I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Future Technologies, University of Turku, Finland. He received his doctorate [DSc(Tech.)] from the University of Turku, Finland in 2019. Before that, in 2013 I had two master degrees: a master degree in technology [MSc(Tech.) with Networked Systems Security as major] from University of Turku, Commonwealth Executive MBA from Allama Iqbal Open University, Pakistan. I have another master degree in computer science (MCS) from International Islamic University, Pakistan.

I have served previously in some of the best organizations in Pakistan, such as the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, National Highways and Motorways Police, and the Higher Education Commission. During that time, I received several commendation certificates during his professional career, including one from the Prime Minister of Pakistan. I have also received higher education management related training from Leadership Foundation for Higher Education (LFHE). I was also selected for the US State Department's prestigious International Visitors Leadership Program in 2010.

My research focus is "where human meets technology". His multi-disciplinary research uses knowledge from disciplines such as sociology, psychology, and economics to understand human-technology interaction with a special focus on security and privacy. Apart from technology pre-adoption, continued-adoption, and post-adoption scenarios, I also have interests in phenomena related to the dark side of technology, such as techno-stress, cyberchondria, internet addiction, information overload, and similar. Improving the learning and engagement of the future and existing workforce, in the context of cybersecurity, is another area of his interest.

My recent research has appeared in impact factor journals, such as the Journal of Medical Internet Research (IF 5.43), and Information Processing & Management (IF 6.222), and JUFO-1 journals, such as Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services (IF 7.135), Technology in Society (IF 4.192), JMIR Medical Informatics (IF 2.96), Applied Clinical Informatics (IF 2.342), and Procedia Computer Science. I have also published in security conferences (IEEE TrustCom, IFIP SEC), HCI conferences (British HCI, ANT), and education conferences (IEEE EDUCON, IEEE FIE, IEEE ICALT) among others.

Note: If you are looking for a master thesis topic or a PhD in the areas mentioned above, feel free to contact me at alifar@utu.fi. You may also visit our lab web pages: https://sites.utu.fi/cyber/

Dr. Ali has been teaching "Human Element in Information Security", a master level course along with Professor Jouni Isoaho, since 2014. He also teaches a bachelor level course "Digitalization and Cybersecurity" to international students. He is also the teacher responsible for AI & Cybersecurity MOOC (https://sites.utu.fi/cyberai/en/).