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I am an academic and researcher with over 13 years of combined experience across higher education and industry. I currently serve as a Lecturer in Information Systems and Business Analytics at the School of Business and Law, Deakin University (GIFT City, India campus), where I contribute to teaching, research, and curriculum development with a focus on analytics-driven decision-making and business problem-solving.

Before joining Deakin, I held leadership and academic roles as Senior Assistant Professor and Area Head of Business Analytics at the Birla School of Management, Birla Global University, where I led programme development, supported curriculum design, and mentored faculty and students. I also served as an Assistant Professor in Business Analytics at the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), Ahmedabad, working closely with entrepreneurs and engaging in applied, practice-based learning and government-funded research projects.

I completed my PhD at Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), with research focused on applying soft computing and intelligent techniques to understand market trends and investor behaviour. Alongside my academic career, I bring industry experience from the textile manufacturing sector, which informs my applied teaching approach and helps bridge theory with real-world business practice. I also hold an MBA in Finance and Marketing, supporting my interdisciplinary work at the intersection of technology, analytics, and management.

Overall, my work reflects a strong balance of teaching, research, leadership, and industry engagement, and I am committed to contributing to Deakin’s mission through high-quality education, impactful research, and the development of strong analytics capabilities for contemporary business challenges.

Mr. Emran Ali is a Graduate Researcher Teaching Fellow (previously, Sessional Academic Staff - Casual Tutoring) at Deakin University, Australia. He is also a current Ph.D. researcher at the School of Information Technology (IT), Deakin University, Australia. He achieved a Master of Science (by Research) in IT from Deakin University, Australia, in 2022. He obtained his Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree (4-year) in Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) from Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU), Bangladesh.

His main areas of research include algorithm development, data analytics, time-series data analysis, applied machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) in health informatics, biosignal processing, explanable ML, and optimisation. His current Ph.D. project involves the use of data-driven ML/DL models to find relationships between sleep and sleep stage transitions in healthy ageing and find causality. Additionally, it includes sleep disorder detection with ML. The processes consist of various biosignal processing and analysis, applied ML/DL, and explainability. His research in Masters includes epileptic seizure detection, electroencephalography (EEG) channel optimisation, and the application of ML in EEG signal analysis. He worked on a couple of projects in collaboration with Monash University, Alfred Health, and AETMOS Australia.

As part of his achievements, he has been awarded various awards and recognitions. He has been awarded the Deakin University Post-graduate Research Scholarship (DUPRS) as part of the Cotutelle (join) Ph.D. programme with Coventry University, UK. Earlier, he had been awarded a national fellowship in 2020 from the Ministry of Science and Technology, the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, to complete his research-based Masters degree at Deakin University, Australia. He had been awarded the "Best Presentation Award" in the annual school conference arranged by the School of IT in 2021 as part of his progress in his Masters study. He was the country's top performer in an entrance examination in 2013 for the Masters programme at South Asian University (SAU), which is a university funded by 8 South Asian countries. He was also the department topper in bachelor studies at HSTU. He is the recipient of the AWS AI/ML scholarship for 2023 and 2024 to learn and accelerate the cloud based AI/ML technologies that include multiple nanodegrees offered by Udacity.

As additional professional experience, he has been working in academia for over 8 years. He is a faculty member at HSTU, Bangladesh, where he teaches a variety of major courses in computer science and engineering, as well as taking part in research projects and research supervision. He is also involved as Sessional Academic Staff (Casual Tutoring) at Deakin University for different trimesters teaching Machine Learning and Data Analytics units.
He also has industrial experience in IT. Before his academic journey, he worked in the software development industry in Bangladesh for nearly 3 years, developing many iOS apps independently as well as in a group. During that time, I was promoted to senior software engineer and software development manager. I also received the Best Employee Award for the recognition of his devotion and hard work. He has good management, leadership, and communication skills in his respective areas.

Dr Emilia Bellucci is a Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of Information Systems and Business Analytics in Deakin Business School. Emilia has been working in higher education for over 20 years and has held various leadership postions as course director and a Director of Teaching in the discipline. Her research interests are in Negotiation Support Systems, IS ethics, computerised decision making in varoius contexts such as family law negotiation, healthcare and business contexts. She is a firm beeliver in research informing teaching and has published widely in international journals and publication outlets. 

Dr Lasitha Dharmasena is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics in Deakin Business School. Lasitha's research interests are broad, encompassing diverse areas such as information systems, stochastic processes, information retrieval, software/system reliability analysis, production process capability analysis, sequential analysis, optmisation modelling, and statistical modelling of SMS reminder communication networks and patient appointments. Also, she is involved in projects both within the academia as well as in industry, mainly in the area of design and analysis of surveys and experiments and data analysis.

Dr. Mengyao Fu is a lecturer in the Information Systems and Business Analytics Discipline Group at Deakin University.

She received her PhD in Information Systems from City University of Hong Kong (CityU). Following her doctoral studies, she worked as a researcher and simultaneously served as a project manager for a supply chain financial project in the Laboratory for AI-Powered Financial Technologies Limited in Hong Kong for two years, leading key initiatives and collaborating with industry giants, including prominent banks and venture capital firms.

Dr. Fu's research examines how emerging digital technologies reshape innovation, digital platforms, financial ecosystems, and user decision-making. Her work integrates computational analytics, including machine learning, large language models, topic modelling, network analysis, and online experiments, with behavioural and organisational perspectives to address contemporary challenges in digital innovation, digital marketing, financial technology, and sustainable innovation. Through both independent and collaborative research, she develops theoretically rigorous and practically relevant insights that inform business strategy, platform governance, and public policy.

Her research has been published in internationally recognised A* journals, including Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS), Information & Management (I&M), Journal of Information Technology (JIT), and Information Systems Frontiers (ISF).

She has also presented her work at premier international conferences, including the Academy of Management (AOM), International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), and Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS).

Dr Anagi Gamachchi has been an academic at Deakin University since 2018. She has expertise in cybersecurity, data analytics, information systems, and mathematics. In 2018, she completed her PhD in Mathematical Sciences from RMIT University, Australia.