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AI for Researchers

MNARA Online Seminar - 9 June 2026

Australia/Melbourne
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AI for Researchers: Smarter Research, Smarter Careers

Event Details
  • ​Date: Tuesday, 9 June 2026
  • Time: 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM AEST
  • Duration: 90 minutes
  • Style: Practitioner-led, with live demonstrations and Q&A
  • Platform: Zoom (registration required)
  • Cost: Free
About This Seminar
Artificial intelligence has moved from a research curiosity to a daily working tool for academics across every discipline. This MNARA seminar brings together three Sydney-based practitioner perspectives on putting AI to work across the academic lifecycle from doing the research itself, to building real LLM-powered systems for the field, to navigating the modern job market.

The session offers three complementary lenses on AI in academic life. The first lens looks at AI as a research instrument, covering practical workflows for literature review, writing, analysis, and ideation. The second lens turns inward to examine what we learn from building production LLM systems. The engineering, ethical, and methodological realities of deploying chatbots, RAG pipelines, and AI agents in real-world studies. The third lens looks outward to careers, presenting an AI-powered playbook for both academic positions and academia-to-industry transitions, anchored by a live demonstration of an end-to-end pipeline built on free and low-cost tools.

Designed for researchers across disciplines and career stages, the seminar blends conceptual frameworks with live demonstrations. Attendees will leave with concrete techniques and workflows they can apply to their research, their next system, and their next role the same week.

Speakers:
  • Convenor: Dr Omar Mubin. Associate Professor, Western Sydney University. Cluster Lead — Agentic Intelligence and Autonomous Systems. (LinkedIn)

  • Dr Omar Mubin is an Associate Professor at Western Sydney University and serves as Cluster Lead for Agentic Intelligence and Autonomous Systems, and Co-Lead of the Social Robot Interaction Node. His research interest spans Human-Robot Interaction, Human-Computer Interaction, social robotics, and the application of AI in education and scholarly analysis. He completed his PhD in Human-Robot Interaction at the Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) and was previously a post-doctoral researcher in Human-Computer Interaction at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. He has authored and co-authored extensively across HCI, HRI, and social robotics venues, and leads a research group whose work spans agentic AI, multi-agent systems, social robotics, and AI-driven research impact.

  • Speaker 1: Mudassar Hassan Arsalan. Senior Consultant, Geospatial Analysis and Modelling, R.W. Corkery & Co. Research Associate (Data Scientist), Western Sydney University. (LinkedIn)


    • Topic: "AI in the Research Workflow: Practical Tools for Literature, Writing, and Analysis" (20 min)

  • Mudassar Hassan Arsalan is a Senior Consultant Geospatial Analysis and Modelling, R.W. Corkery & Co. and Research Associate (Data Scientist) at Western Sydney University, with research interests spanning artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, and research impact analysis. His published work examines how AI and ML are reshaping scholarly ecosystems, with recent contributions in scientometrics, research impact indicators, and predictive approaches to research evaluation. He brings deep experience in data analysis, spatial science, and applied research across multiple disciplines.

  • Speaker 2: Salik Saleem. AI Engineer, Western Sydney University. (LinkedIn)


    • Topic: "From PhD to Position: An AI-Powered Job Search Playbook for Researchers" (25 min)

  • Salik Saleem is an AI Engineer at Western Sydney University with more than four years of experience spanning artificial intelligence and full-stack development. He holds a Master's degree in AI and Big Data, and his work focuses on large language models, agentic AI systems, and AI-driven automation. Salik is passionate about translating cutting-edge AI research into practical tools that solve real problems for researchers and industry alike.

  • Speaker 3: Muhammad Hassan Khan. PhD Researcher, Human-Robot Interaction & AI. (LinkedIn)


    • Topic: "LLMs in the Real World: Empirical Challenges and Reflections for Human-Centred AI" (10 min)

  • Muhammad Hassan Khan is a PhD Researcher in Human-Robot Interaction and AI, working on the empirical study and deployment of LLM-powered systems for civic and educational settings. His current research spans adaptive moderator chatbots, personality-adaptive conversational agents, and curriculum-grounded AI platforms, with active collaborations across UAE University, LUMS (Pakistan), Chalmers University (Italy), and Southern Cross University. He focuses on the engineering, ethical, and methodological realities of deploying LLMs responsibly in the wild.

Attendee Takeaways

Attendees will leave with a curated set of AI tools and prompts for the research workflow, a practical and cost-aware playbook for the AI-powered job search across academic and industry pathways, and a grounded understanding of what it takes to deploy LLM-based systems responsibly in real-world research settings.

Who Should Attend

Researchers across disciplines and career stages

How to Register
  • Step 1: New to MNARA? Complete our survey at www.mnara.au
  • Step 2: Already a member? Click the Register button
  • Step 3: You will receive your Zoom link before the event

Spaces are limited. The session will be recorded for MNARA members.

We look forward to seeing you there!

The Muslim Network of Academics and Researchers Australia (MNARA)

www.mnara.au