Dr. Lafifa Jamal is a Professor of the Department of Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Dhaka. She is the former Chairperson of the same department. Previously, she was a faculty member of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Dhaka. She is also serving as the Provost of Shamsun Nahar Hall, University of Dhaka. She is an elected Executive Committee Member of the Dhaka University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) 2022 and an elected Senate Member of the same university.
Dr. Jamal is a Senior Member of IEEE, the world's largest technical professional organization for the advancement of technology, and a Fellow of the Bangladesh Computer Society. She received her Ph.D. Degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Dhaka. Actively involved with research, Dr. Jamal has around sixty research publications in reputed international journals and conferences. She also got the best paper award at an International Conference. She attended various seminars, conferences and workshops internationally. She delivered invited talks in Spain, the USA, South Korea, China, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. Her research interests include Robotics and Intelligent Systems, VLSI Design and Reversible Logic Synthesis, Gender and Diversity, STEM Education. Dr. Jamal is a writer of the Digital Technology Text Book (Class VI and Class VII) published by National Curriculum and Textbook Board under the new competency-based national school curriculum.
Dr. Jamal is the Founding Director of Bangladesh Flying Labs which is a hub to connect robotics and tech researchers and enthusiasts from home and abroad for social justice, equality, and development. She is also serving as the Vice-President Bangladesh Open Source Network Foundation (BdOSN) which aims to create a youth community empowered with technology, innovation and knowledge and bring more girls into STEM education and the ICT profession.
Dr. Jamal had a significant role in raising awareness of computer programming among female students of Bangladesh. She participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) titled “#HiddenNoMore: Empowering International Women Leaders in STEM” which was funded by the U.S. Department of State and held in Washington DC, Greensboro, Chicago and Los Angeles. 50 Women STEM Leaders from 50 different countries participated in this prestigious program. She is the International Partner Country Representative from Bangladesh for the action “European Network for Gender Balance in Informatics” under European Cooperation in Science and Technology.
Dr. Jamal sits on various international advisory boards and review panels, and serves in many program committee roles for various international conferences. Some of her recent involvements include Workshop Organizer in ICSE 2023 (Australia), ICSE 2022 (USA), Inclusion Chair in RO-MAN 2023 (Korea), Women in Engineering Chair in iSES 2021 (India), Special Session Organizer in ICIPRoB 2020 (Sri Lanka), TPC Chair in ICIET 2019 (Bangladesh), Regional Program Chair in RIIT 2018 (Thailand), General Co-Chair in ICIET 2018 (Bangladesh), International Advisory Board Member in ICOM 2017 (Malaysia). She is a TPC Member in ICRAI 2022 (Singapore), ICIPRoB 2022 (Srilanka), ICRAI 2021 (China), HCII 2021 (USA), STI 2020 (Bangladesh), TENCON 2019 (India), ICIET 2019 (Bangladesh), ISVLSI 2017 (Germany), R10-HTC 2017 (Bangladesh), ISCAS 2016 (Canada), CECNet 2015 (China).
Dr. Jamal is the Founding Advisor of IEEE University of Dhaka Women in Engineering Student Branch Affinity Group and IEEE Robotics & Automation Society University of Dhaka Student Branch Chapter; and Founding Moderator of Dhaka University Science Society. She is the former President of Bangladesh women in IT (BWIT) and former Treasurer of the Bangladesh Computer Society (BCS). She is a member of the National Task Force committee for Broadband Policy 2022.
Under her leadership, Bangladesh got the first Gold Medal in the 20th International Robot Olympiad 2018 held in Manila, Philippines. She is the Founder President of the Bangladesh Robot Olympiad and a Member of the International Robot Olympiad Central Committee. Dr. Jamal received “Ananya Shirsha Dosh Shommanona 2020” for her contribution in the Technology field in Bangladesh. She also received the award “Women ICT Personality of the Year 2022” for her contribution in the ICT field in Bangladesh.
