Dr Ferheen Ayaz
Contact details
About
Overview
Ferheen Ayaz is a Lecturer at City St. George's, University of London since August 2024. She was previously a Research Fellow at University of Sussex. She has worked on the project of Green, Connected and Prosperous Britain funded by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Her research work included energy-efficient solutions for electric vehicle charging utilising vehicle-to-grid (V2G) networks. She worked with project collaborators from London South Bank University, Imperial College London and University of Essex.
She has also served as an Associate Researcher working on Multimodal AI-based Security at the Edge (MAISE) with University of Glasgow in partnership with ST Microelectronics and funded by Petras in 2021-2022. The project was aimed to ensure security of intelligent IoT devices. She worked closely with officials of STMicroelectronics to achieve research objectives. She has received HEIF Grant 2025 for dissemination and demonstration of this research project.
Besides her main research projects, she has also worked as a part-time research fellow in University of Sussex on the project of environmental sustainability through IoT based flood monitoring and green and autonomous UAVs in March and July 2022, respectively.
She completed her PhD thesis on the topic of blockchain solutions for the security and privacy of vehicular networks particularly message dissemination in 2022 under the supervision of Dr. Zhengguo Sheng. The research utilised blockchain for security in vehicular communications, thereby ensuring safe transportation. The research was funded by University of Sussex and partially supported by SEED project funded by H2020 EPSRC Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant. She also has research experience of physical layer communication technologies including Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communications.
She is currently the member of IEEE Young Professionals Climate and Sustainability Taskforce. She has also served as the Steering Committee member in IEEE Women in Engineering UK & Ireland in 2022. She also organized IEEE Young Professionals UK & Ireland Virtual STEM Symposium in November 2021. She has also served as a chair in IEEE WCNC 2023 workshop and TPC member in IEEE VTC 2020, 2021 and 2023.
Qualifications
- PhD, University of Sussex, United Kingdom, 2018 - May 2022
Employment
- Lecturer, City, University of London, United Kingdom, August 2024 - present
- Research Fellow, University of Sussex, United Kingdom, September 2022 - August 2024
- Research Associate, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom, November 2021 - August 2022
Fellowships
- N2Women Fellowship
Memberships of committees
- UKTIN Academic Strategic Working Group
- IEEE Young Professionals Climate and Sustainability Task Force
Memberships of professional organisations
- IEEE
- IET
Awards
-
Rising Star in Electronics (2024). Electronics Weekly
Nomination - University of Sussex (2023). Spirit of Sussex Gold Award
-
World Skills UK (2022). Rising Star Award in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Highly commended
Teaching
Undergraduate and Postgraduate
IN3046 / INM429 – Cloud Computing (2024/25)
Research
Grant
HEIF Funding (2024/2025) to demonstrate past research on security of AI models.
Research students
BSc in Computer Science, City St. George's, University of London
Attendance: February - May 2025, full-time
Thesis title: Optimising and Securing Deep Neural Networks
Role: 1st Supervisor
MSc in Data Science student, University of Sussex
Attendance: May - August 2024, full-time
Thesis title: Forecasting Infrastructure Needs, Environmental Impacts, and Dynamic Pricing For Electric Vehicle Charging
Role: 1st Supervisor
MSc in Data Science student, University of Sussex
Attendance: May - August 2024, full-time
Thesis title: Integrating Solar Energy Data into the Investment Analysis and Location Selection Process for Istanbul's EV Charging Stations
Role: 1st Supervisor
Undergraduate Student, University of Glasgow
Attendance: November 2021 - August 2022, full-time
Thesis title: Deployment Protocol for Deep Neural Network Models in IoT Devices
Role: 2nd Supervisor
Publications
Publications by category
Chapter
- Ayaz, F., Sheng, Z., Tian, D. and Leung, V.C.M. (2021). Blockchain-Enabled Security and Privacy for Internet-of-Vehicles. Unmanned System Technologies (pp. 123-148). Springer International Publishing. ISBN 9783030463342.
Conference papers and proceedings (13)
- Fayi, S., Ayaz, F. and Sheng, Z. (2026). REVS-T: Trust-Tier-Aware Provider Selection for Secure Vehicular Computation Offloading. IEEE MeditCom 2026 6-9 July, Cagliari, Italy.
- Fayi, S., Ayaz, F. and Sheng, Z. (2025). A Blockchain-Based Reputation-Enhanced Vehicle Selection (REVS) for Computation Offloading. 2025 IEEE 102nd Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2025-Fall) 19-22 October.doi:10.1109/vtc2025-fall65116.2025.11310384
- Ayaz, F., Nekovee, M. and Saeed, N. (2024). Blockchain-based Energy Trading among UAVs and Base Stations for Net-Zero. 2024 IEEE 10th World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT) 10-13 November.doi:10.1109/wf-iot62078.2024.10811256
- Ayaz, F. and Nekovee, M. (2024). Quantum Optimization for Bidirectional Telecom Energy Exchange and Vehicular Edge Computing in Green 6G Networks. 2024 IEEE International Conference on Communications, Control, and Computing Technologies for Smart Grids (SmartGridComm) 17-20 September.doi:10.1109/smartgridcomm60555.2024.10738076
- Jamshed, M.A., Ayaz, F., Kaushik, A., Fischione, C. and Ur-Rehman, M. (2024). Green UAV-enabled Internet-of-Things Network with AI-assisted NOMA for Disaster Management. 2024 IEEE 35th International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC) 2-5 September.doi:10.1109/pimrc59610.2024.10817434
- Ayaz, F. and Nekovee, M. AI-based energy consumption modeling of 5G base stations: an energy efficient approach. .doi:10.1049/icp.2024.2234
- Ayaz, F., Zakariyya, I., Cano, J., Keoh, S.L., Singer, J., Pau, D.... Kharbouche-Harrari, M. (2023). Improving Robustness Against Adversarial Attacks with Deeply Quantized Neural Networks. 2023 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN) 18-23 June.doi:10.1109/ijcnn54540.2023.10191429
- Ayaz, F. and Nekovee, M. (2023). Towards Net-Zero Goal through Altruistic Prosumer based Energy Trading among Connected Electric Vehicles. 2023 IEEE Vehicular Networking Conference (VNC) 26-28 April.doi:10.1109/vnc57357.2023.10136351
- Liu, B., Ayaz, F., Anh, H.D., Edwards, O., Zeng, Y., Sheng, Z.... Tian, D. UAV Integrated Internet-of-Vehicle (IoV) System for Flooding Monitoring and Rescue. .doi:10.1007/978-981-99-0479-2_91
- Ayaz, F., Sheng, Z., Ho, I.W.-.H., Tiany, D. and Ding, Z. (2022). Blockchain-enabled FD-NOMA based Vehicular Network with Physical Layer Security. 2022 IEEE 95th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2022-Spring) 19-22 June.doi:10.1109/vtc2022-spring54318.2022.9860421
- Ayaz, F., Sheng, Z., Tian, D., Liang, G.Y. and Leung, V. (2020). A Voting Blockchain based Message Dissemination in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks (VANETs). ICC 2020 - 2020 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC) 7-11 June.doi:10.1109/icc40277.2020.9148823
- Ayaz, F. and Ayaz, S. (2020). Analysis of GFDM as a Robust 5G Communication Technique in Noisy Environment. 2020 International Conference on Information Networking (ICOIN) 7-10 January.doi:10.1109/icoin48656.2020.9016552
- Ayaz, F., Rabie, K. and Adebisi, B. (2018). Analysis of Optimized Threshold with SLM based Blanking Non-Linearity for Impulsive Noise Reduction in Power Line Communication Systems. 2018 11th International Symposium on Communication Systems, Networks and Digital Signal Processing (CSNDSP) 18-20 July.doi:10.1109/csndsp.2018.8471861
Journal articles (13)
- Ayaz, F., Nekovee, M., Sheng, Z. and Saeed, N. (2026). Digital Twin-Based Reinforcement Learning for Energy Exchange Among Electric Vehicles and Base Stations in a Disaster-Affected Region. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 27(5), pp. 6181-6190. doi:10.1109/tits.2025.3607305
- Ayaz, F., Nekovee, M. and Jha, N. (2026). Optimized Control of Bidirectional EV Charging for Net Zero with Incentivized Prosumerism. Future Transportation, 6(1), pp. 8-8. doi:10.3390/futuretransp6010008
- Jabr, O., Ayaz, F., Nekovee, M. and Saeed, N. (2025). Forecasting Infrastructure Needs, Environmental Impacts, and Dynamic Pricing for Electric Vehicle Charging. World Electric Vehicle Journal, 16(8), pp. 410-410. doi:10.3390/wevj16080410
- Ayaz, F., Nekovee, M. and Ibraheem, A.F. (2025). Telecom-to-Grid: Supercharging 6G’s Contribution for Reliable Net-Zero. IEEE Reliability Magazine, 2(2), pp. 40-48. doi:10.1109/mrl.2025.3544145
- Cui, M., Han, D., Liu, H., Li, K.-.C., Tang, M., Chang, C.-.C.... Guan, Y.L. (2024). Secure Data Sharing for Consortium Blockchain-Enabled Vehicular Social Networks. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 73(12), pp. 19682-19695. doi:10.1109/tvt.2024.3448207
- ul Khairi, D., Ayaz, F., Saeed, N., Ahsan, K. and Ali, S.Z. (2023). Analysis of Deep Convolutional Neural Network Models for the Fine-Grained Classification of Vehicles. Future Transportation, 3(1), pp. 133-149. doi:10.3390/futuretransp3010009
- Nekovee, M. and Ayaz, F. (2023). Vision, Enabling Technologies, and Scenarios for a 6G-Enabled Internet of Verticals (6G-IoV). Future Internet, 15(2), pp. 57-57. doi:10.3390/fi15020057
- Ayaz, F., Sheng, Z., Tian, D., Nekovee, M. and Saeed, N. (2022). Blockchain-Empowered AI for 6G-Enabled Internet of Vehicles. Electronics, 11(20), pp. 3339-3339. doi:10.3390/electronics11203339
- Xue, Z., Liu, Y., Han, G., Ayaz, F., Sheng, Z. and Wang, Y. (2022). Two-Layer Distributed Content Caching for Infotainment Applications in VANETs. IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 9(3), pp. 1696-1711. doi:10.1109/jiot.2021.3089280
- Ayaz, F., Sheng, Z., Tian, D. and Guan, Y.L. (2022). A Blockchain Based Federated Learning for Message Dissemination in Vehicular Networks. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 71(2), pp. 1927-1940. doi:10.1109/tvt.2021.3132226
- Ayaz, F., Sheng, Z., Tian, D. and Guan, Y.L. (2021). A Proof-of-Quality-Factor (PoQF)-Based Blockchain and Edge Computing for Vehicular Message Dissemination. IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 8(4), pp. 2468-2482. doi:10.1109/jiot.2020.3026731
- Kalwar, S., Ayaz, F., Korai, U.A. and Arain, Z.A. (2017). Analysis of Carrier Frequency Offset Suppression Techniques in SC-FDMA Communication System. Wireless Personal Communications, 95(2), pp. 317-329. doi:10.1007/s11277-016-3894-4
- Ali, Z., Ayaz, F. and Park, C.-.S. (2015). Optimized threshold calculation for blanking nonlinearity at OFDM receivers based on impulsive noise estimation. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, 2015(1). doi:10.1186/s13638-015-0416-0
Professional activities
Collaboration (industrial)
-
Researcher of Industrial Placement at Kinseed project (August 2021 - October 2022), United Kingdom
Sponsored by IEEE Electron Devices Society
Other
- Use Case included in AI For Good Global Summit with topic of Bidirectional Telecom-to-Grid and Telecom-to-Vehicle Energy Exchange for Net-Zero , International Telecommunication Union (ITU) .