Hafiz Alaka is a Professor and the founding Director of the Big Data Technologies and Innovation (BDTI) laboratory (for construction and infrastructure). He plays the role of Business Analyst and Project Manager for the lab's projects. The lab currently hosts 15 members of staff including postdoctoral research fellows, machine learning scientists, data warehouse/analyst expert, general software developersand still recruiting. He also leads the ‘Prediction of Climate and its Impacts (PCI)’ group in the Centre for Climate Change Research (C3R). 

Hafiz favours cross-disciplinary collaborative research for solving real-life challenges. His focus area is application of contemporary technologies (big data, artificial intelligence/machine learning, etc.) to construction, infrastructure, business/finance, and agriculture, among others. Hafiz has secured, led and participated in over £6million worth of funded research projects. Hafiz has worked as business analyst with multiple clients/partners on multiple projects to deliver business improvements. Clients/Partners include Balfour Beatty (the largest construction company in UK), Reusefully Ltd, Finishes and Interior Sector, Earthsense, Rasuta Energy Ltd, among others. He has managed multiple complex projects simultaneously, collaborating with cross-functional teams on software integration projects to ensure project timelines and goals are met. Hafiz analyses complex business problems and requirements, developing functional specifications, and managing project lifecycles leading to provision of strategic recommendations and implementation of effective solutions to improve organizational performance. 

Hafiz is an assessor for Innovate UK, Small Business Research Initiative, UK, and The National Centre of Science and Technology Evaluation, Kazakhstan. He is an editorial board member of three international journals and part of the International Scientific Committee for three international conferences. He has acted as external and internal examiner for PhD viva. Hafiz is a reviewer for many top journals and has been invited as guest/contributor/keynote speaker or speaker to numerous workshops/conferences/seminars

Hafiz has completed three PhD supervisions and is currently supervising more than six PhD students as DoS. He has produced over 50 peer-reviewed articles, including over 35 articles published in journals of international standing. He currently has over 3500 citations with H-index=26 and i10-index=36 on Google Scholar.