Malaika Mushtaq is a PhD student in Computer Science at the University of Galway, co-supervised by Dr. Ihsan Ullah and Prof. Michael Madden. Her research focuses on designing explainable lightweight neural networks, blending efficiency and interpretability to bridge the gap between AI model performance, explainability, and real-world deployment. At the Visual Intelligence Lab, she explores the intersection of computer vision, neural network compression, and explainable AI, aiming to develop more interpretable and efficient deep learning models.

She has worked on biomedical robotics, leveraging deep learning to analyze therapy robot usage and improve rehabilitation software. As part of a research team, she contributed to home rehabilitation studies using the H-Man robotic system, conducted in collaboration with Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the Singapore-ETH Centre. During her time at BIOMISA Lab, she worked on automated vertebrae localization and segmentation for spine analysis, gaining experience in medical image processing and computer vision techniques.

Supervisors: Dr. Ihsan Ullah and Professor Michael Madden

Ayman Abaid is a PhD candidate in Computer Science at the University of Galway, working under the supervision of Dr. Ihsan Ullah. Her research focuses on advancing deep learning techniques for cardiovascular medical imaging, with the goal of improving diagnostic accuracy and optimizing clinical workflows. Her specific research interests include 2D/3D segmentation, generative networks, and representation learning in medical imaging.

Ayman earned a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and a Bachelor’s degree from the National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (FAST-NUCES). During her time as a research assistant at the Energy Informatics Lab at LUMS, she contributed to research on national load forecasting and energy consumption prediction, addressing key challenges in the energy sector.

Supervisor: Dr. Ihsan Ullah 

Nakul Mehta is a Research Ireland funded PhD Researcher with the Centre’s for Research Training in Artificial Intelligence. He has completed Bachelors in Information Technology from DR BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology Jalandhar (NITJ).

Nakul,  has experience as a Data Scientist at Aramex and also completed a research internship at University of Galway, Ireland in the past. 

Supervisor: Professor Edward Curry

Rahul Ponnusamy is a Ph.D. scholar in the Data Science Institute, School of Computer Science, at the University of Galway, starting in October 2023, under the supervision of Dr. Bharathi Raja Chakravarthi and the co-supervision of Prof. Paul Buitelaar. His doctoral research is funded by the SFI Centre for Research Training in Artificial Intelligence (CRT-AI). Rahul completed his Bachelor of Computer Application (B.C.A.) at Guru Nanak College (University of Madras), Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India in 2020. He graduated with an M.Sc. in computer science, specialization in Machine Intelligence, at the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Kerala, India in 2022. He has seven months of experience in working as a Data Scientist at Techvantage Analytics, Kerala, India. He worked on a project called CDocz, an intelligent document processing. He joined Insight as Research Assistant in the Fidelity project, titled “Exploring Techniques to Detect and Mitigate Non-Inclusive Language Bias in Marketing Communications using a Dictionary-Based Approach” and “Few Shot Learning for Detecting Inclusive Languages comments”, with the Unit for Linguistic Data at the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics, University of Galway, during the period from February 2023 to September 2023. Natural language processing, deep learning, text categorization, code-mix, under-resourced language, bias, cross-cultural, multimodal, large language models (LLMs), and other related topics are the main focus of his research. Prior to beginning his Ph.D., he worked on research projects that included the identification of homophobia and transphobia, offensive language, emotion, hope speech, non-inclusive language, and abusive language.

Supervisors: Dr. Bharathi Raja Chakravarthi and Prof. Paul Buitelaar

Meet Mr. Dost Muhammad, a dynamic professional at the forefront of technological innovation, driven by a robust academic background and an unyielding passion for pushing the boundaries of technology. Armed with a BS (Hons) in Computer Science and a Master’s Degree in Artificial Intelligence, Mr. Muhammad is currently pursuing a Ph.D at the School of Computer Science, University of Galway, Ireland. His doctoral research delves into the intriguing realm of “Evaluating Explainable AI for Medical Image Processing: How Can the Interpretability Be Enhanced?” under the supervision of Dr. Malika Bendechache.

With a notable track record, Mr. Muhammad brings nearly seven years of valuable experience as a Lecturer in Computer Science, having contributed significantly to both government and semi-government universities. During this time, he supervised and mentored 27 undergraduate students, guiding them through the intricate landscape of Artificial Intelligence and fostering innovation in their final-year projects. Mr. Muhammad actively engaged in the organization of research conferences and symposiums, fostering a collaborative environment for both faculty and students.

Mr. Muhammad’s research interests are deeply rooted in Explainable Artificial Intelligence, coupled with the implementation of Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) techniques in interdisciplinary areas such as Health, Finance, Environment, and Disaster Management. His commitment to advancing knowledge is evident through various impact-factor publications in reputed journals, including a noteworthy book chapter.

Supervisor: Dr. Malika Bendechache

Adeel is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Computer Science, University of Galway since October 2022.  He is part of the Fourth Cohort of the Research Center for Training in Artificial Intelligence (CRT-AI) funded by the Science Foundation Ireland. He is working on Deep Learning-based Vision Navigation Enhancement for Autonomous Vehicles.

Adeel received his master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Institute of Space Technology (IST) Islamabad in 2018 and did his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from GCUF Faisalabad. He has also worked as a researcher at “Machine Learning for Healthcare Lab, at Istanbul Medipol University, Turkey” and worked on various neurogenerative disorder detection (i.e, Parkinson’s) using fMRI and 4D convolutional neural networks. Before that he worked as Lecturer at Chenab College of Engineering and Technology, Gujranwala Pakistan where he taught different courses in signal processing and machine learning. During his master’s, he also remained part of the Bio-signal Processing and Computational Neuroscience Lab (BiCoNeS), as a graduate research assistant and worked in EEG data analysis using Deep Learning.

Supervisors:

Dr. Ihsan Ullah and Professor Michael Madden.

Kevlyn Kadamala is a first-year PhD student in the School of Computer Science at the University of Galway, where he is supervised by Dr Enda Barrett and Dr Des Chambers. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from Fr Conceicao Rodrigues College of Engineering and a Master’s degree in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) from University of Galway. His research interests lie in the field of optimisation that involves population based strategies and reinforcement learning. His Master’s thesis involved searching for optimal neural network architectures for text classification with the help of the Genetic Algorithm and the NeuroEvolution of Augmenting Topologies algorithm. He has previously worked on the Cardamom project with the Unit for Linguistic Data in the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics, at the University of Galway. Currently for his PhD thesis, Kevlyn is working on optimisation techniques for solar PV generation using deep learning.

Supervisors: Dr Enda Barrett and Dr Des Chambers.

Asad has been a Ph.D. student at the SFI Center for Research Training in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science Institute, the University of Galway since November 2022. He is part of the Fourth Cohort funded by the Science Foundation Ireland’s Centre for Research Training in Artificial Intelligence, where he is researching Deep Learning Uncertainty Estimation in Autonomous Vehicles.He received his master’s degree in Computer Systems Engineering in 2019 from GIK Institute and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering in 2016 from UET. Asad’s MS thesis was focused on Computational Advertisement. He has expertise in computer vision, deep learning, and data sciences Asad has worked as a lecturer and research fellow at the Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision (iVision) Lab, Institute of Space Technology (IST), Pakistan, where he taught computer science courses and researched the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to object detection, satellite image analysis, document forensic analysis, medical image analysis, and deep object concealment. Previously he worked as a data scientist at VisionX.Currently, he is a core member of the iVision Lab and Pakistan Pattern Recognition Society (PPRS), an official chapter of the International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR) in Pakistan. Besides research and teaching, Asad has been a part of organizing committees for several local and international conferences, workshops, and summer schools for education, awareness, and training in artificial intelligence and entrepreneurship.

Supervisors: Professor Michael Madden & Dr. Ihsan Ullah