Dr Syed Shahzad
UNSW Space Research and Engineering
Dr Syed Shahzad is a cyber resilience expert and leading academic working across the defence and space sectors. He leads cybersecurity specialists within Australian Defence, where he ensures weapon systems remain secure and resilient before integration into strategic networks.
Concurrently, at UNSW Space, he conducts research under the SmartSat CRC program, where his team is developing artificial intelligence and machine learning frameworks to strengthen the resilience of space network systems. His academic work focuses on cyber resilience engineering for critical space infrastructure, with particular attention to how complex satellite systems autonomously detect, withstand, and recover from high impact cyber attacks.
Dr Shahzad has served as a Visiting Fellow at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and as a member of the Advisory Board for Entrepreneurship at Hult Business School, UK. In addition, he mentors founders through multiple incubator and accelerator programs and holds visiting faculty appointments at several international universities and executive education institutes.
He has lived half of his life in the United Kingdom and has worked across the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. He is an alumnus of the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) and St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford.