Software Engineering Research Group (SERG)

Software Engineering Research Group, University of Malakand (SERG_UOM) is the pioneer research group at the Department of Computer Science and IT, established in 2011 and is lead by Dr Siffat Ullah Khan since its establishment.

Research Activities and Research Contributors/Members

Details of the last 6-7 years research activities by the SERG_UOM and its contributors can be found at this link

Research Supervision

It is an honour to mention that the first PhD (Abdul Wahid Khan) at the Department of CS & IT, UOM was produced by SERG_UOM on 1st April 2016.

PhD Thesis Supervised

While leading SERG-UOM, I have successfully supervised 04 PhD scholars at University Malakand. One of these scholars was HEC indigenous scholarship Awardee and has successfully earned his PhD degree, whereas the rest have submitted their theses and currently in the examination process. The names of these PhD scholars, I have supervised so far, are listed below:

1. Abdul Wahid Khan (Thesis Title: Outsourcing Contract Management Model, session: 2012-2016)
2. Muhammad Salam (Thesis Title: Green Software Multi-Sourcing Readiness Model for Vendors, session: 2011-2016)
3. Nasir Rashid (Thesis Title: Green Agile Maturity Model for Global Software Development Vendors, Session: 2012-2016)
4. Muhammad Ilyas (Thesis Title: Software Integration Model for Global Software Development, Session: 2012- 2016)

MPhil Thesis Supervised

I have successfully supervised 08 MPhil scholars at University Malakand. Eight scholars have successfully earned their MPhil degrees whereas the rest are in progress. The names of these MPhil scholars , are listed below:

1. Rafiq Ahmad Khan (Thesis Title: Communication and Coordination Challenges Mitigation for Offshore Software Development Outsourcing Vendors, Degree awarded in 2015)
2. Muhammad Ilyas Azeem (Thesis Title: Intercultural Challenge Mitigation Model for Offshore Software Development Outsourcing Vendors, Degree awarded in 2016)
3. Sikandar Ali (Thesis Title: Software Outsourcing Partnership Model, Degree awarded in 2016)
4. Naeem Ullah (Thesis Title: Hybrid Cloud Adoption Assessment Model, Degree awarded in 2016)
5. Irshad Ali (Thesis Title: Agile Software Outsourcing Model, Degree awarded in 2016)
6. Muhib Ullah (Thesis Title: Mobile Commerce Customers Relationships Management Model, Degree awarded in 2016)
7. Sadia (Thesis Title: Software Quality Assessment Model for Global Software Development, Degree awarded in 2016)
8. Hazrat Umar (Thesis Title: Design Model for Developers in the context of Embedded Real Time Systems, Degree awarded in 2016)
9. Abdur Rashid (research in progress)
10. Uzma Kanwal (research in progress)

Impact of the research work delievered by SERG

Overall SERG-UOM has developed a dozen of Software Engineering Paradigms and have published more the 100 research publications till date. Details of these publication can be found in this link: more info...

The impact of the research work is discussed as follow:

i) On the Research

Our research work lies in the domain of Global Software Engineering, Green IT, Cloud Computing, Agile Software Development and Embedded Real-Time Systems. If we look to the online graph of citations to our research papers, it shows that the number of citations to our publications are continuously rising, which shows that researchers are taking interest in our research work. Further researchers at the technologically advanced countries such as USA, UK, Sweden, etc. are citing our work.

ii) On the Economy

Literature reveals that most of the firms at USA and UK have adopted offshore software development outsourcing paradigm due to the availability of high quality of IT services at low cost and shorter period of time. Currently India is leading the software outsourcing industry whereas, China is the strongest contender to India. We have developed Software Outsourcing Vendors’ Readiness Model (SOVRM) to assist outsourcing vendors in gauging and improving their readiness of outsourcing activities. Similarly, software outsourcing contract management model (OCMM) has been developed to assist outsourcing vendor organisations in managing and executing software outsourcing contract effectively and efficiently.

iii) On the Society

I have developed a number of research models such as Green Software Multi-souring Readiness Model (GSMRM), Green IT-Outsourcing Assurance Model (GITAM), Intercultural Challenges Mitigation Model (ICCMM), etc. The model GSMRM is concerned with green computing. Green computing can be defined as the practice of maximizing the efficient use of computing resources to minimize negative impact on environment . In order to run server applications, store data, to maintain data centers and keeping services up and running a considerable amount of energy is used and required. There is a lack of software engineering models that define how a software can be developed and maintained in an eco-friendly way.

Green Software Multi-souring Readiness Model (GSMRM), aims to assist multi-sourcing vendor organisations in assessing their readiness for developing green softwares in multisourced projects. This model will also assist multi-sourcing client organisations to gauge greenness/green capabilities of their vendors.

Similarly other models such as Intercultural Challenges Mitigation Model (ICCMM), Communication and Coordination Challenges Mitigation Model (CCCMM) have been developed and published. The models aim to assist outsourcing organizations (vendors) to know about their cultural synchronization with their clients as well as the potential intercultural challenges that may have a negative impact on offshore software development outsourcing relationships.

Awards and Grants

• National Research Award (Dr.M.N.Azam Prize/Gold Medal) in Computer (Software) 2015 by Pakistan Academy of Sciences.
• The Vice Chancellor University of Malakand has honored me with the remarks/title of Role Model for young researchers. These remarks have been published in the Daily Mashriq, dated 15-Nov-2015 and also in the UOM 21st Issue of the Newsletter.
• HEC Pakistan, FDP scholarship for PhD studies at Keele UK, Jan-2008 to Dec-2010
• HEC Pakistan, Travel Grant for research paper presentation, 18-21 Aug-2014, at Shanghai, China, vide Letter no: 203.84/TG/ R&D /HEC/2014/744, Dated: 22-Jul-2014
• HEC Pakistan, Travel Grant for research paper presentation at Limerick, Ireland, vide Letter no: 80.10/1/HEC (R&D)/09/442, Dated: 09-Jul-2009

Collaboratin with Researched and Collegues

I retain close ties with researchers in Software Engineering area. Currently we are collaborating with researchers at Umm Al-Qura University (UQU), Makkah, Saudi Arabia, KFUPM Saudi Arabia, NBU Saudi Arabia, University of Limerick Ireland, Cambridge University, Keele University UK, NICTA Australia, AUT NewZealand, UTM Malaysia, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, COMSATS Islamabad, NUST Pakistan, Kohat University of Science & Technology (KUST) Pakistan, International Islamic University, Pakistan, UST Bannu, Riphah International University, Pakistan, AWKUM Pakistan, Iqra university Islamabad.

Contact

If you need any further information, please don’t hesitate to contact me at the following contact details/Address.

Dr Siffat Ullah Khan (PhD, Keele, UK)

Winner of Research Award(DR M.N.Azam Prize)/Gold Medal in Computer (Software) 2015 by Pakistan Academy of Sciences

Asstt: Professor,
Department of Computer Science & IT,
University of Malakand, Pakistan.
http://csit.uom.edu.pk/
http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/siffat-ullah-khan/12/964/11
Email: siffatullah@uom.edu.pk , siffat7@yahoo.com
Cell no: 0092 345 9346 744

Members