Dr Rafi Ullah is an academic and researcher with more than fifteen years of experience in higher education, research, postgraduate supervision, curriculum development, and academic quality assurance. He holds a PhD in Computer and Information Sciences from the Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS), an MS in Computer System Engineering from Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (GIK), and an MSc in Computer Science from the University of Peshawar, Pakistan. Prior to joining the University of Central Asia, Dr Ullah served as Associate Professor at the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan. Previously, he was Associate Professor at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS in Malaysia and National University of Technology in Pakistan. He has also held Assistant Professor positions at Majmaah University in Saudi Arabia, COMSATS University Islamabad, and Air University, Pakistan. His earlier academic and research experience includes a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS and a Research Associate position at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom. Dr Ullah's research interests include Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Computer Vision, Medical Image Processing, Cybersecurity, Multimedia Security and Forensics, Digital Watermarking, EEG Signal Analysis, and Healthcare Informatics. His research has covered machine-learning applications in medical imaging, cognitive disease analysis, brain signal processing, image and video authentication, and cybersecurity.

He has served as Principal Investigator on several research projects funded through international and institutional research schemes, including projects on ransomware threat detection in IoT systems, machine-learning-based medical image security, EEG signal authentication, and medical image watermarking. He has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed journal and conference publications, including research published in IEEE Access, Applied Intelligence, Information Sciences, Computers & Electrical Engineering, and the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation. Dr Ullah also has experience in postgraduate supervision, including research in deep learning for medical diagnosis, AI-powered deepfake detection, and EEG-based brain activity analysis. His research achievements include four Malaysian patents related to EEG signal tracking and analysis, as well as a book on digital image watermarking. At the University of Central Asia, Dr Ullah will bring his extensive international academic and research experience to the Computer Science programme and contribute to teaching, research, postgraduate supervision, and interdisciplinary academic initiatives.