Dr. Hafiz Rizwan SCIT - BNU

Dr. Hafiz Rizwan Iqbal is currently working as Assistant Professor at Beaconhouse National University. He completed his PhD in Computer Sciences at Information Technology University (ITU), Lahore in 2026, passing his doctoral defense with no revisions. His research specializes in Natural Language Processing (NLP), with a primary focus on low-resource languages, Large Language Models (LLMs), paraphrase text reuse, and plagiarism detection systems. As Principal Investigator, he successfully led an HEC-NRPU funded research project on Urdu plagiarism detection. He brings a distinct, multi-faceted profile spanning over seven years of university-level academic teaching, five years as Content Architect and Team Lead at Educative Inc. leading global AI/ML curricula, and core early industry experience in software and mobile development.

• PhD in Computer Sciences, Information Technology University (ITU), Lahore (Thesis: Urdu Paraphrased Text Reuse and Plagiarism Detection: Resources and Benchmarks)
• MS in Computer Sciences, Government College University (GCU), Lahore (Thesis: An Automatic Speech Recognition System to Recognize Tajweed Rules in Quranic Arabic)
• BS in Computer Science, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore

• Natural Language Processing (NLP) with focus on Large Language Models (LLMs)
• Low-Resource Language Processing (Urdu) using Machine Learning and Deep Neural Networks
• Paraphrase Detection, Text Reuse, and Plagiarism Detection Systems
• Speech Processing and Automatic Speech Recognition for Low-Resource Languages

• Assistant Professor, Beaconhouse National University (BNU), Lahore (Present)
• Visiting Lecturer, Bano Qabil, Lahore (2026–Present)
• PhD Researcher, Centre for Speech & Language Technologies, Information Technology University (ITU), Lahore (2017–2026)
• Lecturer & NLP Researcher, Department of Computer Sciences / COMSATS NLP Group, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus (2014–2017)
• Visiting Lecturer, University of South Asia, Lahore (2013–2014)
• Lecturer, Department of Computer Sciences, The University of Lahore (2009–2012)
• Research Associate, Robotics & Intelligent Computing Lab, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) (2007–2009)

• The Batch Research Writer, DeepLearning.AI (Remote) (2026–Present)
• Content Architect and Team Lead, Educative Inc., Lahore (2021–2026)
• Senior Developers Trainer (Mobile Application Development), TEKXON Solutions, Lahore (2012–2014)
• Senior Software Engineer (Android & Java Development), IQVIS / ArbiSoft / Gillan E Solutions, Lahore (2012–2014)

• Principal Investigator / Team Lead: HEC National Research Program for Universities (NRPU) Grant (2019–2021) — Project: Urdu Plagiarism Detection Tool (Grant Value: PKR 4,400,000).

• Awarded Full PhD Scholarship by the Government of Punjab, Pakistan (2017).
• Awarded Full BS Scholarship by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Pakistan (2002).
• Secured 1st Position at NESCON National Software Competition, FAST Islamabad (2009).
• Secured 2nd Position at TechElite, NED University Karachi (2009).
• Secured 3rd Position at COMSpec, COMSATS Lahore (2009).

External Reviewer

• Reviewer, ACM Transactions on Asian and Low-Resource Language Information Processing (ACM TALLIP)
• Reviewer, Expert Systems and Applications, Springer

Academic Evaluation & Mentorship

• Final Year Project Evaluator, Department of Computer Sciences, Information Technology University (ITU), Lahore
• Co-supervisor for multiple undergraduate and graduate thesis projects in NLP and Software Engineering

• Hafiz Rizwan Iqbal, M. Sharjeel, J. Shafi, U. Mehmood, A. A. Raza, “Urdu Sentential Paraphrased Plagiarism Detection Using Large Language Models,” ACM Transactions on Asian and Low-Resource Language Information Processing (ACM TALLIP), 2025 (Q2 - ACM).
• Hafiz Rizwan Iqbal, M. Sharjeel, J. Shafi, U. Mehmood, A. A. Raza, “Urdu Paraphrased Text Reuse and Plagiarism Detection using Pre-trained Large Language Models and Deep Hybrid Neural Networks,” Multimedia Tools and Applications, Springer, 2025 (Q1 - Springer).
• Hafiz Rizwan Iqbal, R. Maqsood, S. U. Hassan, A. A. Raza, “Urdu Paraphrase Detection: A Novel DNN-based Implementation using an Automatically Generated Corpus,” Natural Language Engineering (NLE), Cambridge University Press, 2023 (Q1 - Cambridge).
• J. Shafi, Hafiz Rizwan Iqbal, A. Nawab, P. Rayson, “UNLT — Urdu Natural Language Toolkit,” Natural Language Engineering (NLE), Cambridge University Press, 2022 (Q1 - Cambridge).

• Hafiz Rizwan Iqbal, S. B. Zahid, A. A. Raza, “An Unsupervised Spoken Term Detection System for Urdu,” Language & Technology Conference, 2021.
• A. Sittar, Hafiz Rizwan Iqbal, R. Nawab, “Author Diarization Using Cluster-Distance Approach,” CLEF 2016 Evaluation Labs Working Notes, 2016.
• S. Ashraf, Hafiz Rizwan Iqbal, R. Nawab, “Cross-genre Author Profile Prediction Using Stylometry-based Approach,” CLEF 2016 Evaluation Labs Working Notes, 2016.
• Hafiz Rizwan Iqbal, M. A. Ashraf, R. A. Nawab, “Predicting an Author's Demographics from Text Using Topic Modeling Approach,” PAN at CLEF 2015, 2015.
• Hafiz Rizwan Iqbal, M. Awais, S. Masud, S. Shamail, “On Vowels Segmentation and Identification using Formant Transitions in Continuous Recitation of Quranic Arabic,” Studies in Computational Intelligence, Springer (Book Chapter), IEA-AIE, Wroclaw, Poland, 2008.

• Email Address: rizwan.iqbal@bnu.edu.pk