Non-Terrestrial Networks Paving the Way Towards Global Connectivity

Prof. Muhammad Zeeshan Shakir is Professor of Wireless Communication and Director of the Digital Connectivity and Innovation Centre at the University of the West of Scotland. With 20+ years of experience and nearly £10 million in research funding, his work focuses on 5G/6G networks, IoT, and AI. He has published over 200 articles, contributed to ten books, and received numerous awards for his contributions to research and innovation. A Senior Member of IEEE, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, he also serves as Executive Chair for IEEE ICC 2026 in Glasgow.

Prof. Aryan Kaushik is a CIO at RakFort since 2025. He has been an associate professor at Manchester Met (2024­­­–25), an assistant professor at UoS (2021–24), a research fellow at UCL (2020–21), and has been associated with the University of Edinburgh (2015–19), HKUST (2014–15), etc. He has held visiting appointments at Imperial College London, University of Bologna, IIITD, etc. He has been an external assessor/PhD examiner at KTH, UC3M, etc. He has been an invited panel member at the UK EPSRC ICT Prioritisation Panel, chair of IEEE ComSoc ETI on ESIT and SIG on AITNTN, vice-chair of one6G WG3, editor of five books, etc., and has been invited as a keynote and tutorial speaker for 125+ academic and industry events globally and has chaired in organizing/TPCs of 15+ flagship IEEE conferences.