Zawar has more than 15 years academic experience in which he has effectively taught both post and undergraduate students. During his academic career, he has held many academic leadership positions in major universities and institutes. Zawar’s teaching philosophy is student centred, which enables him to create a fun and engaging learning experience for our students. His expertise lies in the areas of Cyber Security, Computer Networks, Cloud Computing, Internet of Things and Software Defined Networking.
Biography
Zawar Shah received Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia, in 2009. He has more than fifteen years of experience in teaching various courses related to Information Technology (IT) at the tertiary level. He has held various academic leadership positions including the Head of the Computer Networks Group, Research Coordinator in IT at National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan and Whitireia Community Polytechnic, Auckland, New Zealand, respectively. He is currently working as an Associate Professor in IT at the Sydney International School of Technology and Commerce, Sydney, Australia. He has supervised many postgraduate research students, published many research articles in leading journals and conferences. He specializes in Computer Networks, Wireless Networks, Cyber Security and Cloud Computing. His research interests include Security Issues in Internet of Things (IoT), Security Issues in Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Quality of Service issues (QoS) in Wireless Networks and Blockchain based Solutions to Mitigate Cyber Attacks.
Teaching Philosophy
Teaching is a form of communication majorly aimed at effectively transferring knowledge to students. A teacher needs to be well prepared, knows his audience, be passionate about teaching, develop students’ interest in the subject and creates an enriching learning environment. I have always been very concerned about teaching with quality and excellence. That is why; I spend significant time preparing every lecture, even if I have delivered it before. I utilize student centred approach for teaching which enables me to identify and address the issues faced by students in my lectures. I am comfortable in using many learning tools e.g., Kahoot, Mentimeter etc. in my lectures to enhance student engagement. I use both formative and summative assessment methods to assess the learning of students. I try to have an interactive session with my students and encourage them to ask questions. I believe in learning through group discussions which create a very positive environment where students can discuss and learn from each other. I mark my assessments and announce results within the time frame and provide with detailed feedback on submitted work using clear and concise language.
Academic Qualifications
2009 Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia.
2004 M.Eng.Sc. in Telecommunications Engineering, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia.
2003 Bachelor of Computer Systems Engineering, National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan.
Teaching Areas
- Cyber Security
- Computer Networks
- Cloud Computing
- Wireless Networks
- Computer Programming
- Web Development
Scholarship and Research Areas
- Security Issues in Cloud Computing
- Security Issues in Internet of Things (IoT)
- Security Issues in Software-Defined Networking (SDN)
- Quality of Service (QoS) Issues in Wireless Networks
- Blockchain based Solutions to Mitigate Cyber Attacks
Collaborations and Projects
Projects
- Deployment of an Internet of Things (IoT) based Wireless Sensor Network to Monitor Native Birds and Animals in Zealandia, Wellington, New Zealand
- Mitigating ARP Cache Poisoning Attack in Software-Defined Networks (SDN)
- Comparison of IEEE 802.11ac and IEEE 802.11n in Indoor and Outdoor Environments
- Design and Deployment of a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) Test bed
Grants and Awards
Research Grants
- Street Light Power Management System, AU$50,000 from Government of Pakistan
- Long-range, Ultra-wideband Sensor Test bed of Passive RF Sensors, AU$30,000 from Agilent Technologies, Pakistan
- Forensic Investigation of Remnant Data on USB Storage Devices Sold in New Zealand, AU$6000, Whitireia Community Polytechnic, Auckland, New Zealand
Awards
- Research Star Award for best researcher in the Faculty of Information Technology (IT) at Whitireia Community Polytechnic, Auckland, New Zealand.
- Faculty Development Program Fellowship by National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan to pursue doctorate (PhD) studies at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia.
- Recipient of National ICT Australia (NICTA) research scholarship.
Publications
Book Chapters
- Mirza, M. A., Khurshid, K., Shah, Z., Shah, F., Levula, A., & Klašnja-Milićević, A. (2022). Impact of Lesson Planning on Students’ Achievement Using Learner Profile System. In Handbook on Intelligent Techniques in the Educational Process (pp. 121-143). Springer International Publishing.
- Mirza, M. A., Khurshid, K., Hasan, A., Shah, Z. (2022). Correlating Universal Design of Learning and the Performance in Science at Elementary School Level. In Handbook on Intelligent Techniques in the Educational Process (pp. 269-298). Springer International Publishing.
Peer Reviewed Journal Papers
- Shah, Z., Kennedy-Clark, S., Xie, Y., Rahim, M.S., Mahdavi, M. & Levula, A. (2022). Teacher Views on Teaching Sustainability in Higher Education Institutes in Australia. Sustainability, 14, 8431.
- Mirza, M.A., Khurshid, K., Shah, Z., Ullah, I.& Binbusayyis, A. (2022). ILS Validity Analysis for Secondary Grade through Factor Analysis and Internal Consistency Reliability. Sustainability,14, 7950.
- Shah, Z., Kyaw, A., Truong, H.P., Ullah, I.& Levula, A. (2022). Forensic Investigation of Remnant Data on USB Storage Devices Sold in New Zealand. Applied Science,12, 5928.
- Shah, Z., Ullah, I., Li, H.,Levula, A. & Khurshid, K. (2022). Blockchain Based Solutions to Mitigate Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks in the Internet of Things (IoT): A Survey. Sensors, 22, 1094.
- Khurshid, K., Ullah, I., Shah, Z., Hassan, N., & Ahanger, T. A. (2021). Protocols for Transferring Bulk Data Over Internet: Current Solutions and Future Challenges. IEEE Access, 9, 95228-95249.
- Virdi, C., Shah, Z., Ullah, I. & Levula, A. (2021). Capacity Analysis of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) over IEEE 802.11ac Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security.
- Shah, Z., Levula, A., Khurshid, K., Ahmed, J., Ullah, I., & Singh, S. (2021). Routing Protocols for Mobile Internet of Things (IoT): A Survey on Challenges and Solutions. Electronics, 10(19), 2320.
- Shah, Z., & Cosgrove, S. (2019). Mitigating ARP Cache Poisoning Attack in Software-Defined Networking (SDN): A Survey. Electronics, 8(10), 1095.
- Shah, Z. (2018). Mitigating TCP Incast Issue in Cloud Data Centres using Software-Defined Networking (SDN): A Survey. KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems, 12(11), 5179-5202.
- Sabeil, E., & Shah, Z. (2018). Impact of Beamforming and Interference on the Average Throughput of IEEE 802.11 ac in a Typical Home Environment. International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, 18(11), 1-9.
- Shah, Z., & Kolhe, A. (2017). Throughput Analysis of IEEE 802.11ac and IEEE 802.11n in a Residential Home Environment. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Telecommunications and Networking (IJITN), 9(1), 1-13.
- Ullah, I., Shah, Z., & Baig, A. (2016). S-TFRC: An Efficient Rate Control Scheme for Multimedia Handovers. International Journal of Computer Science and Information Systems (COMSIS), 13(1), 45-69.
- Shah, Z., Kolhe, A. & Mubarak, O. (2016). IEEE 802.11ac VS IEEE 802.11n. Throughput Comparison in Multiple Indoor Environments. International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security (IJCSIS), 14(4), 94-101.
- Saleh, S., Shah, Z. & Baig, A. (2015). Improving QoS of IPTV and VoIP over IEEE 802.11n. Elsevier Journal of Computers and Electrical Engineering, 43, 92-111.
Peer Reviewed Conference Papers
- Shah, Z., & Kolhe, A. (2016). IEEE 802.11ac VS IEEE 802.11n. Throughput Comparison in Multiple Indoor Environments. In Wireless Telecommunication Symposium (WTS), London, UK.
- Shah, Z., & Cosgrove, S. (2015). Comparison of IEEE 802.11ac and IEEE 802.11n. Proceedings of the Weltec Whitireia joint Research Symposium, Wellington, New Zealand.
- Shah, Z., Suleman, A., Baig, A., & Ullah, I. (2014). Effect of Transmission Opportunity and Frame Aggregation on VoIP Capacity over IEEE 802.11n WLANs. Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Signal Processing and Communication Systems, Gold Coast, Australia.
- Shah, Z., Rau, S., & Dawood, S. (2014). Reliable Data Transfer using TCP in Cloud Computing Environment. Proceedings of the Weltec Whitireia joint Research Symposium, Wellington, New Zealand.
- Varghese, G. & Shah, Z. (2014). Transport Layer Protocols for VoIP over WiFi Networks. Proceedings of Whitireia Auckland Research Symposium, Auckland, New Zealand.
- Shah, Z., Baig, T., & Baig, A. (2013). AVHRC: A Scheme to Improve QoS for VoIP traffic. Proceedings of IEEE Australasian Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand.
- Saleh, S., Shah, Z., & Baig, A. (2013). Capacity Analysis of Combined IPTV and VoIP over IEEE 802.11n. Proceedings of IEEE Local Computer Networks Conference, Sydney, Australia.
- Shah, Z., Ilyas, U., & Khaliq, H. (2013). Evaluating Spectrum Occupancy in Islamabad using Long-range Ultra-wideband Spectrum Sensors. Proceedings of IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference, Las Vegas, USA.
- Zeeshan, M., Sattar, K., Shah, Z., & Ullah, I. (2013). Routing and Spectrum Decision in Single Transceiver Cognitive Radio Networks. Proceedings of IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference, Las Vegas, USA.
- Saleh, S., Shah, Z., & Baig, A. (2013). IPTV Capacity Analysis using DCCP over IEEE802.11n. Proceedings of IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference, Las Vegas, USA.
- Shah, Z., Baig, A., & Ullah, I. (2012). “State Aware Enhancement in DCCP for Multimedia Handovers” in IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference (GLOBECOM), Anaheim, USA.
- Ullah, I., Shah, Z., & Baig, A. (2011). “VoIP and Tracking Capacity over WiFi Networks”, in IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC), Budapest, Hungary.
- Shah, Z., & Malaney. R. (2007). “An Architecture for Location Tracking using SIP,’’ in IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference (GLOBECOM), Washington DC, USA.
- Shah, Z., & Malaney, R. (2007). “Reliability Issues in a SIP Based Location Tracking Architecture”, in IEEE International Conference on Wireless Broadband and Ultra-Wideband Communications (AusWireless), Sydney, Australia.
- Shah, Z., & Malaney, R. (2007). “Experimental Deployment of Particle Filters in WiFi Networks”, in IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), Glasgow, UK.
- Shah, Z., & Malaney, R. (2006). “Particle Filters and Position Tracking in WiFi Networks”, in IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC), Melbourne, Australia.