Statement of Academic Intent

Being a person who has spent over thirteen years being associated with the field of IT; learning it, teaching it and supervising it; I believe IT is my calling. Since it is a field of my interest and passion, looking into the future, I see my bond with IT continue and strengthen further. But having taught for over twelve years as a professional IT teacher, I feel that now I am ready to return to the academia to formally upgrade my knowledge set and education skills. I have a Bachelors in Management Information Systems, a diploma in teaching and a Masters in Cyber Security. Now I plan to undertake my Ph.D. degree in Computer Science at the University of Ontario.
During the course of thirteen years, I have taken up many managerial projects in UAE, internal and external to the school environment. In a school environment, I have supervised internships, made contributions towards raising the quality of education in private schools, conducted internal examinations, etc. Beyond school environment, I have been involved in different social research projects related to IT. One important project was regarding the assessment of knowledge level in lawyers and judges related to digital forensics. I suggested a training program to help raise this knowledge level guaranteeing an upgraded, reliable legal system with reference to cyber security cases. In another project, I researched the effects of social networking websites on the teenagers’ privacy.
Based on my IT knowledge, experience and research, computer security and confidentiality are inevitable global issues of the present times.

The recent technological advancements have forced the issue of privacy and safety to become multifaceted. Social media website, smart phones, smart cards, wireless sensor network applications, location tracking apps and games, online payments, etc. are in people’s daily use. Since the sensitive personal information is accessible through the public Internet, predators can exploit the slightest of negligence. So for my Ph.D. research, I would explore the global state of privacy in the current technological age.
I am devoted and passionate about my profession. During the course of my career in the education field, I worked voluntarily as the head of IT faculty for three years. Although it was more of a managerial post, during that time, I decided to pursue masters in IT as it would help me acquire knowledge of IT, support my education profession and open path to diverse advanced specialized jobs. So later on, based on my IT knowledge, I started teaching in College of Technological Innovation (Zayed University, UAE) for three years as an adjunct faculty. During this time, I have taken various IT and Computer Science courses such as Human Computer Interaction, Introduction to IT and Systems and IT in Global and Local Cultures. Due to my hard work and dedication, I became a regular instructor at the University. Based on my managerial knowledge and experience, I was also appointed the post of college’s academic advisor. Besides these two roles, I was also requested to work as a teacher assistant to manage the lab sessions of a few courses in the graduate program, such as Small Scale Digital Device Forensics and Network and Internet Security.
I choose to pursue my Ph.D. at the University of Ontario because I am specifically interested in carrying out research in the field of Information Science or Networks and IT Security. I am looking forward to collaborating with Professor Patrick Hung, whose area is closest to my Ph.D. research interests. I believe that I have the dedication, passion and ability to contribute to and learn from the academically challenging environment at the University of Ontario. Moreover, I am fully convinced that my Ph.D. in computer science will help me excel in developing my skills in IT and education, which I plan to bring back home to UAE.