Ahmed Alia
- Nature of Work
- Academic
- Profession
- Assistant Professor
- Email Address
- [email protected]
- Office Phone
- (+970) 9 2345113 Ext. 2823
Ahmed Alia
- Nature of Work
- Academic
- Profession
- Assistant Professor
- Email Address
- [email protected]
- Office Phone
- (+970) 9 2345113 Ext. 2823
Profiles
Biography
Ahmed Alia
Transferring AI into Practice
Ahmed Alia obtained his B.Sc. in Computer Science with a very good grade from An-Najah National University in 2006, followed by an M.Sc. in Computing with distinction from Birzeit University in 2015. In 2024, he earned his Dr.-Ing. degree in Artificial Intelligence from Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Germany, with excellence. His doctoral research focused on developing a deep learning-based intelligent framework for video and image analytics.
Alia has published several articles in high-impact journals and serves as a reviewer for multiple conferences and journals. Since 2020, he has been working as a researcher and AI engineer at Forschungszentrum Jülich. He also served as a part-time lecturer at An-Najah National University during the 2019/2020 academic year. From 2008 to 2020, he held various roles at An-Najah National University, including Teaching Assistant, Web Developer, and Trainer.
Research Interests:
- Machine Learning.
- Deep Learning.
- Large Language Models (LLMs)
- Vision–Language Models (VLMs),
- Image and Video Analytics.
- Intelligent Systems.
- Crowd Behavior Analysis.
- Public Safety and Smart Cities.
Awards:
- Second Poster Prize, Vision AI for Crowd Analysis, IAS Retreat, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, May 2025.
- Research Excellence Award for the year 2023, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine, December 2024.
- Research Excellence Award, Palestinian Islamic Bank Award for Scientific Research, Second Prize in the field of Education, Learning, and Business in the Age of Technology and Artificial Intelligence, Palestine, 2023.
- Best Presenter Award in the Intelligent Image Processing and System Monitoring session at the 3rd International Conference on Computers and Automation (CompAuto 2023), held in Paris, France, from December 7-9, 2023.
- PhD Scholarship, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Funding No. 01DH16027, Germany, 2020-2024.
- Tuition Fee Award, An-Najah National University, Palestine, 2003 - 2006.
Education
- Institution
- Bergische Universität Wuppertal
- Country
- Germany
- Degree
- PhD
- Faculty
- Engineering
- Department
- Computer Simulation
- Thesis
- Artificial Intelligence Framework for Video Analytics: Detecting Pushing in Crowds
- Speciality
- Artificial Intelligence
- Sub speciality
- Deep Learning and Image Processing
- Duration
- 2020 - 2024
- Institution
- Birzeit University
- Country
- Palestine
- Degree
- MSc
- Faculty
- Engineering and IT
- Department
- Computer Science
- Thesis
- Modied Binary Cuckoo Search using rough set theory for Feature Selection
- Speciality
- Computing
- Sub speciality
- Machine Learning
- Duration
- 2012 - 2015
- Institution
- An Najah National University
- Country
- Palestine
- Degree
- BSc
- Faculty
- Information Technology
- Department
- Computer Science
- Thesis
- None
- Speciality
- Computer Science
- Sub speciality
- علم الحاسوب
- Duration
- 2003 - 2006
Employment History
- Country
- Palestine
- Institution
- An Najah National University
- Position/Job Description
- IT Specialist, Coordinator and Moodle Administrator at different international projects
- Period
- June 15, 2008 - Dec. 31, 2012
- Country
- Palestine
- Institution
- An Najah National University
- Position/Job Description
- Full Time Trainer and Web Developer
- Period
- Dec. 1, 2008 - Jan. 31, 2017
- Country
- Palestine
- Institution
- An Najah National University
- Position/Job Description
- Full Time Research and Teaching Assistant
- Period
- Feb. 1, 2017 - Sept. 30, 2020
- Country
- Palestine
- Institution
- An Najah National University
- Position/Job Description
- Part Time Instructor
- Period
- Sept. 1, 2019 - June 1, 2020
- Country
- Germany
- Institution
- Juelich Research Center
- Position/Job Description
- AI Researcher
- Period
- Oct. 1, 2020 - Sept. 15, 2025
- Country
- Palestine
- Institution
- An-Najah National University
- Position/Job Description
- Assistant Professor
- Period
- Sept. 17, 2025 - Until Now
Publications
- Hybrid machine learning and physics-based modeling of pedestrian pushing behaviors Original research 2025-10-25 Ahmed Alia
- RPEE-Heads Benchmark: A Dataset and Empirical Comparison of Deep Learning Algorithms for Pedestrian Head Detection in Crowds Original research 2025-04-22 Maik Bolte, Mohamed Naser, Zubaida Saddar, Hamed Abdelhaq, Ahmed Alia
- A novel Voronoi-based convolutional neural network framework for pushing person detection in crowd videos Original research 2024-04-15 Ahmed Alia
- A Cloud-Based Deep Learning Framework for Early Detection of Pushing at Crowded Event Entrances Original research 2023-05-08 Ahmed Alia, Anas Toma
- A Fast Hybrid Deep Neural Network Model for pushing behavior detection in human crowds Conference abstract/paper published in a peer review journal 2023-01-20 Ahmed Alia
- A Hybrid Deep Learning and Visualization Framework for Pushing Behavior Detection in Pedestrian Dynamics Original research 2022-05-26 Ahmed Alia
- Enhanced Binary Cuckoo Search With Frequent Values and Rough Set Theory for Feature Selection Original research 2021-08-25 Ahmed Alia, Adel Taweel
- On the exploitation of GPS-based data for real time visualisation of pedestrian dynamics in open environments Original research 2021-03-11 Ahmed Alia
- Feature Selection based on Hybrid Binary Cuckoo Search and Rough Set Theory in Classification for Nominal Datasets Original research 2017-01-01 Ahmed Alia
- Hybrid Nature Inspired Algorithms and Rough Set Theory in Feature Selection for Classification: A Review Original research 2016-01-01 Alia, Ahmed, Taweel, Adel