About

S. Mostafa Rahimi Azghadi earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2006 and completed his Master of Engineering in Computer Architecture with first-class honours in 2009. He secured an Australian International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS) and an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) in 2010 to pursue his PhD at The University of Adelaide, earning a Doctoral Research Medal and the University Alumni Medal for doctoral thesis excellence in 2014. Dr Rahimi conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Sydney, focusing on VLSI design, smart sensors, and neural-inspired computing. Since 2016, he has been at JCU, specialising in neural-inspired computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence applied to real-world impactful problems in agriculture, aquaculture, and biosecurity.

A/Prof. Rahimi is recognised globally, ranking in the top 2% of highly-cited EEE researchers. He serves as the program coordinator for JCU's Electrical and Electronic Engineering degree and has raised over $11M in research funding. As an Associate Editor of Frontiers in Neuroscience, IEEE ACCESS, and Computers, and a member of the IEEE CASS Neural Systems and Applications Technical Committeey, Prof Rahimi contributes significantly to the field. He is the deputy director of the JCU Agriculture Technology and Adoption Centre, a deputy director of the ARC Training Centre in Plant Biosecurity, and the AI leader of the ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub for Aquaculture.

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PhD Scholarship Opportunities:

I welcome talented and self-motivated students interested in joining my research group. Prospective candidates should reach out to discuss their research project ideas or explore potential topics for a PhD scholarship application. Competitive scholarships, such as the Australian Government Research Training Program and James Cook University Postgraduate Scholarships, are available for both domestic and international applicants. Details on these scholarships, along with application deadlines and requirements, can be found at Postgraduate Research Scholarships (typically due in late September for JCU scholarships). Additionally, Chinese students seeking a PhD in Australia can explore funding options through the China Scholarship Council (CSC), which also offers visiting PhD scholarships for current PhD students in China. For more information or to express interest, please contact me directly.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Postdoctoral Fellowships Opportunities:

I am actively seeking postdoctoral fellows to collaborate with our research team and contribute to impactful research projects. Prospective candidates are encouraged to reach out to discuss their research proposals. Upon approval, they can apply for short-term postdoctoral research fellowships.

Teaching
  • CC2511: Embedded Systems Design (Level 2; TSV)
  • EG1002: Computing and Sensors (Level 1; TSV)
Interests
Professional
  • Senior Member of IEEE
  • IEEE Northern Australia Section Excecutive Committee Member (Former Chair and Treasurer)
  • Founding chair of IEEE NA Young Professional Group.
  • Associate Editor - Frontiers in Neuromorphic Engineering
  • Associate Editor - IEEE Access
  • Associate Editor - Computers
Research
  • Neuromorphic Engineering, Nanoelectronics, Embedded Systems, Machine and Deep Learning, Hardware Acceleration of Machine Learning Algorithms
Teaching
  • I teach three hands-on engineering subjects ranging from first-year programming to third-year embedded system design, in Townsville. My main teaching philosophy is to connect theory with practice. In addition, I put a strong emphasis on hands-on and project-based learning, where the students learn by doing. Furthermore, in my lectures, I always give my students examples of where and how the theoretical materials they study is applied in their everyday lives and the many electronic systems around them. This has shown to significantly increase student’s engagement in the lectures.
Experience
  • 2024 to present - Head, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, James Cook University (Townsville, Australia)
  • 2022 to present - Associate Professor, James Cook University (Townsville, Australia)
  • 2022 to 2024 - Chair, IEEE Northern Australia Section (Northern Australia)
  • 2022 to 2023 - Section Chair, IEEE Northern Australia Section (Northern Australia)
  • 2019 to 2021 - Senior Lecturer, James Cook University (Townsville, Australia)
  • 2016 to 2018 - Lecturer, James Cook University (Townsville, Australia)
  • 2015 to 2016 - Postdoctoral Research Associate, The University of Sydney (Sydney, Australia)
  • 2014 to 2015 - Verification Engineer, ASTC Australian Semiconductor Technology Company (Adelaide, Australia)
  • 2014 to 2015 - Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of Adelaide (Adelaide, Australia)
  • 2012 to 2014 - PhD Student, Institute of Neuroinformatics, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland)
  • 2010 to 2014 - PhD Student, The University of Adelaide (Adelaide, Australia)
Research Disciplines
Honours
Awards
  • 2024 - Primary advisor of a PhD receiving Dean's Award for HDR Excellence
  • 2024 - Invited Talk - Project Catalyst Growers' Forum
  • 2023 - Best Paper Award - 2023 International Conference on Maintenance and Intelligent Asset Management
  • 2023 - Excellence in Promoting Industry Engagement in Graduate Research Award
  • 2023 - 2023 Best Paper Award and Prize - Computers
  • 2023 - Primary Advisor of the Year Award, Highly Commended
  • 2022 - Invited Talk, Plant Biosecurity Research Symposium 2022, Adelaide, Australia
  • 2022 - Invited Talk, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Adelaide University, Sep 2022
  • 2022 - Invited Talk, Innovations in Cane Growing and Farm Management Webinar, Aug 2022
  • 2022 - Invited Talk, Reef Trust Partnership Innovations in Water Quality Webinar, May 2022
  • 2022 - Invited Talk, Brain-inspired Devices and Architecture, the ENGE2022 conference, Jeju Island, Korea, Nov 2022
  • 2022 - Primary Supervisor of the best Engineering Thesis at JCU that received the Engineers Australia CN Barton Medal
  • 2021 - Invited Lectures: Project Catalyst forum, Townsville Hospital Research Seminars, IEEE Circuits and System Society Seasonal School -- Tomorrow of Integrated Circuits, European Neuromorphic Project Educational lectures, Waterways health forum
  • 2020 - Supervisor of the only Australian PhD project receiving a 2020 IBM PhD Fellowship
  • 2020 - Ranked among the top 2% of worldwide highly-cited EEE researchers in 2020 (excluding self-citations) according to the Stanford List (shorturl.at/hwA39)
  • 2020 - JCU Award for Excellence in the category of Innovation and Change
  • 2019 - 2019 Fresh Science Queensland Finalist
  • 2019 - Supervisor of the only Australian university team selected as a regional finalist in the 2019 InnovateFPGA Global Design Contest
  • 2019 - Invited Talk, Hokkaido University, Japan, May 2019
  • 2019 - Invited Talk, Tokyo University, Japan, June 2019
  • 2019 - Invited Talk, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, China, Dec 2019
  • 2018 - Invited Talk, Centre of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Paris-Sud University, France, June 2018
  • 2018 - Invited Webinar, Emerging Device and Applications Group of University of Texas at Austin, Sep 2018
  • 2018 - Rising Stars Research Award
  • 2017 - Supervisor of the best Engineering Thesis at JCU that received the Engineers Australia CN Barton Medal
  • 2017 - QLD Young Tall Poppy Science Award
  • 2015 - Adelaide Postgraduate Alumni University Medal
  • 2015 - Gertrude Rohan Memorial Medal and Prize
  • 2015 - South Australia Science Excellence Awards
  • 2015 - Australian Nanotechnology Network Young Science Ambassador Award
  • 2014 - Dean's Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence
  • 2014 - University Doctoral Research Medal
  • 2013 - Simon Rockliff Scholarship
  • 2013 - Doreen McCarthy Research Bursary
  • 2013 - IEEE SA Section Student Travel Award
  • 2012 - Research Abroad Scholarship, The University of Adelaide, Australia
  • 2012 - The IEEE Computational Intelligence Society travel grant
  • 2012 - Brain Corporation Travel Fellowships for Spiking Neural Networks
  • 2011 - Japanese Neural Network Society Travel Award
  • 2010 - IPRS (International Postgraduate Research Scholarships) by Australian government
Fellowships
  • 2016 - Endeavour Fellowship
  • 2015 - Biomimetic and Neurotechnology Fellowship
  • 2012 - DR Stranks Fellowship
Memberships
  • 2017 - Australian Brain Alliance EMCR Brain Science Network Steering Committee member
Publications

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles
Conference Papers
More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 104+ research outputs authored by A/Prof Mostafa Rahimi Azghadi from 2007 onwards.

Current Funding

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Bingo Industries Limited - Contract Research

Deep Learning for Waste Management

Indicative Funding
$49,000 over 3 years
Summary
To keep our planet safe and healthy, new techniques for managing and recycling waste should be devised. This project aims to use the latest advances in deep learning and computer vision technologies to better manage waste by developing a fast and accurate waste analysis system.
Investigators
Mostafa Rahimi Azghadi and Neil Fraser (College of Science & Engineering)
Keywords
Computer Vision; Deep Learning; Waste Management

Australian Research Council - Linkage - Industrial Transformation Research Hubs

ARC Research Hub for Supercharging Tropical Aquaculture Through Genetic Solutions

Indicative Funding
$4,996,503 over 4 years, in partnership with Australian Genome Research Facility ($150,000); Cygnet Bay Pearls PL ($500,000); Mainstream Aquaculture ($500,000); Sea Forest Pty Ltd ($500,000) and THE COMPANY ONE PTY LTD ($500,000)
Summary
This project aims to integrate cutting edge genetic and genomic approaches into innovative aquaculture enterprises that farm in tropical northern Australia. It will deliver the requisite genetic knowledge to instigate world-leading and highly productive breeding programs for five species (barramundi, pearl oyster, prawn, grouper and marine seaweed), along with a novel understanding of the genetic basis of disease resistance and how the production environment interfaces with the bacterial microbiome, pathogens and water quality to cause disease. It will increase Australia's capacity to deliver advanced genetics outcomes to the aquaculture sector, while increasing productivity, international competitiveness, and lowered risk due to disease.
Investigators
Dean Jerry, Kyall Zenger, Benjamin Hayes, Rocky de Nys, David Bourne, Andreas Lopata, Ron White, Jan Strugnell, Chaoshu Zeng, Kelly Condon, Mostafa Rahimi Azghadi, Ira Cooke, Leo Nankervis and Carla Ewels (College of Science & Engineering, The University of Queensland, College of Public Health and Medical & Vet Sciences)
Keywords
Selective Breeding; Genomics; Aquaculture

Food Agility CRC Limited - Scholarship

Developing Deep Learning Applications for Smart Aquaculture

Indicative Funding
$30,000 over 3 years
Summary
This project proposes to use deep learning technology to extract various data in commercial environments in a non-intrusive and cost-effective way from fish farms. Currently, most of the fish data is analysed manually. The aim is to use deep learning to extract useful features and traits of fish and to analyse the collected data automatically and efficiently. The project will be in direct partnership with our industry collaborators across Australia and Asia.
Investigators
Alzayat Saleh, Mostafa Rahimi Azghadi and Dean Jerry (College of Science & Engineering)
Keywords
Wetlands; Digital Technology; Water Quality; Aquatic Weeds

CSIRO - Top Up Scholarship

Applications for Magnetic Resonance Image Guidance in Radiation Therapy in Prostate Cancer.

Indicative Funding
$51,000 over 3 years
Summary
Prostate cancer is a serious disease with a large burden on the Australian health system, often treated with radiation therapy (RT). A specific RT treatment called Magnetic resonance image-guided radiation therapy (MRIgRT) combines imaging with therapy to provide potentially superb targeting. In this project, technical machine learning solutions for novel applications of MRIgRT will be explored.
Investigators
Mostafa Rahimi Azghadi, Jacob Mohan and Febrio Lunardo in collaboration with Ashley Gillman (College of Science & Engineering and Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation)
Keywords
MRI; PET; Prostate Cancer; Medical Imaging

Great Barrier Reef Foundation - Reef Trust Partnership

Reducing herbicide usage in the Burdekin and Proserpine reef catchment areas with precise robotic weed control in sugarcane

Indicative Funding
$900,000 over 4 years, in partnership with Autoweed Pty Ltd ($10,000)
Summary
The main objective of this project is to develop and build the world?s first robotic platform for selective weed control in sugarcane. Specifically, we aim to retrofit two 12-metre sugarcane booms for farmers in the Burdekin and Proserpine GBR catchment areas with state-of-the-art deep learning detection and spraying technology. The fundamental aim of this project is to significantly minimise the herbicide usage by selective spot spraying. We have set a target to reduce the knockdown herbicide usage on the chosen farms by 80% compared to the traditional blanket spraying that is performed during various stages of the crop cycle.
Investigators
Mostafa Rahimi Azghadi, Ron White, Bronson Philippa, Brendan Calvert, Alex Olsen, Emilie Fillols, Molly O'Dea, Ross Marchant and jake Woods (College of Science & Engineering, Autoweed Pty Ltd and Sugar Research Australia)
Keywords
precision agriculture; Deep Learning; automatic weed control; Robotic; weed management

International Business Machines - IBM Research

2020 IBM PhD Fellowship

Indicative Funding
$40,000 over 2 years
Summary
To contribute to current efforts towards highly efficient hardware implementations of augmented neuromorphic architectures for edge devices using FPGAs and memristive devices.
Investigators
Corey Lammie and Mostafa Rahimi Azghadi (College of Science & Engineering)
Keywords
Memristive Devices; Hardware; Neuromorphic architectures

Jaragun Pty Ltd - Contract Research

Jaragun Wetland Restoration

Indicative Funding
$25,000 over 1 year
Summary
A small wetland will be targeted for weed removal and replanting along Babinda Creek in this project. These restoration works will be monitored using a high-tech surveillance camera to live stream images from Jaragun?s website that track wetland restoration over time and its value to our birdlife. Overall, this project kick starts a struggling local community nestled in the heart of the wet tropics. This project is about creating green jobs and building a pathway for long term strategic investment into restoration and rehabilitation of the Russell River catchment.
Investigators
Nathan Waltham and Mostafa Rahimi Azghadi in collaboration with Antony Squires (TropWater and College of Science & Engineering)
Keywords
Wetlands; Digital Technology; Water Quality; Aquatic weeds; Restoration

Department of Industry - Innovations Connections

Internet of Things and Big Data Analytics for Cairns Marine

Indicative Funding
$50,000 over 1 year (administered by Cairns Marine), in partnership with Cairns Marine Pty Ltd ($53,109)
Summary
This project will assist to analyse the large repository of data held by Cairns marine in relation to its full operations, i.e., from harvest to husbandry, inventory tracking and sales fulfilment. The physical systems currently in use at Cairns Marine are extensive and complex, involving a range of activities in Northern Australia, all activities on site (including R&D) in Cairns and full product (marine animals) stewardship to destination. A deep and informed understanding of data is required by the business to meet its growing global product commitments.
Investigators
Wei Xiang, Tao Huang, Lei Lei and Mostafa Rahimi Azghadi (College of Science & Engineering)
Keywords
Internet Of Things; big data analytics; marine data; Machine Learning
Supervision

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current
  • Facial Expression Detection and Deduction of the Relevant Emotions (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
  • Development of machine-learning genomic selection breeding methods for complex traits in Australian fin-fish aquaculture species (Epinephelus lanceolatus & Lates calcarifer) (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
  • Developing a Battery Free Bio-Sensor using Graphene (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
  • Implementing graphene-based devices into neuromorphic computing architectures. (PhD , Primary Advisor)
  • Design and Development of a Smart Automated Machine Learning Tool for User Assistance. (PhD , Primary Advisor)
  • Investigating low-cost Electroencephalogram and Wearable Biomarker Measurement Devices for use in Mental Healthcare: A Multimodal Approach (PhD , Primary Advisor)
  • Evolution and challenges of computer vision and deep learning technologies for recycling mixed construction and demolition waste (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
  • Cooperative Sensing and Fusion for Enhanced Perception in Intelligent Vehicle Systems (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
  • Conversion of Waste to Energy Materials (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
  • Prognostics and health management in asset life cycle decision making ? A data driven approach. (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
  • Internal Organ Motion Prediction in MRgRT (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
Completed
Collaboration

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.

  • 5+ collaborations
  • 4 collaborations
  • 3 collaborations
  • 2 collaborations
  • 1 collaboration
  • Indicates the Tropics (Torrid Zone)

Connect with me

Email
Phone
Location
  • 14.107, Engineering & Physical Sciences 2 (Townsville campus)
Advisory Accreditation
Advisor Mentor
Find me on…
Icon for Google Scholar profile Icon for LinkedIn profile page Icon for ResearchGate profile Icon for Twitter profile page Icon for ORCID profile Icon for Scopus Author page Icon for Publons reviewer profile

Similar to me

  1. Dr Eric Wang
    Engineering
  2. Prof Wei Xiang
    Engineering
  3. Dr Tao Huang
    Engineering
  4. Mr Bruce Belson
    Engineering