Dr. (Mrs) Sheeba Armoogum has bagged Outstanding Academician Award

I am Dr Sheeba Armoogum, Senior Lecturer from the Department of Information & Communication Technologies at the University of Mauritius. I am truly honoured to receive the “Best Women Achiever Award 2022 for an Outstanding Academician” on a global level by the Women Icon powered by Times Women and World Women Council (WWC). 

About the University of Mauritius

The University of Mauritius (UoM) was founded in 1965 and is the premier university on the island comprising seven (7) Faculties namely, Agriculture; Engineering; Information, Communication and Digital Technologies; Law and Management; Medicine and Health Sciences; Science; and Social Sciences and Humanities. It also has 6 Centres (including 3 Research Centres), a Doctoral School, a Knowledge Transfer Office under which the University-Industry Liaison Office, the UoM Incubator and the IP and Tech Transfer Office operate, an International Affairs Office and a Confucius Institute. The University currently offers 119 programmes of Study at the Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels and MPhil and PhD Programmes in a wide range of fields. 

The University has strong academic and research partnerships with universities and institutions in several countries, namely, Australia, Canada, China, France, Holland, India, South Africa, UK, USA, several EU countries and others. UoM is collaborating with overseas institutions (University of Arizona, USA, CY Cergy Paris Université, France, Prince Edward Island University, Canada) to offer dual/joint degree programs. The University is also a member of international organisations such as l’Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), the Australia-Africa Universities Network (AAUN), the Regional Universities Forum (RUFORUM), the Southern Africa Regional Universities Association (SARUA), the Association of African Universities (AAU) and the Association of Indian Universities (AIU).

About Me

I am a Mauritian of Indian origin. Following my Master's degree, I took up my first full-time academic post at the Faculty of Engineering, at the University of Mauritius in the year 2006 and subsequently got promoted to Senior Lecturer. In 2017, I was appointed as the first Head of the Department of Information and Communication Technologies for the newly formed Faculty of Information, Communication & Digital Technologies (FoICDT) at the University of Mauritius. 

Teaching has always been my passion and it stems from the personal satisfaction obtained based on effective teaching by demonstrating a deep understanding of the curriculum. My teaching is focused on subjects: Research methodology, Computer Forensics, Cryptography, Wireless Networking & Ubiquitous Technologies, and Computational Mathematics. My personification of teaching & learning philosophy is a practice of nurturing students with flawless education by providing impeccable skills and knowledge by teaching them in a way that creates passion and zeal for lifelong education. I subscribe to the theory of cognitivism in education to open the black box of the human mind. I practice the learner-centric pedagogical approach to teaching with a combination of constructive, collaborative, inquiry-based, creative and reflective methods. Most of my lectures are focused on real-world examples within the classroom (face-to-face or online).  I believe teaching is a dedicated art of learning in our chosen discipline by bringing the best to our students to make the future a better place. 

I pursued my Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in the field of Cybersecurity at the University of Technology, Mauritius. The South African Patent bearing the application number (xxx) and ascribed for the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (pending) has escalated my cognisance of the research thrust. Embracing the experience in teaching & research with several publications in top journals and conferences for more than 16 years has given me remarkable insight and credence for academic discipline. I was part of organising several international conferences and have served as a member of the Editorial Board of reputed International Journals and as a reviewer for International Journals and Conferences. Moreover, to promote awareness and understanding of cybercrimes, their impact and cybersecurity, I administered as a speaker for the Cybersecurity Awareness Workshop 2022. 

I received recognition to be a panellist speaker for,

• The sectoral discussion on “IT & Emerging Technologies” for Mauritius Research & Innovation Council (MRIC) conference 2022 “Assises de la Recherche et de l’Innovation” to set the foundations of a National Master Plan for technology, research, and Innovation for the Republic of Mauritius. 
• The Women In Tech Week 2021 under the theme: “Career Conversation with Women in Cybersecurity”, organised by Women In Tech Africa, Mauritius Chapter.
• “Securing FinTech’s Future: Opportunities & Challenges in FinTech & Cybersecurity” organised by the Mauritius|Africa Fintech Hub (MAFH).

My passion for research desired to obtain intellectual satisfaction from doing creative work, to face challenges in solving the unsolved research problems in my research discipline, and to have a diversified connection to the same discipline. An important goal of my research is to create a new paradigm for the next generation of cybersecurity systems, to provide solutions to rapidly identify intruders, and mitigate cyber-attacks with advanced techniques like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and others. I abide by the research philosophy while carrying out the work on data collection, analysis and usage keeping in mind the four pillar perspectives of research: pragmatism, positivism, realism and interpretivism. My research interests focus on Cybersecurity, Cyberpsychology, Cyber Forensics, Communication & Networking, Network Security, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning and Cryptography. My aim for PhD supervision in the area of my research interests is to be accomplishable, original, and ultimately eventuate into a research pioneer.

I am currently heading the CyberSecurity & Forensics Research Group (CSFRG) at the University of Mauritius. The vision of the CSFRG is to produce exclusive and significant research output and make a substantial contribution to Mauritius's readiness and response to Cybersecurity risks and threats. The CSFRG group aims to span from research and consultancy to outreach, training, and knowledge transfer. In line with one of the core missions of the Faculty of Information, Communication and Digital Technologies to “Engage in ICT related activities with the community”, I desire to share my knowledge and expertise in the field of Cybersecurity with different schools, colleges & universities in Mauritius to create a Cybersecurity culture. The main objective of this cybersecurity awareness education is to educate people in Mauritius on the potential risks they face when using internet communication tools, such as social media, chat, online gaming, email and instant messaging with a focus on work from home vulnerabilities and learn from home vulnerabilities.  

I served as a subject specialist in the field of Cybersecurity for accreditation of the programmes at the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Mauritius. I am also a Technical Expert for the Information Security Management System (ISMS) at the Mauritius Accreditation Services MAURITAS. Being an active member of the International Committees like the Africa Region to International Cyber Security (AFRICC) Steering Committee and the International Cybersecurity Challenge (ICC) Steering Committee and representing Southern Africa as Deputy Secretary for both the committees have escalated my international experience and leadership skills. The committees are made of a diverse team of dedicated, focused and driven cybersecurity experts. I mentor and coach the Mauritian participants for the International Cybersecurity Challenge (ICC) competition in Athens Greece, in June 2022.  

I am eminently reinforced by the two pillars and the foundation of my life: my husband and my daughter. They both catalyse the coherence of my motivation and inspiration. I am very much passionate about cooking and photography. Both cooking and photography hobbies helped me to relax my mind and soul. My main fondness in cooking involves Indian Cuisine, Mauritian Cuisine & Hybrid Cuisine-which inculcate the source of a new cooking paradigm to discover the mixture of different cuisines. The science behind the art of cooking is my inspiration to discover new cooking methods. I enjoy photographing nature and people. Capturing the distinctive persona of nature at a particular moment is a breath-taking inspiration to relax my mind. 

On a closing note, I thank Women Icon and Times Women for awarding me the Best Women Achiever Award 2022.