Prof. Kennedy Chinedu Okafor is a UK Exceptional Talent and Senior Member of IEEE, USA. He is a teaching researcher with over 15 years R&D experience in Advanced Cloud Automation, Networked Robotics, Cyber-Physical Systems, Cybernetics, and Cybersecurity till date. He formerly worked with Electronic Development Institute (Former Centre for Adaptation of Technology-CAT), under National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, (NASENI-FMST) Nigeria as a Senior R&D Engineer (2006-2014). He has various vendor certifications including IEEE Big Data Analytics®, IEEE Cyber Security®, IEEE Green IT®, Cloud Governance (CCE), Cisco Certified Network Associate, (CCNA®), Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP®), ComPTIA A+®, and ComPTIA Server+®. He received the prestigious Vice-Chancellor Award as the overall best-graduating PhD student from Faculty of Engineering, the University of Nigeria in 2017. He formerly had a research Fellowship appointment at the Simon Fraser University Canada with a research focus on Intelligent Cyber-Physical Systems (Mechatronics & Systems Engineering). In 2021, Kennedy was appointed a Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. In 2022, Kennedy received a Postdoctoral Fellowship from Imperial College London with another research Fellowship at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. He was the link facilitator between the National Instruments, Texas, USA, and the Federal University of Technology Owerri for Certification Lab Supports, Training and Equipping of FUTO Mechatronics Lab. He is a research collaborator with the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications (LESA) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA. Kennedy has organized over 50+ IEEE events in Africa (e.g., IEEE SmartGridComm'23, Nigercon, ICAST, Power Africa, Big Data Africa, MAC-2019, ITED, etc.) as well as serving as a Keynote speaker in IEEE conferences in Africa, Middle East and Europe. He is also on the Editorial Review Board of more than 15 High Impact factor Journals in US, UK, Asia and Africa. He is an author of #3 University books, #2 monographs, #5 Book Chapters, #150+ publications (indexed in Google Scholar, Scopus & Web of Science, SCIE | Publons); reviewed over 325 papers, handled over 330 editorial tasks, (both in Scopus & Web of Science). He has presented over 50 invited talks (keynotes, tutorials, and seminars) and has attracted over #30 research grants & professional rebates in Africa amounting to about £2.4M for impactful projects including Establishment of IEEE Skill-Up Technology Hub in Nigeria Universities” (19-PC1-09) (2019); FUTO Tetfund Research Grant Award (2019); IEEE COVID-19 MARKET PLACE ROBOT (CMPR) (2020); IEEE HAC/SIGHT Award 2020 (5 Projects); IEEE Nigeria Section rebates (2015-Till date); IEEE 2017 MGM Referral Award Program, USA (2017 &2018); FUTO Tetfund Research Grant Award (2019 & 2020), NITMA Award (2016), FUTO NCC Research Grant Award (2020), among others. His current project is on a £318 Billion Natural Capital (Woodland) Asset valuation for the UK and related Natural Capital Accounts. Kennedy has supervised/Co-supervised and mentored several M.Sc. & Ph. D students globally. He serves on the editorial boards of IEEE, Elsevier, Springer, Taylor & Francis, Wiley, and IGI Global Journals. To date, Kennedy is currently collaborating with Cisco Systems, USA, AWS Cloud, National Instruments, USA, Smart Power, and Energy Systems Research Group (SPESRG) - University of Johannesburg, South Africa, etc. Kennedy is the Executive Secretary of the Association of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning of Nigeria, (AAIMLON). He is a Certified COREN licensed engineer, Fellow AAIMLON and a Fellow of African Scientific Institute, USA. He is currently the Chair, IEEE Skillup Hub, Region 8 (Africa, Middle East & Europe).
