Hello👋

This is my personal website, that I should use to publish work but always forget. I coded it from scratch using Next.js and Tailwind CSS.

Who am I?

Zaur

I'm a 1st year PhD student at University College Dublin (UCD) in the School of Information & Communication Studies, researching disinformation in the context of Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) under the supervision of Dr. Brendan Spillane and co-supervision of Dr. Benjamin R. Cowan, funded by a scholarship from the ADAPT Centre.
I've previously obtained degrees which included a B.Sc in Economics (21'), an M.Sc in Computer Science (22'), and a second M.Sc in Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (23'). I was awarded an AI scholarship by the European Union for my postgraduate education. I've gained robust experience in Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Quantitative Social Science and Digital Communication. In 2023, I decided to extend my skills to policing, and began working for An Garda Síochána (Ireland's National Police and Security Service) as a Crime & Data Analyst in Garda Síochána Analysis Service (GSAS), contributing to the analysis of national crime statistics, investigations and intelligence.
I'm an avid reader of the geopolitical, economic, social and security landscape of the Caucasus countries (transcontinental region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea) and have dedicated a lot of reading to understanding these complex regions in detail. I have built tools for analyzing, translating and disseminating information from these regions into English.
I've recently co-authored a paper on XAI (December 2023) in the ACM. I'm currently in the early stage of my PhD, where I'm actively exploring and shaping my research focus, interests, and aspirations. My aim is to utilize my strong background in data science, computer programming, and statistics, while integrating qualitative, philosophical, and theoretical approaches, to grow into an all-around proficient researcher.

Memberships

  • International Association of Crime Analysts (IACA)
  • Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
  • European Association of Crime Analysts (EACA)
  • Royal Statistical Society (RSS)
  • Association of Crime & Intelligence Analysts (ACIA)
  • Information Systems Security Association (ISSA)
  • International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts (IALEI)

Interests

  • Disinformation: Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI)
  • Digital Communication: Abusive Language, Propaganda, Extremism, Hate Speech
  • Security Studies: Geopolitics, Information Warfare, Conflict Analysis, Caucasus Dynamics, Counterinsurgency, Counterintelligence, Reflexive Control
  • Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Text Analytics
  • Cyberwarfare: Threat Intelligence, Dark/Deep Web Analysis, Crime Markets
  • Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT)

Latest Projects

Predictive Models with XAI: Association of Computing Machinery

Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on Human Centered Artificial Intelligence: Education and Practice · December 2023 · (doi.org/10.1145/3633083.3633189)

Media Website Bias Checker / React App

I built an application that allows users to search over 2000+ media websites to discover their political ideology, factual reporting, bias score and MBFC classification.

Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference GIS Map

I'm a geek for visualisations and geographical information systems (GIS), so I developed a map visualising FIMI in Europe. Built using leaflet (JS).

Abusive Language Detection: Efficacy of Large Language Models

Published a paper with my co-author Dr. Rajesh Jaiswal for the HCAIM (Human-Centered AI) on the effiacy of LLMS to detect hate speech, radicalisation and toxicity.

Contact Me