Professor Abdalla is currently the Provost of the University of East London. Prior to that, he was Pro Vice-Chancellor for Learning and Teaching and the College of Technology and Innovation; and Executive Dean of the School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering. He is an international authority in the field of Smart/Future Cities, Disruptive Technologies, Brain Computer Interface (BCI), and Autonomous Systems with over 25 years' experience in both academia and industry. Professor Abdalla is a Principal Fellow of the British Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the British Royal Society for Arts (FRSA). He is a member of the Editorial Board of several international journals. He won several awards nationally and internationally in recognition of his original contributions. Professor Abdalla has been leading major research projects nationally and internationally. He has published over 150 papers worldwide, supervised over 50 PhDs, and secured several millions of pounds of research grants from the Research Council, European Commission, Governmental Bodies and Industry. Professor Abdalla served on the Technology Strategy (TSB) Advisory Board and the Research Council (EPSRC) Assessment Panel and Peer Review College. He chairs a number of Professorial Panels in the UK and overseas. He is also an advisor to industry in the UK, a member of the Research Council EPSRC Socio-Tech Panel, UK Teaching Excellence Panel (TEF) member, and Research Council Peer Review College.