Shah Jamal Alam
Education
-
Ph.D. in Computational Social Science, Centre for Policy Modelling, Manchester Metropolitan University Business School, UK (2008) —
Thesis: Understanding Social Complexity in the Context of HIV/AIDS: A Case Study in Rural South Africa -
M.Sc. mit Auszeichnung (with Honors) in Computer Science, Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken, Germany (2004) —
Thesis: Ramifications of Gift Exchange in Multiagent Systems -
B.S. in Computer Science, University of Karachi, Pakistan (2001) —
Thesis: Teachers’ Evaluation Using Genetic Algorithms
Research Interests
- Digital Humanities
- Agent-Based Modeling
- Climate Change Adaptation
- HIV Transmission Systems
- Dynamical Social Networks
- Computational Anthropology
Biography
Dr. Shah Jamal Alam has been Professor of Computer Science at Habib University since September 2025, and currently serves as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education & Accreditation (August 2025–present), having held the role on an interim basis from May 2024. In this capacity he oversees all academic programs and centers, chairs the Habib Liberal Core Board of Studies, supervises the Quality Enhancement Cell, and leads the university’s international accreditation efforts, including its NECHE candidacy. He was Associate Professor from September 2019 to August 2025 and Assistant Professor from July 2014, having joined Habib as a founding faculty member; he previously served as University Registrar and Director of Academic Systems (November 2015–March 2019) and as Director of Student Life (October 2016–January 2017).
Before joining Habib, Dr. Alam was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Climate Change and Adaptation at the University of Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences (2012–2014), and earlier a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Complex Systems and Epidemiology at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health (2008–2012), working on NIH-funded research into HIV risk dynamics and genetic sequences. He completed his Ph.D. in Computational Social Science at the Centre for Policy Modelling, Manchester Metropolitan University (2005–2008), and earlier held research posts at the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Saarbrücken (2001–2005).
Dr. Alam has authored over 20 peer-reviewed journal articles and 20+ conference papers and book chapters spanning agent-based modeling, HIV transmission dynamics, land-use change, and — more recently — digital humanities and generative AI in higher education. He has served as Associate Editor of Complex Adaptive Systems Modelling (Springer, 2014–2019) and sits on the editorial boards of PLoS Complex Systems (2023–present) and the International Journal of Agent Technologies and Systems (2008–present), alongside long-running programme-committee service for AAMAS, IJCAI, and the Social Simulation Conference (ESSA). At Habib, he co-founded the (now Dhanani) School of Science and Engineering’s public lecture series and has supervised numerous undergraduate capstone and Summer Tehqiq research projects applying agent-based modeling to Karachi-focused problems — from storm-water drainage policy to rural electrification and gentrification.
He is an invited Area Chair for AAMAS 2026, a member of the Sindh Higher Education Commission’s HEIs Policy and Curriculum Review Committee (2025–present), and a frequent keynote and panel speaker on generative AI in higher education, most recently at the SPELT International Conference and Iqra University’s ICRHE (both 2024).
Selected Publications
- Ahmed, U., Saeed, M., Alam, S.J. “The Role of Suspicious Accounts in Setting Political Discourse: A Case Study of the Pakistani Twitter Space.” Information Discovery and Delivery, 2024.
- Khatri, R., Khan, F., Alam, S.J. “Risk Identification and Relapse Prediction in Lung Adenocarcinoma (LUAD).” ICAMAC, IEEE, 2024.
- van der Knaap, Y.A.M., Bakker, M., Alam, S.J., et al. “Projected Vegetation Changes are Amplified by the Combination of Climate Change, Socio-Economic Changes and Hydrological Climate Adaptation Measures.” Land Use Policy, 72, 2018.
- Alam, S.J., Zhang, X., Romero-Severson, E.O., et al. “Detectable Signals of Episodic Risk Effects on Acute HIV Transmission: Strategies for Analyzing Transmission Systems Using Genetic Data.” Epidemics, 5, 2013.
- Bakker, M., Alam, S.J., van Dijk, J., Rounsevell, M.D.A. “Land-Use Change as the Result of Rural Land Exchange: An Agent-Based Simulation Model.” Landscape Ecology, 30, 2015.
- Alam, S.J., Geller, A., Meyer, R., Werth, B. “Modelling Contextualized Reasoning in Complex Societies with ‘Endorsements’.” Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 13(4), 2010.
Honors & Awards / Service
- Member, PLoS Complex Systems Editorial Board (2023–present)
- Invited Area Chair, Modeling and Simulation of Societies track, AAMAS 2026
- Member, Sindh HEC HEIs Policy and Curriculum Review Committee (2025–present)
- Keynote speaker, International Conference on Revolutionizing Higher Education (ICRHE 2024) and 40th SPELT International Conference (2024)
- PhD Studentship, EU NEST Programme (2005–2008); multiple EU FP6/FP7 and NIH research grants as collaborator
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