Dr Imran Asif

asif imran
Senior Research Software Engineer - FAIR Epigraphy Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents & Faculty of Classics
imran.asif@classics.ox.ac.uk

Qualifications: PhD, Edinburgh, MPhil, BS Pakistan.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-1144-6265

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Academic Background

I did my MPhil research in semantic web versioning and published it in a conference. I acquired James Watt scholarship for PhD, and I continued my research on semantic publishing from Heriot-Watt University, UK. Semantic Publishing is the process of publishing data/content/resources over the internet in a machine-understandable format. It would help humans to understand the content as well as machines. With the help of semantic publishing, we can achieve interoperability, machine decision-making, and data analysis. I also published my work at different conferences.

Currently, I am working on the FAIR-Epigraphy (https://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/fair-epigraphy) as a Senior Research Software Engineer at Oxford's Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents (CSAD). FAIR Epigraphy aims to serve as a hub for digital epigraphers providing access to FAIR and linked open data for epigraphy. Our mission is to provide projects in digital epigraphy with high-quality Linked Open Datasets, but also with sets of guidelines helping them to implement FAIR (Findable - Accessible - Interoperable - Reusable) data principles within the epigraphic discipline. 

Research Interests

At a wider level, my research interests include Semantic Web, Semantic Web Tools, Linked data, FAIR, Knowledge Visualization, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Integration, Knowledge Extraction, Knowledge Graphs, and Semantic Publishing (Nanopublications and Research Objects).

Besides this, I have industrial experience in development for nine years over Windows and Linux Platforms. I have worked on commercial development (full-stack) environments like .Net Framework, Java, PHP, Python, JavaScript, RESTfull API and database development. I also have wide experience in semantic web technologies such as RDF/Linked Data, JSON or JSON-LD, SPARQL, and TripleStores.

Research Keywords

Semantic web, knowledge graphs, nanopublications, data integration, knowledge representation, semantic publishing, fair, linked data, epigraphy, digital humanities, digital publishing, open access.

Teaching

I was (September 2021 - March 2022) working as a University Teacher at Computer Science Department (Heriot-Watt University, UK) for the Database and Info Systems course. This position involves tasks related to the delivery of courses to students in the computer science department. It involves leading and assisting in delivering lectures, tutorials, labs, and marking, primarily for courses in databases and software engineering.

During my PhD tenure, I also got exposure to teaching by working as an Enhanced Teaching Assistant in face-to-face teaching and online modes called Responsive Blended Learning (RBL). The courses include both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. I have been part of courses including Database and Information Systems (F21DF), Software Engineering Foundations (F21SF), Big Data Management (F20BD/F21BD), Database Management Systems (F28DM), Software Development 2 (F27SB), Web Design and Databases (F28WD).

Previously I had teaching experience as a Software Engineering lecturer at the National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Pakistan. I have taught courses including Visual Programming (C#, ASP.NET), Database Management (Oracle), Object-Oriented Programming (C++), and Web Engineering (HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL). During these courses, I employed a range of traditional and progressive methodologies to build students' interest in problem-solving, especially programming development.

Publications

Full Publications:

Selected Publications:

Gray, A.J., Papadopoulos, P., Asif, I., Micetic, I. and Hatos, A., 2022, April. Creating and Exploiting the Intrinsically Disordered Protein Knowledge Graph (IDP-KG). In SWAT4HCLS (pp. 1-10). http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3127/paper-1.pdf

Asif, I., Tiddi, I. and Gray, A.J., 2021, September. Using nanopublications to detect and explain contradictory research claims. In 2021 IEEE 17th International Conference on eScience (eScience) (pp. 1-10). IEEE. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/eScience51609.2021.00010

Asif, I., Chen-Burger, J. and Gray, A.J., 2019, September. Data quality issues in current nanopublications. In 2019 15th International Conference on eScience (eScience) (pp. 522-527). IEEE. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/eScience.2019.00069

Asif, I. and Karim, M.S., 2014, April. Semantic Versioning of In-Process Scientific Document. In Information and Communication Technology-EurAsia Conference (pp. 119-128). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55032-4_12