Keynote Speakers

OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKERS




MrAbdulwahedAlJanahi
Abdulwahed AlJanahi
CE of The BENEFIT Company (TBC), Bahrain

Bio:

      Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, CE of The BENEFIT Company (TBC), and Vice Chairman of SINNAD has a successful career. His Curriculum Vitae boasts highly esteemed names as American Express, Coopers & Lybrand, BBK, Arab Financial Services, and Batelco. Mr. AlJanahi brings to the Company over 30 years of experience in the financial, telecom, and consultancy industries covering strategies, marketing, and business development. During his career spanning more than 15 years in the Benefit Company, he directly supervised the implementation of the company's strategies, including significant development and expansion in its services. The company has been able to implement many important national projects in the banking sector including Instant Fund Transfer System (EFTS), Cheque Truncation System (BCTS), improving the services of the Bahrain Credit Information Center and launching the national eWallet, BenefitPay.In addition to that, Mr. AlJanahi supervised the establishment of SINNAD Company, which is a subsidiary of TBC that works as a Card Processing and Payment Service Provider and managing multiple Fintech services to various banking institutions. Prior to joining BENEFIT, He was responsible for the Electronic Banking Division and in charge of all the electronic channels at Bank of Bahrain & Kuwait [BBK]. Educated in Management and with a Marketing background in Austin, Texas, USA, Mr. AlJanahi began his career as a Credit Analyst with American Express, then later worked for Batelco in two terms first as a Senior Procedures Analyst and then as Head of Business Development for it’s Internet Service Provider in Saudi Arabia. Mr. AlJanahi was also previously Deputy Head of Marketing for Arab Financial Services, where he focused on marketing AFS products [Third Party Processor outsourcing services] in the GCC and Pan-Arab market. His consultancy and marketing research and strategic implementation expertise was sought after by international accounting and consulting firm, Coopers & Lybrand. Mr. AlJanahi holds a Master of Business Administration Degree from Bahrain University and Bachelor of Business Administration from St. Edward’s University at Austin, Texas, USA.


Title:

Innovation toward digital payment




Jumaan
Mrs. Mariam Jumaan
CEng, FIET, SMIEEE, Chair of the Board for the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority

Bio:

      Mrs. Mariam Jumaan is an Electrical Engineer by profession. She attained her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering from McGill University in Canada in 1982 and 1983 respectively.Mrs. Jumaan started her career with the Ministry of Electricity and Water in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and has risen through the ranks of the Ministry starting off as a Trainee Engineer in 1983, and reaching the post of Director, Planning and Studies in 2002, a position she held until leaving the Ministry in 2008. Her work at the Ministry of Electricity and Water has rendered her as an expert in the Power Engineering field. Mrs. Jumaan was appointed to the National Committee for the Evaluation of Academic Degrees as Head of the Engineering subcommittee and continued her work in this committee for 10 years until April 2013. Mrs. Jumaan joined the Economic Development Board (EDB) in Sept 2008 as Director, Projects and later attained the post of Executive Director, Projects in the EDB leading key strategic projects across several key governmental entities. She worked extensively with these Government Agencies to formulate the Strategic Plans that were required to achieve the National Economic Strategy and Vision 2030. Mrs. Jumaan was appointed as Undersecretary, Land Transportation and Post in the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunication in April 2013, a post she held till her retirement from her Public Sector role in December 2018. Mrs Jumaan has worked on several of the key Strategic Privatization Projects undertaken by the Public Sector in the last 15 years. She has led 4 key Strategic projects to successful completion in areas as diverse as Electricity and Water Generation, Housing Sector Projects and Public Transportation, giving her a wealth of experience in Infrastructure Provision and Funding Solutions for the Public Sector. Mrs. Jumaan became a Senior Member of the IEEE (SMIEE) in 2000. She became Member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (MIET) and a Chartered Engineer (C.Eng) in 2002, becoming with that the first Bahraini female Electrical Engineer to gain that status. One of the key achievements of Mrs. Jumaan during her career has been her appointment as a Fellow of the IET in April 2009, becoming with that the first Female Fellow of the IET in the Middle East and North Africa region. She was a Board Member of the King Fahad Causeway Authority, representing the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain on the Board, in the period from 2013-2020. Mrs. Jumaan was also first appointed as a Member of the Supreme Council of Women (SCW) in Nov 2010, and has since then been re-appointed for three more terms. She is also a Member of the SCW Committee for HRH the Princess Sabeeka prize for the Advancement of Bahraini Women and a Member of the SCW Committee for Women in Fintech. Mrs Jumaan was appointed as Chair of the Council for Regulating the Practice of the Engineering Professions (CRPEP) in September 2019. She was also appointed as Chair of the Board for the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in August 2020.




DrVincenzoPiuri
Vincenzo Piuri, Professor.
Professor at the Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy

Bio:

      Vincenzo Piuri has received his Ph.D. in computer engineering at Politecnico di Milano, Italy (1989). He is Full Professor in computer engineering at the Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy (since 2000). He has been Associate Professor at Politecnico di Milano, Italy and Visiting Professor at the University of Texas at Austin and at George Mason University, USA. His main research interests are: artificial intelligence, computational intelligence, intelligent systems, machine learning, pattern analysis and recognition, signal and image processing, biometrics, intelligent measurement systems, industrial applications, digital processing architectures, fault tolerance, and cloud computing infrastructures. Original results have been published in 400+ papers in international journals, proceedings of international conferences, books, and book chapters. He is Fellow of the IEEE, Distinguished Scientist of ACM, and Senior Member of INNS. He is President of the IEEE Systems Council (2020-21), and has been IEEE Vice President for Technical Activities (2015), IEEE Director, President of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, Vice President for Education of the IEEE Biometrics Council, Vice President for Publications of the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society and the IEEE Systems Council, and Vice President for Membership of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society. He has been Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Systems Journal (2013-19). He is Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing and has been Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Computers, the IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, the IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, and IEEE Access. He received the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society Technical Award (2002) and the IEEE TAB Hall of Honor (2019). He is Honorary Professor at: Obuda University, Hungary; Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, China; Northeastern University, China; Muroran Institute of Technology, Japan; and the Amity University, India.


Title:

Artificial Intelligence in Cloud Computing and Internet-of-Things

Abstract:

Recent years have seen a growing interest among users in the migration of their applications to the Cloud computing and Internet-of-Things environments. However, due to high complexity, Cloud-based and Internet-of-Things infrastructures need advanced components for supporting applications and advanced management techniques for increasing the efficiency. Adaptivity and autonomous learning abilities become extremely useful to support configuration and dynamic adaptation of these infrastructures to the changing needs of the users as well as to create adaptable applications. This self-adaptation ability is increasingly essential especially for non expert managers as well as for application designers and developers with limited competences in tools for achieving this ability. Artificial intelligence is a set of techniques which greatly can improve both the creation of applications and the management of these infrastructures. This talk will discuss the use of artificial intelligence in supporting the creation of applications in cloud and IoT infrastructures as well as their use in the various aspects of infrastructure management.




HelenKaratza
Helen Karatza
Professor Emeritus at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Bio:

      Helen Karatza is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Informatics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Dr. Karatza's research interests include Cloud and Fog Computing, Energy Efficiency, Resource Allocation and Scheduling and Real-time Distributed Systems. Dr. Karatza has authored or co-authored over 230 technical papers and book chapters including five papers that earned best paper awards at international conferences. She is senior member of IEEE, ACM and SCS, and she served as an elected member of the Board of Directors at Large of the Society for Modeling and Simulation International. She served as Chair and Keynote Speaker in International Conferences. Dr. Karatza is the Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier Journal “Simulation Modeling Practice and Theory”. She was Editor-in-Chief of “Simulation Transactions of The Society for Modeling and Simulation International”, Associate Editor of “ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation” and Senior Associate Editor of the “Journal of Systems and Software” of Elsevier. She served as Guest Editor of Special Issues in International Journals. More info about her activities/publications can be found in http://agent.csd.auth.gr/~karatza/


Title:

From Cloud to Fog Computing Scheduling Real-Time Applications

Abstract:

Cloud computing has become an emerging area of research for many years now. Particularly important in cloud computing is to run delay-sensitive applications. It is essential that effective scheduling techniques are utilized ensuring timeliness. This can be achieved due to cloud’s high-performance computing capacity for real-time processing. In recent years there is an expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT applications generate huge amounts of data and it is critical to process these data in real-time and provide immediate decisions. As a result, fog computing has been introduced as a computing paradigm extending the cloud to the edge of the network, thus reducing the latency of IoT data transmission. The potential of the research on cloud and fog computing is strong due to the challenges in dealing with real-time applications in the IoT domain. However, the computational capacity of fog servers is usually restricted, therefore it is necessary to explore alternative techniques that involve the collaboration between the cloud and fog resources. Consequently, appropriate scheduling of time-sensitive applications is required to fully exploit the capabilities of cloud and fog computing so that the deadlines are met. In this keynote we will present various aspects of cloud and fog computing, from the perspective of scheduling real-time applications and we will conclude with future research directions in the cloud and fog computing areas.




kevincurran
Kevin Curran
Professor of Cyber Security at Ulster University, UK

Bio:

      Kevin Curran is a Professor of Cyber Security, Co-Executive Director of the Legal Innovation Centre and group leader of the Cyber Security & Web Technologies Research Group at Ulster University. He sits on the Advisory Group of the UK Cyber Security Council and the Northern Ireland Civil Service Cyber Leadership Board. His achievements include winning and managing UK & European Framework projects and Technology Transfer Schemes. Professor Curran has made significant contributions to advancing the knowledge and understanding of computer networks and security, evidenced by over 800 published works. His expertise has been acknowledged by invitations to present his work at international conferences, overseas universities and research laboratories. He is a regular contributor to print, online, radio & TV news on computing & security issues. He was the recipient of an Engineering and Technology Board Visiting Lectureship for Exceptional Engineers and is an IEEE Public Visibility technical expert since 2008. He held a Royal Academy of Engineering/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship. Professor Curran’s stature and authority in the international community is demonstrated by his influence, particularly in relation to the direction of research in cybersecurity. He has chaired sessions and participated in the organising committees for many highly-respected international conferences and workshops. He was the founding Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Ambient Computing and Intelligence and is also a member of numerous Journal Editorial boards and international conference organising committees. He has authored a number of books and is the recipient of various patents. He has served as an advisor to the British Computer Society in regard to the computer industry standards and is a member of BCS and IEEE Technology Specialist Groups and various other professional bodies.


Title:

Preserving Data/Query Privacy Using Searchable Symmetric Encryption

Abstract:

The benefits of Cloud computing include reduced costs, high reliability, as well as the immediate availability of additional computing resources as needed. Despite such advantages, Cloud Service Provider (CSP) consumers need to be aware that the Cloud poses its own set of unique risks that are not typically associated with storing and processing one’s own data internally using privately owned infrastructure. Recent years have seen a number of such incidents occur, whereby customer data hosted on the Cloud has been leaked. The ideal solution to achieving an optimal balance of data security and functionality within the Cloud involves the CSP having the ability to search and operate on data while it is in encrypted form. New techniques such as Fully Homomorphic Encryption and Searchable Encryption have arisen to make this a reality. Fully-Homomorphic Encryption supports computations over data in encrypted form but an efficient Fully-Homomorphic Encryption remains someway off. Searchable Encryption however, despite being a relatively obscure form of Cryptography is now at the point that it can be deployed and used within the Cloud. Searchable Encryption can allow CSP customers to store their data in encrypted form, while retaining the ability to search that data without disclosing the associated decryption keys to CSPs. Symmetric Search Encryption (SSE) represents one of the few forms of Searchable Encryption that is achievable using established standardised encryption algorithms. This talk will discuss a Searchable Symmetric Encryption scheme which is efficient enough to be deployed in a Cloud environment to achieve industry acceptable search speeds whilst maintaining Data Privacy.




raoufboutaba
Raouf Boutaba
University Chair Professor and Director in the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo, Canada

Bio:

      Raouf Boutaba is a University Chair Professor and Director in the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. He also holds the INRIA International Chair in France. He is the founding Editor in Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management (2007-2010), and the current Editor-in- Chief of the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (JSAC). His research interests are in the areas of network and service management. He has published extensively in these areas and received several journal and conference Best Paper Awards such as the IEEE 2008 Fred W. Ellersick Prize Paper Award. He also received other recognitions, including the Premier’s Research Excellence Award, Industry research excellence Awards, fellowships of the Faculty of Mathematics, of the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science and outstanding performance awards at the University of Waterloo. He has also received the IEEE Communications Society Hal Sobol Award and the IFIP Silver Core in 2007, the IEEE Communications Society Joe LociCero and the Dan Stokesbury awards in 2009, the Salah Aidarous award in 2012, the McNaugthon Gold Medal in 2014, the Technical Achievement Award of the IEEE Technical Committee on Information Infrastructure and Networking as well as the Donald W. McLellan Meritorious Service Award in 2016. He served as a distinguished lecturer for the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies. He is fellow of the IEEE, the Engineering Institute of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Society of Canada.


Title:

Network Automation: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract:

Automation has been the holy grail of network management research for decades; it aims at achieving autonomous networks, i.e., networks capable to autonomously monitor their status, analyze problems, make decisions, and execute corrective actions. Despite several attempts to achieve autonomous networks in the past, their practical deployments have largely remained unrealized. Several factors are attributed to this, including the existence of many stakeholders with conflicting goals, reliance on proprietary solutions, the inability to process network monitoring data at scale, and the lack of global visibility restricting network-wide optimizations. The stars are now aligned to realize the vision of network automation thanks to (i) advances in network softwarization; (ii) recent breakthroughs in machine learning; and (iii) the availability of large-scale data processing platforms. However, a number of challenges must be addressed in order to create the synergy between these different technology domains and achieve autonomous networks. This talk will discuss some of these challenges with particular focus on programmable network monitoring leveraging network softwarization, predictive machine learning for automated management decision making, and on-demand orchestration of network services.




MrAnasShahadi
Anas Shahadi
Transmission Engineer, Huawei Technologies, Bahrain

Bio:

      Mr. Anas Shahadi is currently Huawei Technologies Bahrain Director of government affairs and business development, he Served in the telecommunications industry extensively worked in telecommunication Government Affairs , strategic accounts business development, Market research and analysis , Business Environment analysis & Consultative Operators and policymaker engagement, Cross-Domain Technology Knowledge (5G, LTE, NFV, Transport Networks.


Title:

The role of 5G in a post-pandemic economy

Abstract:

1- Characteristics and the promise of 5G technology 2- Macroeconomic benefits of 5G 3- 5G Value Chain and stakeholders : Education institutes importance in preparing next wave economy development talents 4- Potential Use cases contribution on UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) Stakeholders shall align and cooperate to fully realize the socio-economic value that 5G can deliver through its defining key features and to unlock various use cases across multiple industry sectors, using the 5G Ecosystem Cycle as a framework by defining key actions that stakeholders can take to contribute to the successful deployment of 5G.




MrAbdulwahedAlJanahi
Mrs. Najwa Abdul Rahim
Former Vice President for Information and Communications Technology at Bahrain Airport Company

Bio:

      Najwa has recently retired as a Vice President for Information and Communications Technology at Bahrain Airport Company. She led and formulated the ICT strategy and operational plans in alignment with the airport’s overall business strategy to achieve BAC mission and goals. Her responsibilities included planning and execution of the ICT strategy. She was part of a team responsible for the privatization and corporatization of Bahrain International Airport and the segregation of all ICT Infrastructure and services between Bahrain Civil Aviation Authorities and Bahrain Airport Company in 2008. She was involved with the BAC lead team in the Airport Modernization Project to develop a new BIA Passengers Terminal Building with implementing latest technologies to operate an efficient and friendly airport. Before joining BAC, Najwa was the Assistant Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Women and was thus part of the lead team that formulated the Strategic Plans for the National Strategy for the Empowerment of Bahraini Women in 2004. She worked at the Ministry of Finance, spanning 20 successful years, helped shape her influential role in developing ICT not only in the ministry in particular, but also in the Government sector as a whole by rolling out a unified Government Financial Management Information Systems. She presented Bahrain Airport in the Airport Council International IT Standing Committee ( WAITSC ) 2018-2020. She sat as an independent board member in TAKAFUL International Company from 2009 till 2015. She also served as a board member of the IT College - University of Bahrain (2003 –2009). Najwa received the Gulf Executive Development Diploma ( Executive MBA ) from the Darden School of Business Administration, University of Virginia, USA, she holds MBA from the University of Bahrain and graduated with a B.Sc. in Computer Science and Mathematical Statistics degree from the University of Kuwait.




Muna
Mrs. Muna Al Hashemi
Former Deputy Group CEO for the Group of Bahrain Telecommunications Company (BATELCO)

Bio:

      Muna Al Hashemi, served most recently as The Deputy Group CEO for the Group of Bahrain Telecommunications Company (BATELCO), overseeing 13 Telcom Operators regionally and globally, where she played a key role in the implementation of the Group strategy, driving transformational programs and strengthening the digital capabilities of each Operator. Prior to this role, Muna was holding the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Batelco’s Bahrain telecommunication operation. She led the development and execution of the Company’s long-term strategy with the objective of maximizing shareholder value, focusing on customer centricity, delivering top quality products, and digital solutions for both Enterprise and consumer segments. Furthermore she spearheaded the fiber rollout, enhanced the Mobile connectivity and global network expansion to lay down a trusted and reliable foundation for smart digital services and lighter organization. Having joined Batelco in 1994 Muna began her career path in the Engineering Department before progressing through a number of divisions, including Customer Services, Account management, Product Marketing, Product Development and Customer Marketing. The depth of knowledge of various functional units and processes that Muna gained in her diversified roles from graduate trainee to CEO provides her with a wealth of experience and knowledge. Muna holds a BSc in Electronic Engineering and a Masters in Electronic Engineering and Telecommunications. Furthermore, she was a member of the Board of Directors of Umniah, Batelco’s sister company located in Jordan, and a current Board Member of the Bahrain Supreme Council for Women and a member in the Board of Trustees for the Bahrain British School. Muna was recognized in many events for her achievements. She was awarded the Most Influential Women Award in Forbes Middle East 2018, Trailblazer Award for the Asian Business Leadership Forum (ABLF) in 2018, Businesswoman of the Year at Arabian Business Awards 2017, Best Arabic CEO in the Telecoms Sector at Arab Best Awards in 2016 and First female to Hold CEO Role in the GCC’s Telecom Industry in 2015.