Doctor Zairul Jilani

Senior Lecturer

Summary

I am a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at Sheffield Hallam University. My domain of interests in Computer Science are Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Evolutionary Algorithms which are applied to solving complex problems in health informatics.

Prior to joining academia, I have nine years of professional experience working in financial institutions in Malaysia. I hold various positions in these experiences including IT auditor and IT project auditor for the banking system in Malaysia. I therefore have global experience of interactions and applications with the computing industry.

E-mail

About

I completed my PhD studies in Computer Science from Brunel University London (2018). I have a master degree in quantitative science (MSc) from Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. I studied Information Technology majoring in Software Engineering for my first degree from Universiti Utara Malaysia (2005).

I am passionate about research in machine learning, explainable AI, big data and data mining. My PhD analysed high-dimensional data of glaucoma disease using a novel computer algorithm that classifies and clusters the data as a form of the disease prediction.

Teaching

School of Computing and Digital Technologies

College of Business, Technology and Engineering

Software Engineering and Computer Science

Computer Science

Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence

Cybersecurity

Network and Security

I teach the following modules at Sheffield Hallam University for various subject groups:

• Databases and the Web (module leader 2019-2023)

• Programming Fundamentals (module leader)

• Algorithms and Data Structures

• Software Projects

• Project (Technical Computing)

• Work Based Review

Research

Industry and Innovation Research Institute

My research area focuses on an evolutionary computation in health-informatics. I research novel algorithms using clustering, classification, and heuristics search for high-dimensional and complex problems such as glaucoma disease. I am also interested in researching and generalising novel algorithms in other domain problems i.e biomedical and engineering.

I have worked for a few research projects including analysing retinal images for diagnosis glaucoma using Simultaneous Modelling and Clustering.

Publications

Journal articles

Nandini, Y.V., Tangirala, J.L., Krishna Enduri, M., & Jilani, Z. (2025). Link Prediction in Complex Hyper-Networks Leveraging HyperCentrality. IEEE Access, 13, 12239-12254. http://doi.org/10.1109/access.2025.3530245

Saleh, N., Ab Ghani, H., & Jilani, Z. (2022). Defining factors in hospital admissions during COVID-19 using LSTM-FCA explainable model. Artificial Intelligence in Medicine. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.artmed.2022.102394

Jilani, M.Z.M.B., Tucker, A., & Swift, S. (2019). An application of generalised simulated annealing towards the simultaneous modelling and clustering of glaucoma. Journal of Heuristics, 25 (6), 933-957. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10732-019-09415-y

Conference papers

Jilani, M.Z.M.B., Tucker, A., & Swift, S. (2016). Simultaneous Modelling and Clustering of Visual Field Data. 2016 IEEE 29th International Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems (CBMS), 213-218. http://doi.org/10.1109/cbms.2016.66

Other activities

Publication

1. Defining Factors in Hospital Admission During COVID-19 using LSTM-FCA Explanable Model. Published in Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, Elsevier (Online access : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0933365722001452 )

The paper received two awards:

• Bronze medal at Innovation Research, Invention and Application Exhibition 2022, Malaysia

• First Runner Up for Special Award at IEEE Computational Intelligence Society Malaysia Chapter

2. An Application of Generalised Simulated Annealing towards the Simultaneous Modelling and Clustering of Glaucoma. Published in Journal of Heuristics, Springer (Online access : https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10732-019-09415-y)

3. Simultaneous Modelling and Clustering of Visual Field Data, Proceeding IEEE Computer Based Medical System. (Online access : https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7545988/?reload=true).

4. Modelling Retinal Images for Glaucoma using Simultaneous Modelling and Clustering. Paper in the pipeline for a journal publication.

External Reviewer

A designated reviewer on the editorial committee for the Inter Journal of Computing and Digital

Systems (IJCDS)