Abdul Manaf

AI Researcher & Engineer · PhD Applicant · Gjøvik, Norway

I'm an AI researcher and engineer specializing in computer vision, medical imaging, and Vision-Language Models (VLMs). I recently completed my MS in Computer Science at Sukkur IBA University (GPA 3.43/4.00), where I ranked #1 in my MS cohort and was awarded the PM's Youth Laptop Scheme 2025.

My MS thesis developed a ROI-guided multimodal framework for automated lesion description generation, benchmarking MedFlamingo, MedLLaVA, MedGemma, and Qwen2-VL across fine-tuning strategies. I completed a fully-funded 6-month research exchange at NTNU, Norway (Jan–May 2025) under the NORPART-CONNECT project with the ISA Research Group under Dr. Ali Shariq Imran — co-authoring an IEEE paper on Swin-B Transformer CXR classification and developing EduRAG, a RAG chatbot under review at Discover Artificial Intelligence (Springer).

I am actively seeking PhD positions in AI, computer vision, or multimodal learning across Europe and beyond. If you're a researcher or supervisor in these areas, I'd love to connect.

Computer VisionMedical ImagingVision-Language Models Multimodal LearningRAG SystemsExplainable AI Semantic SegmentationObject DetectionLLM Benchmarking

Publications

View full profile on Google Scholar

Journal Articles

Exploring the Impact of Self-Supervised Learning and Swin-B Transformer on Saliency Maps and Performance in Multi-Label Chest X-Ray ClassificationNTNU Collab

Ahmed, A., Imran, A.S., Manaf, A., Kastrati, Z., & Daudpota, S.M.

Published in IEEE, 2025 · AUC 0.83 · IoU 0.16 · ISA Research Group, NTNU

Paper Code
Aerial Image Classification in Post-Flood Scenarios Using Robust Deep Learning and Explainable Artificial IntelligenceFirst Author

Manaf, A., Mughal, N., Talpur, K.R., Talpur, B.A., Mujtaba, G., & Talpur, S.R.

Published in IEEE Access, 2025, vol. 13, pp. 35973–35984 · 98% accuracy · 92% F1-score

Paper Project Page Code
Enhancing Wrist Abnormality Detection with YOLO: Analysis of State-of-the-Art Single-Stage Detection ModelsCo-Author

Ahmed, A., Imran, A.S., Manaf, A., Kastrati, Z., & Daudpota, S.M.

Published in Biomedical Signal Processing and Control (Elsevier), 2024, vol. 93, 106144 · mAP 0.95 · Sensitivity 0.92

Paper Demo
Fake Reviews Detection on E-Commerce Websites Using Novel User Behavioral Features: An Experimental Study

Mughal, N., Mujtaba, G., Mughal, M.H., Manaf, A., & Kamangar, Z.

Published in ACM Transactions on Asian and Low-Resource Language Information Processing, 2025

Paper Code

Conference Papers

Small Data, Big Impact: A Multi-Locale Bone Fracture Detection on an Extremely Limited Dataset via Crack-Informed YOLOv9 VariantsConference

Ahmed, A., Manaf, A., Imran, A.S., Kastrati, Z., & Daudpota, S.M.

Published in 2024 International Conference on Frontiers of Information Technology (FIT), pp. 1–6

Paper

Under Review / In Progress

EduRAG: An LLM-Powered Retrieval-Augmented Framework for Educational ApplicationsUnder Review

Manaf, A., et al. · GPT-RAG: 0.98 answer relevancy · Mistral-RAG: 0.65–0.88 context precision

Submitted to Discover Artificial Intelligence (Springer)

Live Demo
Multilingual LLM Benchmark: Evaluating 5 LLMs Across 36 Languages with Hierarchical Language-Family AnalysisIn Progress

Manaf, A., et al.

Manuscript in preparation, 2026

Resume

Education

Jan 2024 –
Dec 2025

Master of Science in Computer Science

Sukkur IBA University, Pakistan

GPA: 3.43 / 4.00 · Defended: February 2026

🏆 Ranked #1 in MS Cohort PM's Youth Laptop Scheme 2025 NORPART-CONNECT Fellow — NTNU

Master's Thesis

"A Multimodal Framework for Generating Lesion Descriptions from ROI-Guided Medical Images Using Vision-Language Models"

ROI-guided multimodal pipeline comparing MedFlamingo, MedLLaVA, MedGemma, and Qwen2-VL across full fine-tuning, LoRA, and zero-shot strategies on MedTrinity-25M (RAGAS metrics). Uncovered architecture-dependent ROI effects and a semantic similarity–factual correctness gap in medical AI.

Supervisor: Dr. Ghulam Mujtaba Shaikh · Co-Supervisor: Dr. Sher Muhammad Daudpota · Code ↗

Key Coursework: Advanced Machine Learning · Advanced NLP · Computer Vision · Research Methodology · Analysis of Algorithms · Advanced Cyber Security
Aug 2019 –
Jun 2023

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science

Sukkur IBA University, Pakistan

GPA: 3.08 / 4.00

SEEF Scholarship (4-year, 2020)

Key Coursework: Artificial Intelligence · ML · Robotics · Image Processing · Data Structures · Algorithms · Probability & Statistics · Parallel & Distributed Computing

Research Experience

Jan 2025 –
May 2025
Visiting Student Researcher

Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU), Gjøvik, Norway · NORPART-CONNECT Project
- Conducted AI research for education and healthcare within international collaboration (ISA Research Group, Dr. Ali Shariq Imran & Dr. Zenun Kastrati)
- Developed EduRAG — LLM-powered RAG framework; GPT-RAG achieved 0.98 answer relevancy, 0.81 context recall; Gemini-RAG: 0.84 faithfulness; Mistral-RAG: 0.65–0.88 context precision; manuscript under review at Discover AI (Springer)
- Deployed interactive educational assistant: edurag-chatbot.vercel.app
- Co-authored Swin-B Transformer multi-label chest X-ray classification paper — AUC 0.83, IoU 0.16; published in IEEE
- Demonstrated task-specific model trade-offs; DeepSeek/LLaMA showed lower correctness (0.45–0.63)
NORPART-CONNECTRAG · LLMsComputer VisionMedical AIHPC (Idun)
Nov 2023 –
May 2025
Research Associate, Computer Vision

Sukkur IBA University, Pakistan · Sindh HEC SRSP Project
- Led development of deep learning-based UAV-assisted flood disaster response systems; real-world data acquisition using DJI Mini 4K drones
- Proposed aerial image classification models addressing cross-region generalization and resolution challenges — 98% accuracy, 92% F1-score; published in IEEE Access
- Comparative semantic segmentation analysis — Mask2Former (Swin-L) achieved 0.79 mIoU vs CNN-based methods (0.73 mIoU)
- Integrated explainable AI (LIME) for model interpretability in disaster management decision-making
- Extended to NLP: hate speech detection (coarse/fine-grained classification) and AI healthcare applications
Mask2FormerYOLOv8XAI/LIMEUAV DataSindh HEC
Nov 2022 –
Dec 2023
Research Member

Deep-NLP Research Group (Remote)
- Co-authored wrist abnormality detection using YOLO-based single-stage object detection models
- Benchmarked YOLOv5–v8 against Faster R-CNN on GRAZPEDWRI-DX — YOLOv8: 0.95 mAP, 0.92 sensitivity
- Published in Biomedical Signal Processing and Control (Elsevier)
YOLOv5–v8Object DetectionMedical Imaging

Industry Experience

Aug 2025 –
Present
AI & Backend Developer

Sukkur IBA University (Sindh Government Projects), Pakistan
- Designed and deployed AI-powered complaint similarity system using RAG for large-scale government complaint data analysis and retrieval
- Developed agentic AI-based email automation system, reducing manual workload from months to days during high-volume recruitment cycles
- Implemented backend services for candidate data verification and validation in government recruitment processes
- Built scalable backend and frontend modules including notification/announcement systems for real-time applicant communication
- Designed and maintained PostgreSQL database infrastructure for secure, high-availability data management
RAGAgentic AIFastAPIPostgreSQLNode.js
Jun 2023 –
Nov 2023
Machine Learning Engineer

Fastech Systems Ltd, Sukkur, Pakistan
- Developed AI-driven applications: automated content generation, recommendation systems, and sentiment analysis
- Built end-to-end pipelines for real-time audio sentiment analysis on streaming data
- Designed and deployed scalable ML workflows, improving model performance and system reliability
NLPRecommendation SystemsReal-time Inference
Mar 2023 –
May 2023
Data Scientist Intern

CodeClause, Pune, India (Remote)
- Developed predictive models for stock market trend analysis using Python and scikit-learn
- Built classification models for wine quality prediction with feature engineering and statistical techniques
- Performed EDA, data preprocessing, and model evaluation to enhance prediction accuracy
Pythonscikit-learnEDA

Technical Skills

Programming

PythonPyTorchTensorFlowHuggingFaceCUDA · LinuxJavaScript / TypeScriptJava · C++ · C# · KotlinSQL · MongoDB

AI & Machine Learning

Computer VisionNLP / LLMsMultimodal / VLMsRAG · Multi-AgentExplainable AI (XAI)LoRA / QLoRA Fine-tuningData Fusion

Frameworks & Libraries

HuggingFace TransformersLangChainOpenCV · NumPy · PandasFastAPI · FlaskNode.js · Express.jsscikit-learn

Cloud & Infrastructure

AWS (S3, EC2, Bedrock)Docker · KubernetesHPC / Idun (NTNU)Git · GitHub · CI/CDVercel · PythonAnywheren8n · CursorPostgreSQL · MySQL · MongoDB

References

Ali Shariq ImranAssociate Professor, NTNU Gjøvik, Norwayali.imran@ntnu.no

Zenun KastratiAssociate Professor, LNU, Swedenzenun.kastrati@lnu.se

Sher M. DaudpotaProfessor, Sukkur IBA, Pakistansher@iba-suk.edu.pk

Ghulam Mujtaba ShaikhProfessor, Sukkur IBA, Pakistanmujtaba@iba-suk.edu.pk

Projects

🧠

Medical AI · VLM · MS Thesis

ROI-Guided Multimodal Lesion Description Framework

Benchmarked MedFlamingo, MedLLaVA, MedGemma, Qwen2-VL with LoRA/full fine-tuning on MedTrinity-25M. RAGAS evaluation.

GitHub

Medical AI · Computer Vision

Pediatric Chest X-ray Pneumonia Classification

CNN + GAN-based data balancing for pediatric pneumonia classification on imbalanced clinical datasets.

Demo GitHub

Medical AI · Object Detection

Pediatric Wrist Abnormality Detection System

YOLOv5–v8 benchmarking on GRAZPEDWRI-DX. YOLOv8: 0.95 mAP, 0.92 sensitivity. Published in Elsevier BSPC.

Demo GitHub

🌊

Computer Vision · Disaster AI

Post-Flood Scene Analysis (Classification + Segmentation)

98% accuracy aerial classification + Mask2Former segmentation (Swin-L, 0.79 mIoU). XAI-LIME. Published in IEEE Access.

Project Page GitHub

👁️

Computer Vision · OCR

Vision OCR — Image Understanding with Gemini & GPT

Multimodal OCR and document understanding powered by Gemini and GPT-4 Vision.

Demo GitHub

📚

NLP · RAG · Education

EduRAG — Educational RAG Chatbot Framework

LLM-powered RAG with course material integration. GPT-RAG: 0.98 answer relevancy. Under review at Discover AI (Springer).

Demo

🌍

NLP · LLM Benchmarking

Multilingual LLM Benchmark (36 Languages)

Evaluating 5 LLMs across 36 languages with hierarchical language-family analytical lens. Manuscript in preparation.

GitHub

💬

NLP · Assessment

CortexTest: LLM Assessment Tool

AI-powered educational assessment system evaluating LLM capabilities in structured learning contexts.

Demo GitHub

💹

Agentic AI · Finance

AI Finance Agent Team

Multi-agent financial intelligence system for market analysis and investment research powered by GPT-4.

Demo GitHub

🔬

Agentic AI · Research

AI Research Agent — GPT-4 Powered Reports

Automated research report generation with multi-step reasoning and web search synthesis.

Demo GitHub

⚡

Agentic AI · Developer Tool

PromptFlow Studio

Visual workspace for designing, testing, and managing AI prompt workflows collaboratively.

Demo GitHub

🏛️

Fullstack · Government AI

Sindh Government AI Platform

AI-powered complaint similarity (RAG), agentic email automation, and recruitment backend for government-scale operations.

GitHub

Achievements

🇳🇴 NORPART-CONNECT Research Fellowship — NTNU, Norway

Selected for a fully-funded 6-month Research Fellowship at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Gjøvik, Norway (January – May 2025). Collaborated with the Intelligent Systems & Analytics (ISA) Research Group under Associate Professor Dr. Ali Shariq Imran as part of the NORPART-CONNECT bilateral Norway–Pakistan research project.

Outcomes: IEEE publication on Swin-B CXR classification (AUC 0.83) · EduRAG under review at Springer · GPT-RAG 0.98 answer relevancy · Traveled across 9 countries during exchange

View Certificate IEEE Paper EduRAG Demo

🏆

Ranked #1 in MS CS Batch

Highest GPA (3.43/4.00) in the MS Computer Science cohort at Sukkur IBA University, graduating Dec 2025.

💻

PM's Youth Laptop Scheme 2025

Awarded under Hunarmand Pakistan (Prime Minister's Youth Programme) for academic excellence as the top MS CS graduate.

🇳🇴

NTNU NORPART-CONNECT Fellow

Fully-funded 6-month international research exchange at NTNU Norway (Jan–May 2025). Competitive bilateral Norway–Pakistan selection.

🎓

SEEF Scholarship (4-Year, 2020)

Sindh Educational Endowment Fund merit scholarship covering the full BS Computer Science degree at IBA Sukkur. seef.sindh.gov.pk

📄

5 Research Papers Published

Published in IEEE Access, IEEE (FIT 2024), Elsevier BSPC, and ACM Transactions — computer vision, medical imaging, and NLP.

🌍

9 Countries Explored

Norway · Poland · Hungary · Austria · Czech Republic · Germany · Spain · Pakistan · Saudi Arabia — during the NTNU exchange & personal travel.

🤖

MS Thesis Defended

Successfully defended Feb 2026 — ROI-guided multimodal VLMs for medical image lesion description generation.

⚡

HPC Access — Idun Cluster (NTNU)

Access to NTNU's Idun HPC cluster for large-scale deep learning experiments during the NORPART-CONNECT fellowship.

Sindh Educational Endowment Fund (SEEF) — Detail

Sindh Educational Endowment Fund (SEEF) is registered vide Trust Deed No. 625/2020. The programme provides need-based scholarships to meritorious students in Sindh for higher education. I was awarded the SEEF Scholarship in 2020, which supported my entire four-year BS Computer Science studies at Sukkur IBA University.

Official SEEF portal → · form-seef.com →