Dr Alireza Abbasi

School of Engineering and Information Technology
Australian Centre for Cyber Security
a.abbasi@unsw.edu.au
+61 2 626 88058

LOCATION

Room 362, Building 21,
School of Engineering and Information Technology (SEIT)

  • ABOUT
  • PUBLICATIONS

Alireza's research interest covers a wide range of topics in Management Science, Organisation and Network Science, Data Science and Information Systems Management, namely: 

  • Performance Management; Collaboration and Coordination Management; Project Management; Disaster and Emergency Management;
  • Complex Systems (Networks); Social Network Analysis; Networks Dynamics; Complex Adaptive Systems;
  • ICT for Management; Knowledge Management / Information Systems; Social Media Analytics; 
  • Informetrics and Scientometrics.
 

My research program can be broadly divided into the following major areas:

 

* Performance and Outcome Management

This research considers the effective management of entities (e.g., individuals, projects, processes) to provide a strategic approach to ensure that initiatives are designed around organizational outcomes and that the intended outcomes are achieved. Thus, developing methods and tools are required to quantify the performance of entities and understanding the socio-technical factors affecting on their performance (or outcome) directly or indirectly. Having metrics to evaluate and compare their performance creates opportunities to identify and resolve the shortcomings and finally enhance the performance. This research is applicable in variety of fields such as project management, business management, organizational science, health management, and information science to name a few.

* Network Governance, Dynamics and Management

Many research problems in different fields can be studied using a network (or system) perspective. For instance, efficient distribution of resources and information, human disease outbreak and building strategic coalitions are the challenges which can be investigated and modelled by studying the interaction of entities (e.g., humans or organisations) in their social and professional networks.  This research aims for a better understanding and evaluating of:  the governance of networks and its impact on network effectiveness; the dynamics of networks and the structural factors affecting the dynamics and outcome; link formation patterns and its drivers over the evolution of the networks and identifying influential entities that facilitate or control the dissemination and flow of resources over the network.  For example, identifying and controlling the influential human in their social networks can help in: preventing the spread of viral diseases; predicting and controlling terrorists’ attacks; and facilitating the propagation of information in emergency responses, marketing and political campaigns.   This research requires developing new computational models and methods for enhancing our understanding of network governance, dynamics and evolution to help better predict the changes in the behaviour of entities and structure of networks.  It also needs the use of network measures and techniques and applying multiple theories from variety of disciplines in order to develop theories on network evolution. 

 

* Utilising Technologies for Effective Management and Decision Making

This research aims to find out how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and in particular ubiquitous social media platforms supports better functioning of individuals and communities including public or private organizations.  This requires understanding the impact of ICTs (including digital and social media, information systems and knowledge management systems) on the performance of organizations and their personnel. And it may need developing new (or modifying the existing) methods and/or tools and techniques for measuring progress of individuals and organizations.  Sample applications of this research include using or adopting new technologies for better: quality of life (well-being of individuals and societies); emergency and disaster management (to measure community resilience in emergencies and disasters); project, program and portfolio management; and resource management.   This research can help to utilise technologies for managers, decision and policy makers in order to enhance individuals and communities’ performance.

 

Research Projects: 
  • Measuring and Controlling Effectiveness of Project Management Processes and Approaches
  • Developing an Effective Information and Knowledge Management System for Project Control and Management
  • Enhancing Decision Making Process by developing an Effective Project (Program / Portfolio) Management Framework
  • Developing Tools, Techniques and Frameworks to Detect and Control Changes in Project Activities
  • Developing a Contingency Model for Managing Uncertainties and Risks in Projects
  • Identifying Influential Agents in Evolutionary Complex Systems (Networks)
  • Utilising Social Media for Effective Emergency Response and Disaster Management
  • Harnessing Crowdsourcing Capabilities of Social Media for Transportation Management (e.g., Human Mobility Patterns)
  • Exploiting Social Media for Public Health Promotion
  • Mining and Analysing Social Networks for Business Applications
 
Teaching:
  • Engineering Management (Undergraduate)
  • Software Project Management (Postgraduate)
  • Project Management Research Project (Postgraduate - supervisor)
  • Social Network Analysis (summer schools and workshops)
 
Leadership and Engagement:
  • Postgraduate Coordinator of Project Management Programs (Masters, Professional Doctorate, and PhD)
  • Invited thesis examiner and reviewer for journals and conferences
  • Local Chair of ‘10th International Conference on Project Management’ (ProMAC2016)
  • Committee member of conferences (e.g., ProMAC, INFOS, FTC, SIC, and IKE)
  • Member of Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM)

 

Books

Abbasi A, 2013, Analyzing Knowledge Creation and Transfer in Academic Communities: using Social Network Analysis, LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, https://www.lap-publishing.com/

Book Chapters

Abbasi A; Hossain L, 2013, 'Hybrid Centrality Measures for Binary and Weighted Networks', in Menezes R; Evsukoff A; González MC (ed.), Complex Networks, edn. Studies in Computational Intelligence, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 1 - 13, 10.1007/978-3-642-30287-9_1

Abbasi A; Hossain L, 2011, 'Investigating attachment behavior of nodes during evolution of a complex social network: A case of a scientific collaboration network', in Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), edn. PART 2, pp. 256 - 264, 10.1007/978-3-642-23863-5_26

Abbasi A; Altmann J, 2010, 'A social network system for analyzing publication activities of researchers', in Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing, pp. 49 - 61, 10.1007/978-3-642-14481-3_5

Journal articles

Najmi A; Rashidi TH; Abbasi A; Travis Waller S, 2017, 'Reviewing the transport domain: an evolutionary bibliometrics and network analysis', Scientometrics, vol. 110, pp. 843 - 865, 10.1007/s11192-016-2171-3

Rashidi TH; Abbasi A; Maghrebi M; Hasan S; Waller TS, 2017, 'Exploring the capacity of social media data for modelling travel behaviour: Opportunities and challenges', Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, vol. 75, pp. 197 - 211, 10.1016/j.trc.2016.12.008

Abbas K; Shang M; Luo X; Abbasi A, 2017, 'Emerging trends in evolving networks: Recent behaviour dominant and non-dominant model', Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, vol. 484, pp. 506 - 515, 10.1016/j.physa.2017.04.156

Danesh D; Ryan MJ; Abbasi A, 2017, 'A systematic comparison of multi-criteria decision making methods for the improvement of project portfolio management in complex organisations', International Journal of Management and Decision Making, vol. 16, pp. 280 - 320, 10.1504/IJMDM.2017.085638

Abbasi A, 2016, 'A longitudinal analysis of link formation on collaboration networks', Journal of Informetrics, vol. 10, pp. 685 - 692, 10.1016/j.joi.2016.05.001

Abbasi A; Kapucu N, 2016, 'A longitudinal study of evolving networks in response to natural disaster', Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, vol. 22, pp. 47 - 70, 10.1007/s10588-015-9196-7

Hammad MW; Abbasi A; Ryan MJ, 2016, 'Allocation and Management of Cost Contingency in Projects', Journal of Management in Engineering, vol. 32, 10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000447

Danesh D; Ryan MJ; Abbasi A, 2015, 'Using Analytic Hierarchy Process as a Decision-Making Tool in Project Portfolio Management', International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering, vol. 9, pp. 3770 - 3780, http://www.waset.org/publications/10003073

Abbasi A, 2014, 'Link formation pattern during emergency response network dynamics', Natural Hazards, vol. 71, pp. 1957 - 1969, 10.1007/s11069-013-0988-0

Abbasi A; Wigand RT; Hossain L, 2014, 'Measuring social capital through network analysis and its influence on individual performance', Library and Information Science Research, vol. 36, pp. 66 - 73, 10.1016/j.lisr.2013.08.001

Abbasi A, 2013, 'h-Type hybrid centrality measures for weighted networks', Scientometrics, vol. 96, pp. 633 - 640, 10.1007/s11192-013-0959-y

Abbasi A; Jaafari A, 2013, 'Research impact and scholars' geographical diversity', JOURNAL OF INFORMETRICS, vol. 7, pp. 683 - 692, 10.1016/j.joi.2013.04.004

Abbasi A; Owen C; Hamra J; Hossain L, 2013, 'Social connectedness and adaptive team coordination during fire events', Fire Safety Journal, vol. 59, pp. 30 - 36, 10.1016/j.firesaf.2013.03.016

Hamra J; Hossain L; Owen C; Abbasi A, 2012, 'Effects of networks on learning during emergency events', Disaster Prevention and Management, vol. 21, pp. 584 - 598, 10.1108/09653561211278716

Uddin S; Hossain L; Abbasi A; Rasmussen K, 2012, 'Trend and efficiency analysis of co-authorship network', Scientometrics, vol. 90, pp. 687 - 699, 10.1007/s11192-011-0511-x

Abbasi A; Kapucu N, 2012, 'Structural dynamics of organizations during the evolution of interorganizational networks in disaster response', Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, vol. 9, 10.1515/1547-7355.1975

Abbasi A; Chung KSK; Hossain L, 2012, 'Egocentric analysis of co-authorship network structure, position and performance', Information Processing and Management, vol. 48, pp. 671 - 679, 10.1016/j.ipm.2011.09.001

Abbasi A; Uddin S; Hossain L, 2012, 'Socioeconomic analysis of patient-centric networks: Effects of patients and hospitals' characteristics and network structure on hospitalization costs', European Journal of Health Economics, vol. 13, pp. 267 - 276, 10.1007/s10198-011-0303-5

Abbasi A; Hossain L; Leydesdorff L, 2012, 'Betweenness centrality as a driver of preferential attachment in the evolution of research collaboration networks', Journal of Informetrics, vol. 6, pp. 403 - 412, 10.1016/j.joi.2012.01.002

Abbasi A; Hossain L; Uddin S; Rasmussen KJR, 2011, 'Evolutionary dynamics of scientific collaboration networks: Multi-levels and cross-time analysis', Scientometrics, vol. 89, pp. 687 - 710, 10.1007/s11192-011-0463-1

Abbasi A; Altmann J; Hossain L, 2011, 'Identifying the effects of co-authorship networks on the performance of scholars: A correlation and regression analysis of performance measures and social network analysis measures', Journal of Informetrics, vol. 5, pp. 594 - 607, 10.1016/j.joi.2011.05.007

Abbasi A; Altmann J; Hwang J, 2010, 'Evaluating scholars based on their academic collaboration activities: Two indices, the RC-index and the CC-index, for quantifying collaboration activities of researchers and scientific communities', Scientometrics, vol. 83, pp. 1 - 13, 10.1007/s11192-009-0139-2

Altmann J; Abbasi A; Hwang J, 2009, 'Evaluating the productivity of researchers and their communities: The RP-Index and the CP-Index', International Journal of Computer Science and Applications, vol. 6, pp. 104 - 118

Abbasi A; Niaraki AS; Dehkordi BM, 2008, 'A review of ICT status and development strategy plan in Iran', International Journal of Education and Development using ICT, vol. 4

Abbasi A, 2007, 'E-commerce development in Iran', Webology, vol. 4

Conference Papers

Hammad MW; Abbasi A; Ryan MJ, 2016, 'A new method of cost contingency management', in IEEE International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, pp. 38 - 42, presented at , 10.1109/IEEM.2015.7385604

Maghrebi M; Abbasi A; Waller ST, 2016, 'Transportation application of social media: Travel mode extraction', in IEEE Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Proceedings, ITSC, pp. 1648 - 1653, presented at , 10.1109/ITSC.2016.7795779

Hammad M; Abbasi A; Ryan MJ, 2016, 'Predicting the Change in Critical Path', in Predicting the Change in Critical Path, 10th International Conference on Project Management (ProMAC 2016), Gold Coast, Australia, presented at 10th International Conference on Project Management (ProMAC 2016), Gold Coast, Australia, 16 - 19 November 2016

Maghrebi M; Abbasi A; Rashidi TH; Waller ST, 2015, 'Complementing Travel Diary Surveys with Twitter Data: Application of Text Mining Techniques on Activity Location, Type and Time', in IEEE Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Proceedings, ITSC, pp. 208 - 213, presented at , 10.1109/ITSC.2015.43

Abbasi A; Jaafari A, 2015, 'Evolution of Project Management as a Scientific Discipline', in Evolution of Project Management as a Scientific Discipline, 9th International Conference on Project Management (ProMAC 2015), Sapporo, Japan, presented at 9th International Conference on Project Management (ProMAC 2015), Sapporo, Japan, 14 - 17 October 2015

Abbasi A; Rashidi TH; Maghrebi M; Waller ST, 2015, 'Utilising location based social media in travel survey methods: Bringing twitter data into the play', in Proceedings of the 8th ACM SIGSPATIAL International Workshop on Location-Based Social Networks, LBSN 2015 - Held in Conjunction with ACM SIGSPATIAL 2015, presented at , 10.1145/2830657.2830660

Abbasi A, 2015, 'Reviewing academic social network mining applications', in International Conference on ICT Convergence 2015: Innovations Toward the IoT, 5G, and Smart Media Era, ICTC 2015, pp. 503 - 508, presented at , 10.1109/ICTC.2015.7354596

Abedin B; Babar A; Abbasi A, 2014, 'Characterization of the use of social media in natural disasters: A systematic review', in Proceedings - 4th IEEE International Conference on Big Data and Cloud Computing, BDCloud 2014 with the 7th IEEE International Conference on Social Computing and Networking, SocialCom 2014 and the 4th, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., Sydney, pp. 449 - 454, presented at Big Data and Cloud Computing (BdCloud), 2014 Big Data and Cloud Computing (BdCloud), Sydney, 03 - 05 December 2014, 10.1109/BDCloud.2014.17

Abbasi A, 2014, 'Understanding the evolutionary dynamics and adaptation of complex networks', in Proceedings of 2014 IEEE International Conference on Behavioral, Economic, Socio-Cultural Computing, BESC 2014, presented at , 10.1109/BESC.2014.7059516

Jaafari A; Abbasi A, 2013, 'Governance in Project and Program Management', in ProMAC 2013 Proceedings, 7th International Conference on Project Management (ProMAC 2013), Hanoi, Vietnam, presented at 7th International Conference on Project Management (ProMAC 2013), Hanoi, Vietnam, 06 - 09 November 2013

Abbasi A; Kenneth Chung KS, 2013, 'Collaborative innovative networks: Influence and performance', in Proceedings of ISSI 2013 - 14th International Society of Scientometrics and Informetrics Conference, pp. 328 - 338, presented at

Abbasi A; Hossain L; Owen C, 2013, 'Investigating preferential attachment behavior over the evolution of disaster response networks', in Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, pp. 739 - 747, presented at , 10.1109/HICSS.2013.364

Abbasi A; Hossain L, 2013, 'Hybrid centrality measures for binary and weighted networks', in Studies in Computational Intelligence, pp. 1 - 7, presented at , 10.1007/978-3-642-30287-9-1

Abbasi A; Hossain L, 2011, 'Analyzing Academic Communities' Collaboration and Performance', in IKE 2011: International Conference on Information and Knowledge Engineering, Las Vegas, NV, USA, pp. 75 - 82, presented at , Las Vegas, NV, USA, 18 - 21 July 2011

Hamra J; Hossain L; Abbasi A; Owen C, 2011, 'The Influence of Social Networks on Learning in Disasters', in GITMA 2011: 12th Global Information Technology Management Association World Conference, Las Vegas, NV, USA, pp. 63 - 70, presented at , Las Vegas, NV, USA, 05 - 07 July 2011

Abbasi A; Hossain L; Owen C, 2011, 'Exploring the relationship between research impact and collaborations for information science', in Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, pp. 774 - 780, presented at , 10.1109/HICSS.2012.664

Abbasi A; Altmann J, 2011, 'On the correlation between research performance and social network analysis measures applied to research collaboration networks', in Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, presented at , 10.1109/HICSS.2011.325

Abbasi A; Uddin S; Hossain L, 2011, 'Social structure of patient-centric networks and delivery of cost effective healthcare services', in 17th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2011, AMCIS 2011, pp. 1406 - 1413, presented at

Abbasi A; Hossain L; Hamra J; Owen C, 2010, 'Social networks perspective of firefighters' adaptive behaviour and coordination among them', in Proceedings - 2010 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Green Computing and Communications, GreenCom 2010, 2010 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Cyber, Physical and Social Computing, CPSCom 2010, pp. 819 - 824, presented at , 10.1109/GreenCom-CPSCom.2010.57

Hwang J; Abbasi A, 2008, 'Research issues in web mining for academic social network systems', in Proceedings of the 2008 International Conference on Information and Knowledge Engineering, IKE 2008, pp. 560 - 566, presented at

Abbasi A, 2008, 'A strategic plan for E-commerce development in Iran', in Proceedings - 3rd International Conference on Convergence and Hybrid Information Technology, ICCIT 2008, pp. 32 - 41, presented at , 10.1109/ICCIT.2008.399