Speaker Details
Dr. Munira Bano
Career and research
My career journey, spanning over 15 years, commenced from humble beginnings in Pakistan as a Pashtun woman and has culminated into an internationally recognized career in academic teaching, research, supervision, and leadership. Emigrating to Australia as an international student in 2012, I successfully completed my PhD in Software Engineering by 2015 from the University of Technologies Sydney. Following my studies, I was employed as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow. From 2017 to 2019, I served as a lecturer at Swinburne University of Technology, subsequently serving as a Senior Lecturer at Deakin University from 2019 to 2022. Currently, I am part of the Responsible AI research team as a Senior Research Scientist at CSIRO’s Data61, leading the Requirements Engineering for Responsible AI team. I am also involved in projects focused on Diversity and Inclusion in AI. Moreover, I am actively fulfilling the role of a Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Officer at Data61. I have published more than 50 research articles under the main area of software engineering, in conferences. In 2018, my paper was selected for award of ‘Distinguished Research Paper’ at International Requirements Engineering Conference 2018 Canada and was runner up for best paper award in the same conference in 2019 in South Korea. Beyond the academia, my passion extends to advocating for Women in STEM, Diversity, and Inclusion, where I influence the community through public speaking and writing. I am the proud recipient of the 'Superstar of STEM' award from Science and Technology Australia (2019-2020), and I was honoured as the 'Under 40 Most Influential Asian-Australian Leader' in 2019. My dedication is further reflected in my volunteer roles as a member of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee of Science and Technology Australia and as an Ambassador for the Go Girl Go 4 IT Program for 2020-2021. The Pakistan Foreign Office acknowledged my leadership and advocacy in science and innovation by including me in their Honour List of Under-40 Leaders in August 2021.
Awards and honours
2023:
Finalist ‘Most Disruptive Woman in Tech’ in Asia-Pacific
2023:
Woman of Influence
2021:
Winner Category of Muslim Women in STEM - Australia.
2021:
Pakistan Foreign Minister’s Honour List.
2020 - 2021:
Ambassador - Go Girl Go 4 IT.
2019:
Winner Under 40 most influential Asian-Australian Leadership Award.
2020 - 2021:
Ambassador - Go Girl Go 4 IT.
2019 -2020:
Superstar of STEM.
2015:
Finalist Google Australia’s Anita Borg Memorial award.
2015:
Post Thesis Publication Award.
2014-2015:
Schlumberger Faculty for the Future Award.
2014-2015:
International Research Scholarship (IRS).
2012:
International Research Support Initiative Program (IRSIP)
Prof. Dr. Shoab Khan
Career and research
Dr. Shoab received his PhD degree from Georgia Institute of Technology, USA in 1995. He is the Chancellor of Sir Syed CASE Institute of Technology and CEO of Care Pvt. Limited. For his eminent industrial and academic profile, Dr. Shoab has been awarded with numerous honors and awards. These include Tamgha-e-Imtiaz Pakistan, HEC best researcher award and NCR National Excellence Award in Engineering Education.
Dr Shoab Khan received his PhD from Georgia Institute of Technology USA in 1995. Top Academician and Academic Leader: He is a celebrated academician who has taught in NUST and CASE for 24 years, led the Department of Computer Engineering of NUST as Head of the Department (HoD) and CASE as Chancellor, supervised/ co-supervised 30+ PhD theses and have 350+ international publications, and a world-class textbook published by John Wiley and Sons. He has been serving in the Senate and Board of Studies of Many universities.
Inventor and Industrial Leader: He has 5 awarded US Patents. He has extensive industrial experience in USA in companies like Cisco System, Picture Tel, and Scientific Atlanta. In 1999, he co-founded a startup Communication Enabling Technologies and raised $17 million in venture funding. He then established the Center for Advanced Research in Engineering (CARE) and has led it to become one of the most profound engineering organizations in Pakistan.
Awards and honours
He has successfully completed many funded projects from Ignite, HEC and international funded agencies. Currently, he is leading numerous R&D projects on Blockchain technology and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
In CARE he has been leading a team or around 250+ professionals to successfully deliver over a $100 million technology projects.
Industry & Academia Leadership Position Dr Shoab Khan is a member of three PM Task Forces as the focal person for developing mega PC-1s. He has been awarded NUST best teacher award, HEC best researcher and Tamga-e-Imtiaz Pakistan. He has led his team of CARE/CASE/NUST to win 11 Asia Pacific ICT Alliance awards for innovation and creativity.
He also served as Chairman PASHA and has been selected thrice to serve in its Central Executive Committee. He has also been serving in the Board of Directors of Shifa International Hospital. Experience as Regulator, Curriculum Development He has been serving as a member of NCEAC council and was its founding member. He also served the council as Deputy Chairman. He was also the coordinator in setting up the Curriculum of all computing programs and has also led the curriculum development for BS in Cyber Security.
Prof. BARKAN SAEED
Career and research
Mr. Barkan has more than 15 years of experience running different tech ventures including a software services company and a startup in UK. He served twice as the Chairman of Pakistan Software House Association (P@SHA), with some of the top industry leaders of Pakistan on his board. He helped drive the digital technology sector of Pakistan by helping develop training programs for skills with the Pakistan Software Export Board, special technology zones for IT companies. Barkan is currently working on a product that focuses on Training Large Language Models for a specific niche. His startup in UK has grown to more than 30 people in less than a year.
Founded Vizteck Solutions in 2007, a software development company providing web and mobile application development services to companies in USA, UK. Worked as Chairman Pakistan Software Houses Association in 2017-2018 and 2020-2021, an elected position representing the technology industry of Pakistan. where he worked on helping government create policies for the benefit of tech sector. He has been a a mentor for different startup incubators, accelerators as well as sits on the advisory committees of various universities in Pakistan. Barkan also worked as a CTO For a leading music startup in Denmark and led their development team. Currently leading a startup based out of united kingdom helping manage its sales, marketing and development team in Pakistan.
Awards and honours
- Contributing to National Curriculum Committee for designing the course content for Bachelors in AI, Software engineering.
- Volunteering for Proposals for PM Task For IT Pakistan for increasing IT Exports of Pakistan, skill development of Pakistani youth.
- Ex-Board Member PSEB & Policy Proposals for Pakistan Special Technology Zones.
- Advisory committee Member for Fast University and Air University Pakistan.
- Mentor for Founders Institute in Pakistan and for Invest2Innovate Accelerator in Pakistan.
- APICTA Awards Judge in China 2018 and the APICTA Awards Judge in Vietnam 2019.
- Ex-CTO for Truelinked.com (a musical industry startup based out of Denmark.
- Advisor for KPITB (KPK IT BOARD)
Mr. Baber Majid Bhatti
Career and research
Telecom operations management, Project Management, IT Planning & Strategy development, IT Operations Management, Service Delivery, SLA & KPI management & monitoring, Continual Service Improvement and Optimization, Outsourcing & co-sourcing Professional experience summary:
Skills summary:
Awards and honours
Provided strategic and technical consulting to the acquisition of a telecom service provider.
Conducted technical audit of a Data Centre in the Middle East and pointed out 17 critical areas of improvement
Conducted BPR (Business Process Re-Engineering) of an ICT organisation and discovered 52 anomalies in the BPM (Business Process Model)
Conceived and led feasibility studies for multiple technology transformation projects.
Strategised the strategic sourcing model for local manufacturing of smart lights in South Australia
Established GNOC (Global Network Operations Centre) & GSOC (Global Security Operations Centre) for providing managed services to global clients
Provided advice for mitigation of strategic risks to clients in the ICT & telecom industry.
Led a high-performing team on challenging projects and managed their levels of motivation during the transitions.