Dr Sadaf Naz is a Research Officer (Postdoctoral Fellow) in the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology within the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at La Trobe University. Funded through a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Synergy Grant, her current role contributes to the project Targeting lethal metastases: finding new targets in the tumour/microenvironment interface multi-strain, where she is involved in computational and bioinformatics driven research focusing on disease modelling, machine learning, optimisation methods, and data driven healthcare research. She works within the Bioinformatics research environment in the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology at La Trobe University under the supervision of Professor Phoebe Chen.

She completed her PhD in Computer Science (Bioinformatics) at La Trobe University in April 2026 under the supervision of Professor Phoebe Chen and Dr Khoa Phan. Her doctoral research focused on privacy preserving federated learning, differential privacy, and trustworthy artificial intelligence for medical imaging and sensitive healthcare data. Her work integrates secure model aggregation, fairness aware data distribution, and advanced privacy enhancing techniques to improve both privacy protection and model performance in collaborative healthcare environments.

She has an interdisciplinary academic background spanning statistics, applied mathematics, bioinformatics, and computer science. She completed a Master’s degree in Statistics, followed by First Class Honours in Applied and Industrial Mathematics, and later a Master by Thesis in Bioinformatics, where she developed computational and web based tools for genomic data analysis. This diverse academic foundation has equipped her with strong expertise in statistical modelling, machine learning, computational biology, and analytical problem solving.

Alongside her research activities, since March 2025, Dr Sadaf has been tutoring CSE5BIO: Bioinformatics Technologies at La Trobe University, where she mentors students in applying complex biological analysis, the application of information technology principles, and the integration of diverse biological content through various computational tools and platforms.

Her research contributions have been presented in peer reviewed venues and continue to contribute to the advancement of responsible artificial intelligence, privacy preserving machine learning, and computational healthcare research.

Previously:

• Research Student (Master by Thesis), Southern Cross University (2016–2018): Developed interactive web applications using R and Shiny for crop genetics databases in collaboration with the Earlham Institute (UK) and Crops For the Future (Malaysia).                                                              

During her Master’s at Southern Cross University, Sadaf developed open-access interactive statistical modules for visualizing diverse crop  phenotyping data, now publicly available via the SCU Research Portal:Master’s Thesis (SCU): Development of Interactive Statistical Modules and Workflows for Exploration of Diverse Sets of Crop Phenotyping Data

• Statistics & Mathematics Teacher (2008–2013), Pakistan International School (English Section), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – taught A-Level students.
• Visiting Lecturer (2010–2012), Sikkim Manipal University, Jeddah – taught MBA, BBA, and BSc IT students.
• Lecturer in Statistics (2005–2008), Government College for Women, Jhang, Pakistan – taught undergraduate and graduate students.

Outside of academia, Sadaf enjoys music, table tennis, and travelling, which inspire creativity and provide balance to her professional life.