Research Team

Prof Prasad Yarlagadda

Professor Yarlagadda worked as an academic and Researcher in industry and universities for over 27 years in India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, and Australia. He obtained his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. He is a fellow of professional organisations such as the Institution of Engineers, Australia (FIEAust), World Academy of Manufacturing and Materials Engineering (Poland), Institution of Engineers, India (FIE), Society of Manufacturing Engineers, USA, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, USA, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, UK and Society of Professional Engineers (M.S.P.E), PNG. Prof. Yarlagadda has published more than 250 quality papers in high quality international journals and conference proceedings. He is Deputy Editor-In Chiief of International Journal of Advances in Manufacturing and Materials Engineering and was also guest editor to a number of international journals. He has received a significant amount of research funding in the order of A$7 Million from various government and industrial organisations. He is currently supervising 17 HDR students in his field of expertise. Prof. Yarlagadda was Director of Manufacturing Systems Engineering Research Concentration and Founding Director of Smart Systems Research theme in QUT. At present he is Project Director for the Airports of the Future project.

Prof Sridha Sridharan

Professor Sridha Sridharan has a BSc (Electrical Engineering) degree and obtained a MSc (Communication Engineering) degree from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), UK and a PhD degree in the area of Signal Processing from University of New South Wales, Australia. He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers - IEEE (USA). He is currently with the Queensland University of Technology where he is a full Professor in the School of Engineering Systems. Professor Sridharan is the Deputy Director of the Information Security Institute and the Leader of the Research Program in Speech, Audio, Image and Video Technologies at QUT. He has published over 300 papers consisting of publications in journals and in refereed international conferences in the areas of Image and Speech technologies during the period 1990-2009. During this period he has also graduated 20 PhD students as their Principal Supervisor in the areas of Image and Speech technologies. Prof Sridharan has received a number of research grants from various funding bodies including commonwealth competitive funding schemes such the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the National Security Science and Technology (NSST) unit. Several of his research outcomes have been commercialised.

Prof Kerrie Mengersen

Professor Kerrie Mengersen is a statistician with expertise in fundamental statistical research and its applications to complex applied problems. Her methodological interests are in Bayesian statistics, mixture models, hierarchical modelling and meta-analysis. She is an Accredited Member of the Statistical Society of Australia (2001), an elected Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society (2004), an elected Fellow of the Institute for Mathematical Sciences (2005), Managing Editor for the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Statistics, co-Editor for Journal of Bayesian Analysis and Book Review Editor for Biometrics. Mengersen’s national and international reputation in statistics research and its application is supported by invitations to present at international conference presentations (15 invited, four keynote in the last five years), publication of externally refereed journal papers (224 papers, 71.87 citations/year), attraction of large research grants (five three-year ARC Discovery and CoE grants, seven three-year ARC Linkage grants, numerous industry grants) and successful supervision of postgraduate students (currently supervising 9 PhD students, co-supervising 5 PhD students). She is Program Director for Bayesian Learning in an ARC Centre of Excellence in Complex Dynamic Systems and Control, in collaboration with the University of Newcastle, and an investigator with three CRCs.

Prof Michael Rosemann

Dr Michael Rosemann is a Professor for Information Systems and Co-Leader of the Business Process Management (BPM) Group at Queensland University of Technology. This research group is one of the largest BPM research groups in the world and is internationally known for its applied research in areas such as BPM maturity management, process/workflow modelling and Business Service Management. Michael is the Chief Investigator of a number of applied research projects funded national research organisations and various industry partners. He is the author/editor of seven books, more than 140 refereed papers and Editorial Board member of seven international journals. His recently edited ‘Handbook of Business Process Management’ is the most comprehensive consolidation of global BPM thought leaders; his book ‘Process Management’ has been translated into German, Russian and Chinese. Dr Rosemann is the co-inventor of six US patent proposals related to process modelling. He is the founder and chair of the Australian BPM Community of Practice (https://bpm-collaboration.com) and has been the Chair of the 5th International Business Process Management Conference in 2007. He regularly conducts executive training in BPM and provided advice to organizations from various industries including telecommunications, banking, insurance, utility, retail, public sector, logistics and film industry.

Prof Ed Dawson

Professor Dawson is a Professor Emeritus in the Information Security Institute (ISI) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Prior to this he was the Research Director of the ISI and has been a member of the academic staff at QUT since 1974. Professor Dawson has extensive research experience in many aspects of cryptology and its applications. He has published over 250 refereed research papers, supervised 25 PhD students to completion, and received numerous research grants. He is on the editorial board of several journals and has chaired several conferences on various aspects of information security. Currently Professor Dawson is Vice President of the International Association of Cryptologic Research (IACR).

Dr Clinton Fookes

Prof Vesna Popovic

Prof Vesna Popovic has made an international contribution to product design research where she has integrated knowledge from other related areas and applied to the artifact design (e.g. human factors/ergonomics, product usability, design and cognition, human expertise, design computing or applied design research.) in order to support and construct design applications. She has successfully integrated the industrial (product) design research agenda with diverse disciplines such as medicine, science, engineering, humanities and information technologies in order to enhance or change their practices. In particular, she has been a forerunner of human-centred design research and founder of People and Systems Lab at BEE. The impacts of Vesna’s research lies in the cross-fertilisation of knowledge across humanities and technologies to design humanised artifacts/ systems by facilitating the understanding of diverse expertise and experience. Vesna is a Fellow of the Design Research Society (UK). Within the Airport of the Future project she is responsible for Human Systems Program.

Dr Paul Barnes

Dr Paul Barnes is a Deputy Director in the Information Security Institute (and Coordinator of the ISI Risk & Crisis Management Research domain) and a Senior Lecturer within the School of Management at QUT. His professional and research interests include resilience in critical infrastructure systems, organisational vulnerability as analyses of broader socio-technical threats. He has completed projects for the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies on trade security and gaps in counter terrorism capability & capacity planning, and the Office of the National Security Adviser (Dept of Prime Minister & Cabinet) on national risk assessment processes. Before his current role he worked in public sector roles including: Manager, State Public Safety Unit (Queensland Fire & Rescue Service); Corporate Risk Manager (Queensland Department of Primary Industries and most recently, Director of Security Policy Development within the Defence Security Authority, Canberra.

Prof Robin Drogemuller

Robin Drogemuller is Professor of Digital Design within the School of Design at QUT. He has been involved in research into the digital representation of buildings for over 20 years. The digital representation work has supported the development of a range of building and urban analysis software. The development of the Airport Information Model (AIM) is a specialization of the Building Information Model (BIM) work that has been a core part of his research for the last 20 years. This has included participation in the development of international standards in this area. Robin has been engaged in the development of BIM-based software to support parametric design, environmental design, estimating, construction planning and facilities management. Aspects of this work are informed by his experience as an architect, participation in Facility Management related research projects and experience managing built asset portfolios.

Prof Ashantha Goonetilleke

Ashantha Goonetilleke holds the Professorial Chair in Airport Innovation. He has a strong research interest in sustainability and in particular the application of sustainability principles to airport operations. He is responsible for Industry Partner liaison in the Airports of the Future project.

 

Research Staff

Queensland University of Technology

Dr Ben Kraal

Ben Kraal is a Research Fellow in the school of design at the Queensland University of Technology. During the last four years he has made significant contributions to the fields of usability and interface design research. Dr Kraal's approach adapts rich sociological techniques to investigate the complex interplay between people, the tools they use and the environment in which they work, allowing the identification of the essential elements of the work practice in question, making it clear where technology and design interventions are able to achieve the greatest positive impact.

Dr Jason Reid

Dr Jason Reid holds a PhD in the area of trusted computing and distributed systems security. Since 1999, he has worked for the Information Security Institute – Queensland University of Technology where he holds the position of Senior Research Fellow. His research interests and areas of expertise include access control, trusted systems, trusted computing and smart card security as well as the privacy implications of these technologies. His current research focuses on languages and models for attribute-based authorisation and identity management in support of the authorisation function. He has extensive research and consulting experience in such fields as access control, authentication and general network security.

Dr Simon Denman

Dr. Simon Denman is a research fellow within the Intelligent Surveillance stream of the Airports of the Future project. He completed his PhD in the area of image processing for surveillance applications with the Speech, Audio, Image and Video Technologies (SAIVT) laboratory at the Queensland University of Technology. His doctoral research focused on object tracking, and the sub problems of motion segmentation and particle filtering, and he has developed a novel technique for the simultaneous computation of multi-layer motion segmentation and optical flow, and a novel extension to the mixture particle filter to allow for variable numbers of particles and variables numbers and types of features. Since completing his PhD, Dr. Denman has been performing collaborative research with QUT staff and students and external partners in computer vision areas such as intelligent surveillance, object tracking, soft biometrics and airport security.

Ms Samia Mazhar

Samia Mazhar is a Senior Researcher with the Business Process Management stream of the Airports of the Future project. Her area of research is to improve passenger facilitation process, with a focus on efficiency, security and the passenger experience. Samia’s main areas of interest include process modeling, process analysis, process improvement and knowledge management. Her work to date is characterised by a strong capability to derive and utilize methodologies and familiarise herself with business practices and needs. In her process consulting projects, she has provided analysis and well-received recommendations. Her professional and academic experiences have provided a rounded understanding of a range of business processes and technology, particularly Enterprise Systems. This combination has helped to provide a balanced approach of theoretical concepts and practical application, and the ability to see both holistic and detailed perspectives.

Dr Ruan Lakemond

Mr Ruan Lakemond is a researcher with the Image and Video Technologies group within the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering and the Information Security Institute at QUT. He completed an Electrical and Computer Engineering degree in the Dean's Scholars program at QUT. He then completed a PhD with the SAIVT group, focussing on wide baseline matching in difficult scenarios. His research interests include wide baseline matching, automatic calibration of surveillance camera networks, 3D reconstruction from surveillance video and analysis of thermal surveillance imagery.

Dr Paul Wu

Dr. Paul P.-Y. Wu is a research associate within the Complex Systems stream of the Airports of the Future project. In 2009, he received his PhD from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) for his thesis on Multi-Objective Mission Flight Planning in Civil Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). He completed a Bachelor of Engineering (Elec&CompEng) as part of the Dean's Scholars program at QUT in 2005 and was awarded the QUT University Medal. He has previously completed projects in the modelling of risk presented to people on the ground due to the over-flight of aircraft (for the Australian Defence Force), and delivery of multimedia content to mobile phones, for which he was awarded the Engineers Australia Queensland Division J H Curtis Award.

The University of Melbourne

Dr Tuan Duc Ngo

Dr Tuan Ngo is a Research Director of the Advanced Protective Technology of Engineering Structures (APTES) Group at the University of Melbourne. He is also a Research Manager of the ARC Research Network for a Secure Australia (RNSA). Dr Tuan Ngo has made a significant contribution to research in vulnerability modelling of critical infrastructure, particularly in the area of assessment of the effects of natural and technical hazards on buildings and infrastructure. Dr Ngo has attracted over $4M of research funding from government agencies and industry. He has published over 80 journal and conference papers and more than 100 research reports for external funding bodies.

Research Students

Queensland University of Technology

Khalid Alissa (PhD Student)

Khalid Alissa received his Master degree in Information Technology (Information Security) in 2009 from QUT. Khalid is currently a PhD student within both the Airports of the Future project and the Information Security Institute. Based on his background on both Information Security and Business Process Management Khalid's PhD research focuses on "Integrating Identity and Access Management in Business Processes in an Airport Environment". His research aims to formalize identity and access management policies, and then to integrate these formal rules in to the airport business processes.

Marisa Camastral (PhD Student)

Marisa Camastral received her Bachelor of Business (International Business) in 2008 and Bachelor of Business (Honours) in 2009, with both degrees completed at QUT. Marisa is currently a PhD student within both the Airports of the Future project and the School of Management. Her PhD research expands on that of her Honours thesis, considering the role of Business Continuity Management in regional Australian airports, which allows for the continued functionality of these infrastructures following a crisis event, as well as an expedited return to normal operations.

Andrew Cave (PhD Student)

Andrew Cave graduated from Queensland University of Technology in 2010 with a Bachelor of Design, majoring in Industrial Design. Andrew previously graduated from the University of Queensland in 2006 with a Science Degree. Prior to starting his PhD, Andrew was a recipient of the Airports of the Future Summer Scholarship, in which he worked with the Human Systems team to examine the activities passengers undertook while passing through airport security. As a PhD student Andrew will explore passengers prior knowledge and familiarity of airport terminals, and how passengers use this to intuitively navigate through the airport.

Anna Harrison (PhD Student)

Anna Harrison graduated with a University Medal from The University of Queensland in 1995. Following a career in product design in London, New York and San Francisco, Anna has shifted gears into the architectural and service design spaces. Her research on the AOF project draws on this rich background, and aims to explore the relationships between perceptions of service quality and perceptions of space and time by passengers in an airport terminal building.

Philip Kirk (PhD Student)

Philip Kirk completed his Bachelor (Hons) degree in Behavioural Biology at the University of St. Andrews, UK, in 1999, and also completed a higher certificate in Civil Engineering at Edinburgh’s Telford College, UK, in 2004. Phil was previously a Senior Research Assistant for the Airports of the Future Project investigating Passenger Experience. He has also worked for the CRC for Construction Innovation (CRCCI) where he helped develop a tool to use on construction sites to measure Health and Safety techniques. He has worked on various animal behaviour projects around the world. Philip’s PhD will research the experience of passengers at airports, to understand and model the various activities passengers undertake while at the airport.

Alison Livingstone (PhD Student)

Alison Livingstone completed her Bachelor of Design, majoring in Industrial Design in 2009, at QUT. She is currently a PhD student with the Airports of the Future project, with her PhD research focussing on passenger experience within airport retail environments. Her research aims to understand and model the activities and interactions undertaken by passengers within airport retail environments.

Shahrzad Roohy Gohar (PhD Student)

Shahrzad Roohy Gohar completed a Masters degree in Information Technology in 2009, focussing on Business Process Modelling. Prior to this, she completed a Bachelor of Computer Engineering (Software) at Azad University. Shahrzad gained valuable experience in Business Process Improvement during time working on a number of projects in the role of BPM Modeller and Analyst for Queensland Government Shared Service Agency. Her PhD research will focus on evidence based reference modelling and evaulation of reference models on airport processes.

Wenbo Ma (PhD Student)

Wenbo Ma received his Bachelor degree in Automotive Engineering in 2006, and Master degree in Electrical and signal processing in 2009 at Hefei University of Technology, P.R.China. Wenbo also has working experience in an Engineering R&D company, Antonov plc., UK. He is now a QUT & China Scholarship Council joint programme recipient. His PhD will develop an agent-based simulation tool to model passenger flows through check-in (includes baggage sorting), security control, border control to boarding at airport passenger buildings, to help optimise building layout design and analyse processing delay problems.

Nimalaprakasan Skandhakumar (PhD Student)

Nimalaprakasan Skandhakumar received his Bachelor (Honours) degree in Computer Science and Engineering in 2009 at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. Nimalaprakasan also has working experience in a Software Engineering company working on products and solutions for mobile telecommunication operators. He is a PhD student at QUT and his research will focus on creating an authorisation system to accompany an Airport Information Model.

Sarah Shuchi (PhD Student)

Sarah Shuchi comes from an architecture background with an M.Sc. in Advanced Environmental and Energy Studies from the UK. After completion of her M.Sc., Sarah had a brief academic career in the School of Architecture, BRAC University, Bangladesh. She is currently a PhD student investigating the use of Building Information Modelling to support design and operation of airport passenger buildings. Within this project, virtual 3D models of airport structures and physical services will be developed, and database and information technology (with security-specific data structures) will be integrated into the model to store and manage information across people, processes and technology domains.

Michael Devine (PhD Student)

Michael Devine is a PhD student with the School of Management involved in the Business Continuity Program in the Airports of the Future Project. He completed his Bachelors degree in Business majoring in Advertising and Public Relations. Michael holds Masters degrees in Integrated Marketing (Coursework) and Organisational Identity Dynamics (Research). His PhD focus is on the ways in which an airport system flexes to deal with crisis. Specifically, using an edge organisation approach as a theoretical framework, this project addresses the ways in which an airport system goes from business as usual, to business not as usual, and the subsequent recovery.

Jingxin Xu (PhD Student)

Mr. Jingxin Xu received his Bachelor degree of Telecommunications Engineering from Xidian University in 2008, China, and his Master degree of Information Technology (IT43) from Faculty of Science and Technology, QUT, in 2010. After that, he commenced his PhD course in July 2010 in Faculty of Built, Environment & Engineering, QUT. Jingxin's PhD research focuses on anomalous event detection in crowded environments. This project aims to develop techniques to detect emergencies and suspicious activities in the airport. It is anticipated that the techniques that are developed will be applicable to many different applications, such as sports event detection and event detection in traffic surveillance.

Charisse Farr (PhD Student)

Charisse Farr completed her Bachelor of Applied Science, majoring in Mathematics in 2001, at QUT. She is currently a PhD student with the Airports of the Future project, with her PhD research investigating the use of Bayesian Networks (BN) and Complex Systems (CS) theory and modelling techniques in order to develop, validate and analyse BN, CS and Hybrid Complex Systems models that provide insight into the main contributing factors of wayfinding and the decision to expand or refurbish airport terminals.

The University of Melbourne

Sam Amirebrahimi (PhD Student)

 

University of Technology Sydney

Ehsan Zare Borzeshi (PhD Student)

Ehsan Zare Borzeshi received his B.Eng. Computer Hardware Engineering from Sadjad University, Iran in 2006 and his Master of Information Technology (Honours) from University of Newcastle, Australia in 2009. He has been a research assistant in two positions prior to his PhD studies (at University of Newcastle and UTS). He is a PHD student at UTS and his research expands on Automatic Human Action Recognition in Videos.

Other Collaborators

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Prof Robert John Hansman

R. John Hansman is a Professor of Aeronautics & Astronautics MIT, where he is the Director of the MIT International Center for Air Transportation. He conducts research in the application of information technology in operational aerospace systems. Dr. Hansman holds 6 patents and has authored over 250 technical publications. He has over 5300 hours of pilot in-command time in airplanes, helicopters and sailplanes including meteorological, production and engineering flight test experience.  Professor Hansman chairs the US Federal Aviation Administration Research & Development Advisory Committee (REDAC). He is a Fellow of the AIAA and has received numerous awards including the AIAA Dryden Lectureship in Aeronautics Research, the ATCA Kriske Air Traffic Award, a Laurel from Aviation Week & Space Technology, and the FAA Excellence in Aviation Award.

Brisbane Airport Corporation

Mr Stephen Goodwin has a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Queensland, and is a member of AICD. Stephen became a Board Member of the Australian Airports Association and Chair of the Australian Airports Association Queensland Division in 2005. Stephen’s previous experience includes various operational roles in Central Queensland including Comalco (now Rio Tinto) and CEB. Stephen’s career with Dulux spanned 9 years encompassing various roles in Logistics, Manufacturing, Production Planning and HR with the final 3 years responsible for QLD, NSW and the Selleys Group from a HR perspective prior to joining the FAC and then BAC in 1997. Stephen began at BAC in 1997 as BAC’s Manager Human Resources. He remained in this role until April 2002 when he was appointed Manager, Operations. Stephen was appointed to his current position of General Manager Operations in April 2003.