It’s been a while since I last updated my blog, which shows just how busy I’ve been lately.
Alhamdulillah, it has been a month since I safely returned home after completing my postdoctoral journey at University College London. Looking back, this experience was not simply another item to add to my academic profile. It was an important milestone in my career and, personally, one of the most meaningful learning experiences I have ever had.
My original area of expertise is steganography, which sits strongly within computer security. However, upon returning to Universiti Putra Malaysia, I decided to position myself primarily within the Human-Computer Interaction Research Group, while remaining an associate member of the Cybersecurity Research Group. Yes, it may sound like a little plot twist in my academic journey!
This decision encouraged me to take a broader view of my research and ask an important question: where can my background in security make a meaningful contribution to HCI?
That intersection led me to a new research interest: human-centric security.
During my 19-month postdoctoral appointment, I had the privilege of being supervised by Dr Mark Warner from the Information Security Research Group at UCL Computer Science. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to learn under his supervision at one of the world’s leading universities. His guidance helped me view cybersecurity from a wider perspective, not only in terms of systems, technologies and protection mechanisms, but also through the experiences, needs and behaviours of the people who use them.
My postdoctoral research explored online harassment reporting mechanisms in Social Virtual Reality environments. Social VR introduces challenges that are different from those found on conventional social media platforms. In immersive spaces, users communicate and interact through avatars, body movements, spatial proximity and real-time voice communication. Because of this sense of presence and embodiment, harmful encounters in VR can feel more immediate, invasive and personally distressing.
Through this research, I explored how users report harmful experiences, the limitations of existing reporting tools, and how safety mechanisms could be better designed for immersive environments. This topic allowed me to combine my existing knowledge of security with HCI, online safety and user-centred research.
One of the most valuable things I learned during the postdoc was the importance of maintaining research momentum. We had research update meetings every week. For me, this regular rhythm was extremely helpful because it kept the research moving forward. Every week, there was something to report, discuss, refine or reconsider. Even small progress mattered because it contributed to the larger direction of the project.
I particularly appreciated how ideas were openly discussed and challenged. Research was not treated as something that had to be perfect from the beginning. Instead, it was gradually strengthened through discussion, reflection and continuous improvement.
Another major learning experience was conducting qualitative research in practice. Previously, I understood qualitative research mainly from an academic and methodological perspective. During the postdoc, I experienced the full process—from developing research protocols and collecting data to coding, constructing a codebook, reviewing interpretations and developing themes.
The step-by-step development of research protocols taught me the importance of being systematic, transparent and consistent. I learned that a clear protocol is not merely an administrative requirement. It supports the reliability of the research and allows decisions to be explained and reviewed.
The coding process was equally valuable. It required us to engage closely with the data, examine the meaning behind each piece of evidence and decide how different codes were connected. The codebook also evolved throughout the analysis as our understanding became clearer.
Thematic analysis required patience and, most importantly, critical thinking. While AI tools may assist researchers in certain tasks, the analytical thinking needed to interpret data, question assumptions and develop a new conceptual contribution must remain with the researcher. For this project, the coding and thematic development were driven by our own reading, discussion and reasoning. This experience reminded me that meaningful research contributions do not emerge automatically from software; they are developed through deep engagement with the data.
I was also involved in the UseCRT project, which examined how 25 online platforms define and respond to different forms of online harassment. The project involved developing three research protocols covering platform selection, the identification of relevant documents and the analysis of those documents. Altogether, 517 policy documents were analysed, contributing to the development of a framework that identified 35 harassment-related harm types and their different dimensions.
Being involved in a major project like UseCRT gave me valuable experience in collaborative and large-scale research. The resulting full paper was accepted for GROUP 2027 and will be published in the Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction. I also applied what I learned to my own research through a systematic literature review on the challenges of reporting harassment in online social spaces. The review involved screening 2,169 articles through a rigorous multi-stage process.
Beyond research, I was invited to observe and participate in my supervisor’s teaching activities. I found it particularly interesting that many of the teaching materials were directly linked to current research articles. This approach introduced undergraduate students to contemporary research while helping them understand how academic knowledge connects with real-world issues. It is a pedagogical practice that I hope to adapt in my own teaching.
My postdoctoral journey also opened opportunities to participate in seminars, webinars and academic events, including moderating an international HCI webinar with Dr Mark Warner on understanding and mitigating online harms. These experiences expanded my professional network and strengthened my confidence in communicating research to different audiences.
I returned home not only with new research outputs, but also with a clearer academic identity. Steganography remains an important part of my foundation, but human-centric security has opened a new direction for me—one that connects security, technology and human experience.
Alhamdulillah, this journey has changed how I conduct research, how I teach and how I understand my contribution as an academic. The postdoc may have ended, but the momentum, collaborations and research direction that grew from it are only beginning.
What’s next? Let’s continue giving our best and see where this career journey takes us.
Leave a Reply