Bio: I am a Reader (Associate Professor) in the Information Security Group (ISG), Royal Holloway University of London (RHUL), UK, joined in Sep 2022. Before that, I was a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in the Secure and Resilient Systems (SRS) group, Newcastle University, UK, and a Visiting Professor at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, in 2022. Between 2016 and 2022, I was a tenure-track Research Fellow (Research Assistant), at Newcastle University, UK. Read page 13 of the ISG's Newsletter (2023) for a more detailed bio.

Education: I have a PhD in Computing Science (2013-16, funded by Newcastle University, UK), an MSc in Information Security (2008-11), and a BSc in Computer Engineering (2004-08), both at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (FUM), Iran. I attended the Iranian National Organization for Development of Exceptional Talents High School (SAMPAD, 2000-04). 

Research: I am interested in Cyber Safety, Security, and Privacy topics where the research projects are informed by real-world problems. Focusing on emerging tech, my research advances user agency and protecting vulnerable populations. I investigate the implications of IoT (e.g., smart cameras, health tech) through cross-platform and network-level analysis of tracking. My core objective is to mitigate digital vulnerabilities, empowering at-risk individuals (e.g., children and people with disabilities) to control their data through accessible, ethical, and policy-driven secure systems. I direct the Usable Security and Privacy (USP) Lab where my PhD students and Research Associates work on a number of exciting topics. 

I am a member of RHUL's Research Ethics Committee (REC) and the co-director of Research at the Information Security Department at RHUL. I chair and organise an annual event called CyberMi2 Research Day. See CyberMi2'23, CyberMi2'24, and CyberMi2'25.

Impact: My research has changed international standards (e.g., W3C sensor specifications), and fixed vulnerabilities on software products (e.g., Mozilla Firefox’s fix on Firefox 46 (CVE-2016-2813, reported as high impact), and Apple’s fix on Safari in IOS 9.3 (CVE-2016-1780)). My team's research is consistently featured in the national and international media e.g., sensor security in BBC and Guardian, FemTech security in Information Security Buzz, blockchain in CoinDesk, animal tech security in Telegraph, acoustic side channel attacks in CNN, etc.

Teaching: I teach an MSc module; IY5617: Usable Security and Privacy. Watch the taster video here. I also supervise MSc projects. For a list of previous and potential projects, visit here.