platform and Architecture for Cyber Security as a Service.

Our research is being carried out and evaluated in close collaboration with industry/government partners such as DSTActewAGL, TSS, ATO, Jemena, Cisco, DST Group, Health SA and Defence SA. We also have active engagements with the emerging Australian Cyber Security ecosystem’s key players such as AustCyber, Data61, DST Group, Oceania Cyber Security Centre, and Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre (AC3).

  • Appointments

    Date Position Institution name
    2013 - ongoing Professor University of Adelaide
    2013 - 2013 Reader (Software Engineering) Lancaster University, Lancaster
    2009 - ongoing Associate Professor IT University of Copenhagen
  • Education

    Date Institution name Country Title
    2003 - 2007 University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia PhD
    1998 - 1999 University of Technology, Sydney, Sydney Australia MSc Computing
  • Research Interests

  • Cyber Security CRC – SOCRATES: Software Security with a Focus on Critical Technologies, Ali Babar, M. and Gao, M., $2,105,000 ($564,559 UofA share), Nov 2022 – Oct 2024.
  • Cyber Security CRC – Platform and Architecture for Security as a Service, Ali Babar, M., A$685,400, Jul 2022 – Jun 2024.
  • DSTG/Maritime Division – Secure, Scalable and Energy Efficient Hybrid Clouds, Ali Babar, M., A$2,020,030, July 2021 – Jan 2024.
  • Cyber Security CRC – SCREED: Sharing Cybersecurity Data for Australian Research (SCReeD), Ali Babar, M. and Ullah, F., $540, 000 ($100,000 UofA share), Dec 2022 – May 2024.
  • DST - NGTF-Cyber, Rapid Situation Awareness using Network Knowledge and AI Reasoning, Stumptner, M., Ghose, A., Ali Babar, M., $643,471 ((A$183,698 UofA share)), Oct 2021 – Mar 2023.
  • Cyber Security CRC – Architectural Support for Security as a Service, Ali Babar, M., A$540,000, Jul 2019 – Jun 2022.
  • Cyber Security CRC – Architectural Support for Security Orchestration, Ali Babar, M., A$525,000, Aug 2019 – Jul 2022.
  • Cyber Security CRC – POKAPS- A Platform for Compiler- and Kernel-augmented run-time software patching as Service, Ali Babar, M., and Grainger, S., A$623, 000, Oct. 2020 – Sep. 2022.
  • Cyber Security CRC – Securing C3i of Smart, Next Gen Security Organisations, Ali Babar, M., Zahedi, M., and Lim, C-C, A$422,000, Oct 2020 – Dec 2021.
  • Cyber Security CRC – Cyber Common Operating Picture (CCOP), Ali Babar, M., Zahedi, M., Grobler, M., A$1,240,000 (A$870,000 UofA share), Aug 2019 – Jul 2021.
  • DSTG/WCSD – Research Program in Tactical Information Resilience (RePTIR) - Intelligent Information Technologies for Secure Distributed Autonomous Systems, Ali Babar, M., Lim, C., A$956,005, 2019-2022.
  • DSTG/WCSD – Research Program in Tactical Information Resilience (RePTIR) –Blockchain technologies for supporting Information Assurance in Distributed Tactical Systems, Ali Babar, M., A$1,098, 755, 2017-2022.
  • DSTG/Maritime Division – Secure, Scalable and Energy Efficient Hybrid Clouds, Ali Babar, M., A$481, 396, Nov 2019 – Oct 2020.
  • Cyber Security CRC – Architectural Support for Security as a Service, Ali Babar, M., A$540, 000, Jul 2019 – Jun 2022.
  • Cyber Security CRC – Architectural Support for Security Orchestration, Ali Babar, M., A$540, 000, Aug 2019 – Jul 2022.
  • Cyber Security CRC – A Set of Tools for Security Automation, Ali Babar, M., & Guo, M., A$195, 000, November 2018 - October 2019.
  • Cyber Security CRC – DevSecOps for Intra-Organisational Software Development Teams, Ali Babar, M., Zahedi, M., A$156, 000, May 2019 – Apr 2022.
  • Cyber Security CRC – Automated Security Configuration & Compliance in Virtualized Environments, Ali Babar, M., A$156, 000, May 2019 – April 2022.
  • Cyber Security CRC – Software Vulnerability Prediction as Service, Ali Babar, M., Liu, L., Zahedi, M., A$156, 000, Aug 2019 – Jul 2022.
  • Cyber Security CRC – Machine Learning for Security Configuration, Ali Babar, M., Shen, H., A$156, 000, Aug 2019 – Jul 2022.
  • Cyber Security CRC – Deep Extraction for Cybersecurity Relation, Ali Babar, M., A$111, 000, Oct 2019 – Sep 2022.
  • DSTG/Maritime Division – Energy Efficient Networks for Combat Systems, Ali Babar, M., A$132, 349, Jan 2019 – Jun 2019.
  • DSTG/WCSD – Research Program in Tactical Information Resilience (RePTIR) - Intelligent Information Technologies for Secure Distributed Autonomous Systems, Ali Babar, M., Lim, C., A$540, 000 (A$209,000 – 2019-2020 awarded, A$331, 000 – 2020-2022 agreed).
  • DSTG/WCSD – Research Program in Tactical Information Resilience (RePTIR) –Blockchain technologies for supporting Information Assurance in Distributed Tactical Systems, Ali Babar, M., A$560, 000, 2017-2020.
  • DSTG/Maritime Division – Secure and Scalable Private Cloud Research for Combat Systems, Ali Babar, M., A$ 680, 000, April 2017 – March 2019.
  • DSTG/WCSD – Research Program in Tactical Information Resilience (RePTIR), Ali Babar, M., A$371, 472, September 2017 - August 2019.
  • DSTG-NGTF/Data61 - Trustworthy Software Systems (Software Architectural Resilience) in Fog and Cloudlet Architectures, Ali Babar, M., A$75, 000, Apr 2018 – Dec 2018.
  • DSTG/SRI – Design for Data Farming Infrastructure, Ali Babar, M., A$60, 000, Mar 2018 – May 2018.
  • LIEF/ARC, (Co-PI with Sheng, M., Bouguettaya, A., Loke, S., Li, X., Liang, W., Benatallah, Yang, J., Zomaya, A., Wang, Y., Zhou, W., Yao, L., Taylor, K., Bergmann, N.), A Large-Scale Distributed Experimental Facility for the Internet of Things, $348,026, 2018.
  • DSTG-NGTF/Data61 - Trustworthy Software Systems (Software Architectural Resilience) in Fog and Cloudlet Architectures, Ali Babar, M., A$80, 052, Mar 2017 – June 2017.
  • DSTG/CERA - Swarm Intelligence and Genetic Fuzzy Trees for Threat Avoidance and Target Allocation, Lim, C., Shi, P., Chew, H., Ali Babar, M., A$ 99, 882, April 2017 – March 2018.
  • DSTG/CERA - Swarm Intelligence and Multi-Mission Coordination in Urban Areas, Lim, C., Shi, P., Chew, H., Ali Babar, M., A$99, 882, April 2017 – March 2018.
  • CSIRO/Data61 – Collaborative Research Project: Science of Cyber Security and Engineering Secure Systems, Ali Babar, M., A$719, 320, July 2016 – June 2019 (The PhD scholarships to be awarded based on Data61 competitive process).
  • Green Project Fund, University of Adelaide, Ecoversity Dashboard Extension, Ali Babar, M., A$9, 000, 2017-2017.
  • DSTG/Maritime Division - Computing Infrastructure Performance and Interoperability Research Cloud, Ali Babar, M., A$150, 000, May 2016 – April 2017.
  • DSTG/WCSD, Layered Approaches to Secure Systems with Fog and the Internet of Things (IoT), Ali Babar, M., A$29, 981, April – May 2016.
  • Ecoversity Program University of Adelaide – Green Project Fund, Smart Waste Management Gamification, Ali Babar, M., A$20, 000, April - December 2016.
  • DSTO/Maritime Division – Computing Infrastructure Performance and Interoperability Research ­ Cloud, Ali Babar, M., A$219, 699, July 2015 – April 2016, Contract Research.
  • D2D CRC – Reference Architecture for Defence Big Data Systems, Ali Babar, M., A$32,291, October 2015 – March 2016.
  • NICTA/SSEG – Architecting for Continuous Integration and Deployment, Ali Babar, M., A$104, 007 (over three years, A$34, 699 renewable annually), April 2015 – March 2018. 
  • DSTO/Maritime Division – Investigation into the Use of OpenStack for Submarine Mission Systems, Ali Babar, M., A$176, 400 – November 2014 – July 2015.

Following are the teaching responsibilities (Course design and delivery)

Software Architecture - Semester 2, 2017 (Graduate/Undergraduate)

Software Engineering Workshop I - Semester 1, 2017  (Undergraduate)

Software Engineering Project B - MSE - Semester 2, 2016 (Graduate)

Software Engineering Project A - MSE - Semester 1, 2016 (Graduate)

Software Engineering Project B - MSE - Semester 2, 2015 (Graduate)

Software Engineering Project A - MSE - Semester 1, 2015 (Graduate)

Engineering Software as a Service - Semester 1, 2015 (Undergraduate)

 

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2023 Principal Supervisor A blockchain-integrated framework for Big Digital Twin Data (BDTD) Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Zihao Lin
    2022 Principal Supervisor Exploring the Potential of Machine Learning Methods for Optimizing Software Delivery in DevOps Architecture Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Ali Kazemi Arani
    2022 Principal Supervisor Named Entity Recognition and Relation Extraction for Cybersecurity domain using Neural Networks Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Seyedehzahra Mosavi
    2022 Principal Supervisor Developing Cybersecurity Threat Detection and Prediction Framework using Natural Language Processing Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Mehdi Kholoosi
    2020 Principal Supervisor Open Source Software Security Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Yongzheng Xie
    2020 Principal Supervisor AI-Enabled Platform for Validation and Fusions of Security Threat Data Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Liuyue Jiang
  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2020 - 2023 Principal Supervisor Data Quality for Data-Driven Software Vulnerability Analysis Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Roland Lloyd Croft
    2019 - 2023 Principal Supervisor Understanding Socio-Technical Aspects of Software Security Patch Management Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Nishadi Nesara Munasinghe
    2018 - 2023 Principal Supervisor Towards Robust Machine Learning-based Cybersecurity: Investigating Adversarial Evasion Attacks in Data Exfiltration Systems Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Bushra Sabir
    2018 - 2022 Principal Supervisor Towards an Improved Understanding of Software Vulnerability Assessment Using Data-Driven Approaches Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Triet Huynh Minh Le
    2017 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Architecture-Centric Support for Security Orchestration and Automation Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Chadni Islam
    2017 - 2018 Principal Supervisor A Reference Architecture and a Software Platform for Engineering Internet of Things Search Engines Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Nguyen Khoi Tran
    2017 - 2018 Principal Supervisor Cloud Service Discovery and Analysis: A Unified Framework Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Abdullah Masod O Alfazi
    2016 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Towards Quality-centric Design and Evaluation of Big Data Cyber Security Analytics Systems Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Faheem Ullah
    2016 - 2022 Principal Supervisor Empirical Studies on Secure Development and Usage of Mobile Health Applications Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Bakheet Hamdan M Aljedaani
    2015 - 2018 Principal Supervisor An Empirical Study of Architecting and Organizing for DevOps Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Mojtaba Shahin
  • Position: Professor
  • Phone: 83134478
  • Email: ali.babar@adelaide.edu.au
  • Fax: 83134366
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Ingkarni Wardli, floor 4
  • Org Unit: Computer Science

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