QoL-PwD - 2nd Workshop on Smart Cities: Improving Quality of Life of People with Disabilities (2023) 

Workshop Summary  

The rapid pace of innovation and advances in technological research have given hope to people with disabilities to find ways to move around smart cities and have a better quality of life (QoL). Through the use of artificial intelligence (AI), availability of data, high bandwidth, a large number of connected devices, and the citizens' collaboration in a smart city, the lives of people with disabilities can be improved by providing them with more independence and safety. Moreover, smart cities also support sustainable economic growth and the well-being of their citizens; therefore, their development relies on strong ICT infrastructure. With a rise in smartphones and wearable devices and the surge in the adoption of AI, the Internet of Things (IoT) and Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR)/(AR) have provided aspiration for people with disabilities to lead a better QoL. The main sectors that could be improved to cater for people with disabilities in smart cities are public areas, transportation systems, and home systems, to name a few. Recent technological advancements have provided new opportunities for building smart cities catering to an elderly population and citizens with disabilities. 

Workshop's Scope and Aim 

In today’s busy world, accessing information, performing everyday tasks independently, and engaging in education or employment are crucial for individuals with disabilities. Therefore, it is essential to enable them to lead fulfilling everyday lives. Furthermore, with the help of ubiquitous computing, individuals with disabilities can engage and interact with other humans and their surroundings anytime and anywhere. Some of the challenges faced by the elderly and people with disabilities in cities and societies today are primarily associated with mobility and navigating through known and unknown obstacles. In smart cities, ICT solutions can help mitigate these challenges and improve accessibility. The features that should be considered for building smart cities for people with disabilities include smart homes, smart transportation, social interactions, smart healthcare, and e-learning platforms. These features need to be supported by proper legislation to ensure inclusivity and accessibility for all. While smart cities offer the potential to enhance the quality of life for individuals with disabilities, privacy and cybersecurity risks need to be addressed during the development of smart systems. However, with proper protocols and security measures, smart cities can reduce environmental degradation, promote sustainability, and improve the well-being of their citizens. The adoption of smart cities, particularly in the context of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL), is still in its early stages. User acceptance, accessibility, privacy, and security are prerequisites for smart cities to achieve sustainable success. This workshop aims to present state-of-the-art papers in the domain of Smart Cities to Improve Mobility and Quality of Life for people with disabilities, including a focus on e-learning platforms and intelligent tools. Researchers are invited to contribute innovative and original research papers or insightful review papers. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following areas. 

Topics of Interest 

• Ambient Assisted Living (AAL)

• Public areas in smart cities for people with disabilities 

• Transport systems in smart cities for people with disabilities 

• Homes of people with disabilities in smart cities 

• Obstacle detection and space perception 

• Crowdsourcing to help people with disabilities in smart cities 

• IoT applications for people with disabilities 

• Artificial Intelligence solutions for people with disabilities 

• Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) solutions for people with disabilities 

• Smart living 

• Smart health  

• Smart education 

• Users’ experience in smart cities 

• Security, privacy and trust in smart cities 

• E-learning platforms for people with disabilities in smart cities 

• Enhancing accessibility and inclusivity in online education for disabled students 

• Smart/intelligent tools for facilitating education for people with disabilities in smart cities 

Workshop Chairs

Dr. Ikram Ur Rehman

Vice Chair IEEE Smart Cities – Awards and Recognition

Affiliation: School of Computing and Engineering, University of West London, United Kingdom 

Email: ikram.rehman@uwl.ac.uk 

Biography: Dr. Ikram Ur Rehman (Member IEEE) received a PhD in Mobile Healthcare from the United Kingdom. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science and the Course Director for an MSc in Health Informatics at the University of West London, UK. He has been involved in many national and international e-health and e-learning projects. These projects include chronic disease management (e.g., diabetes, COPD, and cancer), social robotics, decision support systems, behavioural change management, telehealth, and telecare in developing countries. Currently, he is leading a British Council-funded project on e-learning, which aims to augment online teaching and learning pedagogies through the use of AI. In addition, he is passionate about creating innovative and integrated diagnostic technologies, helping citizens make their own reliable health diagnoses anywhere and anytime. He is knowledgeable in body area networks, personal area networks, the Internet of Things, the Web of Things, and 4G/5G/6G communications. His expertise includes big data analytics and visualisations, medical mobile multimedia communication including image and video processing, analysis and streaming, service quality, and experience from the medical perspective. He is the author or co-author of more than 30 journals, peer-reviewed conferences, and book chapters. He has around 10 years of experience in telemedicine/mobile health. He is the Vice Chair of the Awards and Recognition Committee of IEEE Smart Cities, a member of the editorial boards, review panels for many transactions and journals and a committee member of many international conferences. In addition, he has been an invited speaker at many industrial, scientific, and governmental events. He is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and a member of the Institute of Engineering Technology (IET) and the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS). 

Dr. Moustafa Mazin Nasralla 

Secretary IEEE Smart Cities – Awards and Recognition

Affiliation: Department of Communications and Networks Engineering, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 

Email: mnasralla@psu.edu.sa 

Biography: Dr. Moustafa M. Nasralla (Senior Member IEEE) received a B.Sc. degree (Hons.) in electrical engineering from Hashemite University, Jordan, in 2010, the M.Sc. degree in networking and data communications from Kingston University, London, U.K., in 2011, and the PhD degree from the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing (SEC), Kingston University, London, UK. He is an Associate Professor at the Department of Communications and Networks Engineering, Prince Sultan University (PSU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He has published over 60 articles in high-impact factor journals and reputable conferences. His research interests include the latest generation of wireless communication systems (e.g., 6G, 5G, LTE A, and LTE wireless networks), wireless sensor networks, network security, the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, radio resource allocation, telemedicine and video compression, and multimedia communications. He is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). He is currently the leader of the Smart Systems Engineering Laboratory (SSEL)at PSU. He was a member of the Wireless Multimedia and Networking (WMN) Research Group at Kingston University. He served as an Active Reviewer and received several distinguished reviewer awards from several reputable journals, such as IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Wireless Communications (Elsevier), and Computer Network (Elsevier). He has solid research contributions in networks and data communications, proven with publications in reputable journals with ISI Thomson JCR. He has won several national and internationally funded projects, such as Intelli-Student for British Council, 5G-enabled Smart City Development in Saudi Arabia, U.K. Home Office, and EU FP7 CONCERTO. Currently, he is serving as a Guest Editor for Alexandria Engineering Journal (Elsevier), International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks (SAGE), Journal of Communications and Networks (Frontiers) and an Organizer of the International Conference on Sustainability: Developments and Innovations, and the 5G-Enabled Smart Cities workshop in the IEEE International Conference on Smart Cities. Moreover, he is a Senior Member of IEEE Young Professionals, IEEE ComSoc, and the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM).

Dr. Drishty Sobnath 

Affiliation: Faculty of Business, Law and Digital Technologies, Solent University, Southampton, United Kingdom 

Email: drishty.sobnath@solent.ac.uk

Biography: Dr. Drishty Sobnath is a Senior Lecturer in data science and artificial intelligence. She was awarded her PhD in Software Engineering from Kingston University, London. Her research focused on the design and evaluation of m-health systems for patients with chronic conditions. Drishty has been working on the WELCOME EU funded project (2013-2017), which aimed at providing an integrated care platform to support COPD patients suffering from different comorbidities in five EU countries as part of her doctoral thesis. Her work included implementation and testing of IoT solutions, wearables and mobile application development to improve lifestyle and self-management of the chronic condition. She has also developed an Android application (CANAdvice) to help cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment to self-manage their side effects and receive real-time advice from the platform. Drishty is a member of the Technical Program Committee for IEEE Global Communications (Globecom 2018) and a member of the British Computer Society. She has presented her work at several local and international conferences.

Dr. Laden Husamaldin 

Chair IEEE Smart Cities – Awards and Recognition

Affiliation: School of Computing and Engineering, University of West London, United Kingdom 

Email: laden.aldin@uwl.ac.uk 

Biography: Dr Laden Husamaldin (Member IEEE) holds the position of Associate Professor in Information Systems and Project Management. She earned her PhD in Information Systems from Brunel University in London, United Kingdom. Laden serves as the Course Director for the BSc in Information Technology and has accumulated more than ten years of academic experience. She also brings a wealth of industry knowledge through her extensive consultancy work with private and public clients. Her research primarily focuses on Information Systems Development (ISD), emphasising business and software modelling, model-driven information systems development, and project management. Her research interests span various areas, including analytics, business modelling, project management, data visualisation, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine learning. Laden has published numerous articles in esteemed journals and conferences and has a reputation as a reviewer and program committee member for various journals and conferences. In addition, she holds the position of Chair of the Awards and Recognition Committee of IEEE Smart Cities. Laden is often invited as a guest speaker and session chair at prestigious industrial and academic conferences and workshops. Her expertise and extensive experience make her a valuable Information Systems and Project Management asset. She is recognised as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and is a member of the British Computing Society (BCS) and IEEE Engineering. 

Dr. Nagham Saeed 

Biography: Dr Nagham Saeed is an Associate Professor in electrical and electronics at the University of West London, UK. Since 2007, Dr Saeed has been teaching and researching in the area of electrical and electronic engineering. Dr Saeed heads the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) research group. In 2011, she completed her PhD research titled "Intelligent MANET optimisation system" at Brunel University, UK. She has written extensively on energy-efficient intelligent systems in smart cities using artificial intelligence and optimisation approaches. Dr Saeed has published a respectable number of high-quality publications in well-known international journals related to various disciplines, including telecommunications, modelling and simulating, industry applications, information, and smart power. She has been an expert reviewer and guest editor for top-rank international scientific journals, conferences, and workshops. She has been a member of many Technical Programme Committees and Editorial Boards. Dr Saeed is one of the editors of the journals: Smart Applications of 5G Network and Engineering Future Sustainability. Dr Saeed is a Senior HEA Fellow, an IET member, a senior member of IEEE, IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) UK & Ireland (UKI) Chair, and IEEE UKI WIE Early Profession Lead. She mentors early career engineers. She promotes women engineers and scientists aiming to change the face of electrical engineering. Dr Saeed won the IEEE Region 8 Outstanding Women in Engineering Section Volunteer Award 2022. 

Invited Keynote Speakers

Dr. Moustafa Nasralla 

Workshop Chair 

Biography: Dr Moustafa M. Nasralla (Senior Member IEEE) received a B.Sc. degree (Hons.) in electrical engineering from Hashemite University, Jordan, in 2010, the M.Sc. degree in networking and data communications from Kingston University, London, U.K., in 2011, and the PhD degree from the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing (SEC), Kingston University, London, UK. He is an Associate Professor at the Department of Communications and Networks Engineering, Prince Sultan University (PSU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He has published over 60 articles in high-impact factor journals and reputable conferences. His research interests include the latest generation of wireless communication systems (e.g., 6G, 5G, LTE A, and LTE wireless networks), wireless sensor networks, network security, the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, radio resource allocation, telemedicine and video compression, and multimedia communications. He is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). He is currently the leader of the Smart Systems Engineering Laboratory (SSEL)at PSU. He was a member of the Wireless Multimedia and Networking (WMN) Research Group at Kingston University. He served as an Active Reviewer and received several distinguished reviewer awards from several reputable journals, such as IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Wireless Communications (Elsevier), and Computer Network (Elsevier). He has solid research contributions in networks and data communications, proven with publications in reputable journals with ISI Thomson JCR. He has won several national and internationally funded projects, such as Intelli-Student for British Council, 5G-enabled Smart City Development in Saudi Arabia, U.K. Home Office, and EU FP7 CONCERTO. Currently, he is serving as a Guest Editor for Alexandria Engineering Journal (Elsevier), International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks (SAGE), Journal of Communications and Networks (Frontiers) and an Organizer of the International Conference on Sustainability: Developments and Innovations, and the 5G-Enabled Smart Cities workshop in the IEEE International Conference on Smart Cities. Moreover, he is a Senior Member of IEEE Young Professionals, IEEE ComSoc, and the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM).

Technical Programme Committee (TPC) Members 

Sara Paiva, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Portugal 

Bilyaminu Auwal Romo, University of East London, UK 

Ikechukwu Maduka, Coventry University, UK

Ijaz Ul Haq, University De Lleida, Spain 

Bilal Qureshi, University of Lakki Marwat, Pakistan 

Danish Mehmood, SZABIST, Pakistan 

Muhammad Imran Aslam, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan 

Muhammad Zeeshan Shakir, University of West Scotland, UK 

Muhammad Khurram, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan 

Naveed-ul-Hassan, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan 

Sunila Akbar, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan 

Abdullah Alsharif, Taibah University, Saudi Arabia 

Nasser Matoorianpour, University of West London, UK 

Aamir Anwar, University of West London, UK 

Parisa Saadati, University of West London, UK 

Maged Abdullah Esmail, Prince Sultan University, Saudi Arabia 

Sagar Mahajan, Prince Sultan University, Saudi Arabia 

Umashankar Subramaniam, Prince Sultan University, Saudi Arabia  

Zeeshan Sattar, Ericsson, Canada 

Muhammad Kamran Naeem, Research Fellow, University of Wolverhampton, UK 

Shakeel Ahmad, Associate Professor, Solent University, UK 

Sérgio Lopes, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Portugal 

Important Dates 

Paper Submission Deadline – August 1st, 2023

Acceptance Notification – August 14th, 2023

Camera-ready Deadline – August 25th, 2023

Workshop Date – TBC 

Submission Instructions 

Prospective authors are invited to submit high quality original Full or Short papers via the submission link. Full papers should describe novel research contributions with evaluation results and are limited to 7 pages. Short papers, limited in length to four (4) pages, should be more visionary in nature and are meant to discuss new challenges and visions, highlight early research results, and explore novel research directions. All submitted papers must be unpublished and not considered elsewhere for publication should be written in English and formatted according to IEEE Template. Each submitted paper will pass through the standard IEEE peer-review process and, if accepted and presented at the Workshop, will appear in the IEEE ISC2 2023 conference proceedings, and will be submitted for inclusion in the IEEE Xplore digital library. 

Previous Workshop 

QoL-PwD (2022), Paphos, Cyprus