- Research Staff
Biography
Syed is a leading communication theorist and policy researcher with a focus on integrated sensing and communication (ISAC), committed to advancing intelligent, resilient, and sustainable wireless networks of the future. He is currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) Fellow at the Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge. Previously, he was a Juan-de-la-Cierva Research Fellow at IMDEA Networks Institute in Madrid, where he explored ISAC across multi-band, multi-static, and multi-technology wireless networks. During this Fellowship, he contributed to the development of one of the first 5G-NR compliant long-range in-band wireless control mechanisms for Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) and served as Co-Principal Investigator of the TUCAN6-CM project, funded by the Regional Government of Madrid. From 2022 to 2024, he held an MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship at IMDEA Networks, focusing on the effects of aging wireless channel information on RIS performance and on designing practical, low-complexity signal-processing techniques for next-generation waveforms. He has also led several international industry–academia collaborations with InterDigital Europe, NEC Laboratories, Huawei, Northeastern University, and TU Darmstadt, and has co-supervised multiple PhD researchers.
Syed has held additional research appointments, including a Visiting Research Fellowship at Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden) and a consultancy for a NATO-funded project at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (Qatar), where he developed secure communication mechanisms for RIS-enabled millimetre-wave systems.
He completed his PhD in Electrical Engineering at the Information Technology University, Pakistan, supported in part by a prestigious Commonwealth Split-Site Scholarship at the University of Cambridge. His earlier experience includes academic teaching, lab leadership, and mentoring at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Syed is also an alumnus of the Oxford Machine Learning Summer School, reflecting his broader interest in interdisciplinary, AI-driven communication systems.
Syed is a scientific member of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, IEEE, IEEE Communications Society, ACM, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), and the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC).
Research
Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC)
Security and Privacy of Wireless Networks (Physical Layer Security)
Near-field Sensing & Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces
Research Projects:
- 6G-SCOUT: 6G Integrated Sensing and Communication for Ubiquitous Wireless Networks funded by EU HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 101199056, (University of Cambridge), 2026 – 2028 (Principal Researcher). Fund = 345,234,90 €
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TUCAN6-CM: Technologies for Sensing and Communication in 6G Networks funded by Department of Education and Research of Government of Madrid, Spain (TEC-2024/COM-460), Jan. 2025 – Dec. 2028 (Co-PI). Fund = 540.000 €
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RISE-MM: Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Enabled millimeter Wave Communication for Beyond 5G Cellular Networks funded by EU HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01, 101061011, (Fundacion IMDEA Networks), Sep. 2022 – Sep. 2024 (Principal Researcher). Fund = 181.152,9 €
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ENABLE-6G: 6G Technology Enablers for Integrated Communication and Sensing funded by Ministerio de Economía y Transformación Digital EU NextGeneration-EU TSI-063000-2021-59, (Fundacion IMDEA Networks). Jan. 2022 – Dec. 2024 (Responsible for technical deliverables and reporting, and co-supervising work of PhD student “Salil Sharma”). Fund = 1,762,043 €.
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Physical Layer Security for Internet-of-Things Networks: funded by NATO Science for Peace and Security Program grant # SPS G5797-PHYSEC, (Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar), Nov. 2020 – Nov. 2023 (Project Consultant)
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Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship for project titled “6G-SCOUT: 6G Integrated Sensing and Communication for Ubiquitous Wireless Networks” at Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge, UK (2026 to 2028) Fund = 345 K €
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Spanish government’s most prestigious Juan de la Cierva Fellowship for project “Integrated Sensing and Communication in 6G Wireless Networks” IMDEA Networks Madrid Spain (Oct 2024 to Feb 2026) Fund = 76 K €
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Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship for project titled “RISE-MM: RIS-enabled mmWave Networks in 5G and Beyond Cellular Networks” at IMDEA Networks Madrid Spain and the Chalmers University of Technology Sweden (Sep. 2022 to Sep. 2024) Fund = 181 K €
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Commonwealth Split-site Scholarship (Fully Funded Scholarship) for studies at the University of Cambridge as a split-site Ph.D. Scholar (Oct. 2019 to Apr. 2021) Fund = 47 K €
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Cambridge Trust Scholarship (Fully Funded Scholarship) for studies at the University of Cambridge as a Visiting Ph.D. Scholar (Oct. 2019 to Apr. 2021) Fund = 21 K €
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Doctoral Fellowship (Fully Funded Scholarship) for Ph.D. Degree in Electrical Engineering at Information Technology University, Pakistan (2017-2021) Fund = 34 K €
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Best Paper Award at IEEE International Conference on Communication Technologies, Apr. 2017
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Undergraduate Merit Scholarship, Electrical Engineering at National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad
Professional Activities
- Member of ETSI Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) Industry Specification Group
- Member of ETSI Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) Industry Specification Group
- TPC Chair of IEEE VTC2025-Spring 3rd workshop on Advanced and Lightweight Security Solutions for V2X Networks
- Track Chair of IEEE International Mediterranean Conference on Communications and Networking (IEEE MeditCom 2024)
- Program Chair of IEEE PIMRC 2024 3rd workshop on Advanced & Lightweight Security Solutions for 6G Systems (ALSS-6G)
- Program Chair of IEEE MeditCom 2024 2nd workshop on Advanced & Lightweight Security Solutions for 6G Systems (ALSS-6G)
- Session Chair of “Transmission and Reception 1” at the IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference Spring 2024.
- Track Chair of Wireless Communications Symposium at IEEE International Conference on Communications (IEEE ICC 2024)
- TPC member of IEEE GLOBECOM Workshop on Physical Layer Schemes for Security and Privacy in Beyond 5G/6G and Internet of Things (PHYSEC 2023)
- TPC member of IEEE International Conference on Advanced Communication Technologies and Networking (IEEE CommNet 2023)
Publications
- E. Illi, Syed Waqas Haider Shah, M. Qaraqe, S. Althunibat, and T. Alshamaseen, “RIS Strategies for Secure Communications: Balancing Resources and Channel Aging”, IEEE Communications Letters, DOI: 10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3620219, Oct. 2025.
- S.P. Deram, M. Rossanese, Syed Waqas Haider Shah, V. Sciancalepore, J. Widmer, and X.C. Perez, “RISENSE: Long-Range In-Band Wireless Control of Passive Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces”, in Proc. of 23rd ACM International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services (ACM MobiSys 2025).
- T. Alshamaseen, E. Illi, Syed Waqas Haider Shah, S. Althunibat and M. Qaraqe, "Secrecy Performance of a RIS-Assisted Wireless Network: A Comprehensive Analysis Under Outdated CSI", in IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, vol. 6, pp. pp. 1914-1930, Mar. 2025.
- Syed Waqas Haider Shah, M. Qaraqe, S. Althunibat, and J. Widmer, “Optimizing QoS in Secure RIS-Assisted mmWave Network With Channel Aging”, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 74, no. 1, pp. 1416-1432, Jan. 2025, doi: 10.1109/TVT.2024.3460377.
- Syed Waqas Haider Shah, M. Qaraqe, S. Althunibat, and J. Widmer, “On the Impact of Age of Channel Information on Secure RIS-enabled mmWave Networks”, in Proc of IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (IEEE VTC-2024), Singapore, 2024.
- S. Sharma, Syed Waqas Haider Shah, and J. Widmer, “A Low-Complexity Standard-Compliant PAPR Reduction Scheme for OTFS Modulation”, in Proc of IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (IEEE VTC-2024), Singapore, 2024.
- Syed Waqas Haider Shah, S. P. Deram, and J. Widmer, “On the Effective Capacity of RIS-enabled mmWave Networks with Outdated CSI”, in Proc. of IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications (IEEE INFOCOM 2023), New York, United States, 2023.
- A.N. Mian, Syed Waqas Haider Shah, A. Said, S. Manzoor, and Jon Crowcroft, “A value-added IoT service for cellular networks using federated learning”, Elsevier Computer Networks, vol. 213, August 2022. DOI: 10.1016/j.comnet.2022.109094
- Syed Waqas Haider Shah, A. N. Mian, S. Mumtaz, and Jon Crowcroft, “Statistical QoS Analysis of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-assisted D2D Communication”, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technologies, vol. 71, no. 7, pp. 7343-7358, July 2022. DOI: 10.1109/TVT.2022.3165467.
- Syed Waqas Haider Shah, M. M. Rahman, A. N. Mian, Octavia A. Dobre, and Jon Crowcroft, “Effective Capacity Analysis of HARQ-enabled D2D Communication in Multi-Tier Cellular Networks”, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 70, no. 9, pp. 9144-9159, July 2021. DOI: 10.1109/TVT.2021.3100675
- Syed Waqas Haider Shah, R. Li, M. M. Rahman, A. N. Mian, and Jon Crowcroft, “Statistical QoS Guarantees of a Device-to-Device Link assisted by a Full-Duplex Relay”, Transactions on Emerging Telecommunication Technologies, July 2021. DOI: 10.1002 / ett.4339
- Syed Waqas Haider Shah, A. Aijaz, A. N. Mian, J. Qadir, and Jon Crowcroft, “Energy-Efficient MAC Techniques for Cellular IoT: State-of-the-Art, Challenges, and Standardization”, IEEE Transactions on Green Communication and Networking, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 587–599, Jun 2021.
- Syed Waqas Haider Shah, A. N. Mian, and Jon Crowcroft. “Statistical QoS Guarantees for Licensed-Unlicensed Spectrum Interoperable D2D Communication”, IEEE Access vol. 8, 2020: 27277-27290.
- W. Amaan, Z. Haider, Syed Waqas Haider Shah, M. M. Rahman, and Octavia A. Dobre, “On the Effective Capacity of an Underwater Acoustic Channel under Impersonation Attack”, Proc. of IEEE International Conference on Communication (IEEE ICC-2020) Dublin, Ireland, 2020, Jan. 27.
- Syed Waqas Haider Shah, M. M. Rahman, A. N. Mian, A. Imran, S. Mumtaz, Octavia A. Dobre. “On the Impact of Mode Selection on Effective Capacity of Device-to-Device Communication” in IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 945-948, June 2019. DOI: 10.1109/LWC.2019.2901460
- Syed Waqas Haider Shah, A. N. Main, S. Mumtaz, and Jon Crowcroft. “System Capacity Analysis of Ultra Dense Multi Tire Cellular Networks” in IEEE Access, vol. 7, pp. 50503-50512, 2019.
