👤 Professor Faisal Mustafa, PhD, PFHEA
Part of IDEAS — doctoral supervision team.
Professor of Artificial Intelligence, University Leader, Innovation Strategist, Doctoral Supervisor – Part of IDEAS
Short Bio: Professor Faisal Mustafa is Dean – Academic Programmes at the University of Greater Manchester (delivered via Regent College London) and Professor of Artificial Intelligence, bringing senior leadership experience spanning deanships, department and school founding, and AI-focused academic programme development across UK higher education. He has founded and scaled multi-disciplinary academic departments and schools at Ravensbourne University London, supervises AI and data science postgraduate research at the University of the Arts London, and has advised on curriculum design at Aston Business School — with particular expertise in AI-powered institutional innovation, digital transformation, and university rankings improvement.
📄 Full Profile
As Dean – Academic Programmes at the University of Greater Manchester (April 2025–present), he leads and manages the School, overseeing teaching, research, and academic standards, managing faculty and budgets, and implementing academic policy and strategic plans.
His most substantial institution-building work was at Ravensbourne University London (2022–2025), where he served as Founding Head of Business and Computing, leading the conceptualisation, design, recruitment, and launch of multiple postgraduate programmes — including an MBA and MSc routes in Marketing, Project Management, Computing, Cybersecurity, and Cybersecurity Management — in close collaboration with industry partners. This work laid the foundation for what became two independent, fully operational academic departments: Computing and Emerging Technologies, and Business. He went on to lead both as Head of Computing and Emerging Technologies and, ultimately, as Head of School, founding and building a new multi-disciplinary school bringing Business, Accounting, Economics, Finance, and Computing under unified academic leadership.
His AI research portfolio is substantial and genuinely current, spanning quantum computing and AI, trustworthy AI in healthcare, AI for climate and sustainability, AI-powered early detection of diabetic retinopathy, predictive modelling for patient readmission risk, drug discovery using reinforcement learning models, AI-based yield prediction in vertical farming systems, and carbon emission forecasting with deep learning. He has supervised postgraduate projects across adversarial attack detection in deep neural networks, AI-enhanced intrusion detection for cloud infrastructure, AI-driven traffic flow optimisation, IoT/ML-based predictive maintenance for smart infrastructure, quantum-inspired optimisation for AI model training, and hybrid classical-quantum neural network design.
Alongside his institutional leadership, he served as Lead Researcher at the University of the West of Scotland (2022–2025), leading a thematic research group focused on entrepreneurship, new venture strategy, and technology-driven innovation in emerging markets, and as Professor for the MSc Data Science and AI for the Creative Industries programme at the University of the Arts London (2024–2025), supervising student projects applying data science and AI within creative industry contexts. He also served as External Advisor to Aston Business School (2023–2024) for Aston University’s MSc Business and Management, providing expert guidance on curriculum design, academic standards, and industry alignment, and reviewing programme content against both academic benchmarks and employer expectations.
🔬 Areas of Expertise
- Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education
- Digital Transformation
- University Rankings
- Academic Leadership
- Institutional Strategy
- Innovation and Change Management
- Academic Department & School Founding
- AI Research (Healthcare, Climate, Cybersecurity, Quantum Computing)Â
- Postgraduate Programme Design & Launch
🎯 Consultancy Focus at IHEART
| Focus Area | What It Covers |
| AI-Powered Institutional Innovation | Advising universities on AI adoption strategy across teaching, research, and administration, grounded in an active AI research portfolio spanning healthcare, climate, cybersecurity, and quantum computing |
| University Rankings & Institutional Performance | Helping universities strengthen the academic and research performance that underpins global ranking metrics |
| Academic Department & School Founding | Direct experience founding and scaling academic departments and multi-disciplinary schools from concept to full operation |
| Programme Design & Launch | Conceptualising, designing, and launching postgraduate programmes (MBA and MSc routes) in collaboration with industry partners |
| Digital Transformation & Change Management | Leading institutional change through AI-powered innovation and technology-driven strategy |
His work helps universities prepare for the future while maintaining academic excellence and institutional integrity.
📬 Contact / Enquire
Ready to talk about doctoral admissions, supervision, or researcher development? Contact the Knowledge Edge team.
