Category: Research Blog

 

From Paper Trails to Smarter Streets: Securing Communities Through Digital Patrolling

Introducing Dr Mohd Adib bin Sarijari, Senior Lecturer,Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Department / Research Area: Membrane Technology

Email Contact: madib@utm.my

Back in 2017, the  Security Division at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) approached our research group, TeSS, with a glaring challenge. They were struggling to manage  physical security patrols effectively. Guard accountability, transparency, and  incident reporting were still heavily reliant on manual paperwork and  old-school logging. Around the same time, several of our industry partners  echoed the exact same concerns. It became clear that this wasn’t just a local  issue—it was a systemic vulnerability across the entire security landscape.

Driven by the desire to make communities genuinely safer, we asked ourselves how we could use technology to completely bridge this gap. This spark gave life to GuardExpert Pro, a smart security patrolling platform born directly from real-world problems and refined through academic innovation.

Translating a lab prototype into a physical, rugged tool used in the field is a massive journey. In the early days, our research focused on harnessing the power of the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Data Analytics to optimize tracking. But a piece of tech is only as good as its real-world execution.

This is where UTM’s campus as a “Living Lab” became our greatest asset. Our university’s security teams deployed GuardExpert Pro in its infancy, providing immediate operational feedback. We walked alongside guards to understand their environment. We learned that connection drops in basement parkings or high-rise structures are inevitable. This led us to develop an intelligent offline mode, allowing guards to log checkpoints seamlessly without internet access, syncing securely the moment they reconnect. Through UTM’s spin-off company, Significs Technologies Sdn. Bhd., we bridged academia and industry, turning deep research into a commercially viable, practical platform.

Global Relevance & WTUN Context

Security and community resilience are inherently global concerns. Our project directly aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UNSDG) 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.

As modern urban centers grow rapidly, maintaining citizen safety and safeguarding critical infrastructure demands a shift from passive monitoring to active, reliable coordination. The real-world impact of our research is validated by its massive deployment across diverse sectors. Beyond heavy industries like UMW Corporation, Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering (MMHE), and Tanjung Langsat Port (TLP), GuardExpert Pro has been trusted to secure public infrastructure. This includes higher education ecosystems like UTM, municipal town councils such as Majlis Bandaraya Kuantan, critical highway networks like the Besraya Highway, and high-stakes healthcare facilities like local hospitals. The necessity for robust, secure, and intuitive workforce tracking truly transcends geographical and sectoral borders.

Collaboration Opportunities including how to work with Dr Mohd. Adib bin Sarijari:

Great innovations thrive on diverse perspectives. Our system relies heavily on continuous multi-tenant dashboarding, facial recognition authentication, and data resilience. We deeply interested in connecting with fellow WTUN researchers, particularly those specializing in:

●     Advanced sensor technologies and Edge AI

●     Agentic AI, and Intelligence System for security and surveillances

●    Cross-cultural studies on security and surveillance technologies adoption within industrial workforces

If your institution is exploring human-in-the-loop systems or localized public safety frameworks, we would welcome the opportunity to exchange knowledge or co-develop international pilot projects.

Impact & Looking Ahead

Today, GuardExpert Pro is actively protecting lives, public assets, and property across corporate giants, ports, town councils, hospitals, and academic campuses. Looking forward over the next five years, the security sector will pivot from systems that merely record events to systems that intelligently comprehend situations.

By merging IoT with emerging Agentic AI, our goal is to build an ecosystem where systems autonomously recommend emergency responses, keeping human decision-makers efficiently in the loop. We are excited to step into this future, turning shared research into safer spaces for everyone.

“We are eager to connect and collaborate with researchers and public-safety specialists across the WTUN network who are passionate about scaling IoT and smart city security solutions globally.”

About

Dr. Mohd Adib bin Sarijari is a Senior Lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) with 15 years of deep expertise in IoT technology & system integration, Artificial Intelligence, and telecommunication software. He focuses heavily on transforming industrial and civic challenges into smart digital applications. As a pioneer behind GuardExpert Pro—now trusted across major commercial enterprises ( such as UMW, MMHE, TLP) as well as public sectors, hospitals, and municipal town councils like Majlis Bandaraya Kuantan—his work bridges academic research and market-ready systems to build safer smart cities.

Keywords: Technology & Innovation | Internet of Things | Digital Applications

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If your university is a member of the World Technology Universities Network and are interested in contributing to future editions of this blog, please contact Denise Whitehead wtun@bradford.ac.uk and a submission template will be shared with you.

You can find your institutional contact via this page and by clicking on your university’s logo:

https://www.wtu-n.net/members/

 

Introducing Dr. Nur Faizal bin Kasri, Senior Lecturer, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Department / Research Area: Faculty of Electrical  Engineering / Clean Energy Technology & Power Electronics

Email Contact: nurfaizal@utm.my 

If you ever visit Malaysia, one of the first things you must experience is a pasar malam—our traditional open-air night markets. They are a beautiful sensory explosion: the sizzle of street food, the bright lights, and the chatter of communities coming together. But if you stand there for a few minutes, another less pleasant reality hits you. The air quickly fills with choking black smoke, and a deafening roar echoes down the street.

This pollution comes from heavy reliance on petrol-powered generators that vendors use just to keep their lightbulbs on. As an electrical engineer, I looked at this and thought: we can do so much better. These small-scale traders are the economic backbone of our neighbourhoods, yet they are breathing in toxic carbon monoxide every single week while spending their hard-earned profits on expensive, fluctuating fuel. This inspired my team and me at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia to step out of the lab and take action.

The Research Journey:

Our project, Pasar Malam Hijau 2.0 (Green Night Market 2.0), bridges lab-tested power systems with everyday community needs. In practice, my research involves swapping out loud, dirty petrol engines for portable, rechargeable battery packs running on advanced power inverters. To turn this into a truly modern solution, we integrated smart Internet of Things (IoT) technology. We developed custom mobile applications for Android and iOS alongside a centralized web dashboard, allowing vendors to track their real-time power levels right from their phones.

Taking this technology to the streets with a dedicated focus at Dataran Niaga Taman Pulai Indah has been an incredible journey. By organizing live demonstrations and technical masterclasses, we didn’t just hand over equipment—we built trust. We even partnered with local schools to host workshops, teaching over 50 young students how power inverters are built and operated. The immense real-world impact of this journey quickly caught national attention, leading our initiative to be showcased on major broadcasting platforms, including a live feature on Astro AWANI’s AWANI Pagi, national coverage by RTM, and regional highlights via Media Digital Johor.

While our work is rooted locally in Johor, Malaysia, the core issue is global. Street food culture and informal open-air marketplaces are vital economic lifelines for millions of people across developing nations. Yet, their heavy reliance on localized fossil fuels presents a massive, hidden barrier to urban health initiatives and global climate goals.

By cleaning up the energy footprint of these marketplaces, our project directly targets international sustainability, climate mitigation, and clean energy goals. We are creating a practical blueprint for low-carbon urban living that can easily be adapted by cities anywhere in the world.

The real-world impact of this initiative is incredibly clear. In the short term, we are giving night market traders immediate financial relief by eliminating their fuel costs, while giving visitors a peaceful, smoke-free shopping environment. Our long-term ambition is to integrate flexible solar options directly into the mobile inverter setups, creating a fully self-sustaining, zero-emission ecosystem. We want to prove that green technology isn’t just for luxury developments or massive industrial complexes—it belongs on our local streets, improving everyday lives and protecting our planet one night market stall at a time.

Collaboration Opportunities including how to work with Dr Kasri:

We know that grand environmental challenges cannot be solved in isolation. For this deployment, we have built amazing local networks involving municipal councils, community safety committees, and a passionate team of fifty “Southern Volunteers” who help us conduct field surveys on power loads. To maximize the technical depth of this project, we have also expanded our research across institutional boundaries, collaborating closely with experts like Ts. Dr. Zatul Iffah Abd Latiff from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) and Dr. Muhammad Hafiz Jahare from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Financially, the project is highly backed—leveraging our local council grant with an additional RM30,000.00 from the Prototype Development Fund (PDF) 2025 to maximize our impact.

Moving forward, I am eager to expand this network internationally. I would love to connect with researchers across the World Technology Universities Network (WTUN) who specialize in urban renewable energy grid integration, smart city data analytics, or community-led sustainability projects. Whether you want to study the socio-economic impacts of green technologies or replicate this green marketplace model in your own country, our team is completely open to collaboration, data sharing, and joint research initiatives.

About:

Dr. Nur Faizal bin Kasri is a Senior Lecturer within the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Specializing in clean energy engineering and power electronics, his research focuses on translating laboratory innovations into scalable, high-impact green technologies that directly benefit grassroots communities, support micro-entrepreneurs, and advance real-world low-carbon urban development.

I am highly keen to connect and collaborate with researchers and institutions across the WTUN working on smart cities, data analytics for cross-university IoT energy systems, or urban low-carbon strategies.

Keywords:

Sustainability & Climate Action | Technology & Innovation | Societal Challenges & Inclusion

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If your university is a member of the World Technology Universities Network and are interested in contributing to future editions of this blog, please contact Denise Whitehead wtun@bradford.ac.uk and a submission template will be shared with you.

You can find your institutional contact via this page and by clicking on your university’s logo:

https://www.wtu-n.net/members/

 

Introducing Dr Colins Imoh – PhD, SFHEA , Assistant Professor in Peace Studies and International Development, University of Bradford, UK

Department / Research Area:  Peace Studies and International Development (PSID)

Email Contact: c.imoh@bradford.ac.uk

In 2024, a research visit brought me to Atlantic Technological University, Donegal, Ireland, funded by the World Technology Universities Network. It was there, alongside my colleagues Dr Sharon McLaughlin and Dr Cormac Conaghan, that a vital question sparked our curiosity: how does a generation born entirely into peace view a history they never personally witnessed?

My wider research focuses on the deeply intertwined relationships between justice, peacebuilding, democracy, diversity, and inclusion. At its core, I am driven by a desire to understand how societies heal and move forward. When we look at Ireland and Northern Ireland, we look at a region shaped by a monumental milestone. Signed over 26 years ago on April 10, 1998, the landmark Good Friday Agreement (GFA) brought an end to three decades of violent conflict known as the Troubles. It was a masterclass in political compromise and power-sharing.

But fast forward to today, and the landscape looks entirely different.  The vast majority of current university students were born post-1998. They have  no direct memories of the conflict. This realised truth inspired our collaborative project: investigating the current awareness, understanding, and perceptions of the GFA among university students across Ireland and Northern Ireland.

In practice, our research explores the subtle, social undercurrents of a post-conflict society. Peace is more than just the absence of active violence or a formal structure signed on paper; it must be internalised to be sustainable. Through a 15-minute online survey and targeted focus group discussions, we are asking young people how they form their opinions, where they gather historical information, and how the lingering legacy of the Troubles might still influence their modern interpersonal relationships.

This is fundamentally a study of intergenerational peacebuilding. By examining how these post-agreement cohorts navigate their realities, we gain invaluable data to design better educational and civic programmes. The GFA was an agreement to manage political and societal diversity peacefully. By looking at the sociological and educational mechanisms that either sustain or undermine this harmony over time, we help policymakers move beyond static treaties and look toward deep, cultural healing.

This project is a proud testament to the power of global network collaboration. What began as a dialogue between the University of Bradford and ATU has evolved into a cross-border exploration of institutional resilience and societal inclusion. However, to truly capture the full picture, we need to expand our reach.

We are currently looking to connect with academics, student unions, and civil society contacts across both Ireland and Northern Ireland who can help us recruit young participants for our surveys and focus groups. Your local expertise and networks would be invaluable to the success of this study. Looking even further ahead, the questions we are asking here are not unique to Ireland. From the Balkans to parts of the African continent, understanding how the next generation inherits peace is a universal, global challenge.

Ultimately, we hope our findings will shape future youth policies and ensure that the peace achieved a quarter-century ago remains resilient, participatory, and deeply rooted in the generations to come.

How to work with Dr Imoh:

I am eager to connect with researchers, student leaders, and institutional partners across the WTUN who can assist in sharing our participant survey or who are working on intergenerational peace studies. c.imoh@bradford.ac.uk

About:

Dr Colins Imoh is an Assistant Professor in Peace Studies and International Development at the University of Bradford, UK. His research examines the vital intersections of justice, peacebuilding, diversity, and democratic literacy. Driven by the conviction that sustainable peace demands more than the mere absence of violence, his work addresses how to build robust democracies within deeply unequal societies. As an active global collaborator, Dr Imoh regularly contributes to international peace education frameworks, developing practical, inclusive strategies for community integration and societal conflict resolution worldwide.

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If your university is a member of the World Technology Universities Network and are interested in contributing to future editions of this blog, please contact Denise Whitehead wtun@bradford.ac.uk and a submission template will be shared with you.

You can find your institutional contact via this page and by clicking on your university’s logo:

https://www.wtu-n.net/members/