Dr Vimal Dwivedi

About Me

I am a Lecturer in Data Analytics at Ulster University and Associate Director of the Centre for Legal Technology. My research focuses on trustworthy digital infrastructures at the intersection of Responsible AI, Agentic AI, natural language processing, blockchain, decentralised systems, digital identity, digital twins, privacy-preserving governance and cryptographic assurance.

I earned my PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia, in 2022, funded by the Qtum Foundation. My doctoral research developed a smart-contract language to support the construction of legally meaningful and error-resistant blockchain applications. Before joining Ulster University, I worked as a Research Fellow at Queen's University Belfast on digital twins and blockchain for business decision modelling in collaboration with PwC Belfast. I have also held academic roles at Teesside University, the University of Tartu and Krishna Engineering College.

I teach and supervise projects in deep learning, natural language processing, data analytics, blockchain and responsible AI. My current work explores how AI, blockchain and cryptographic technologies can support safer, more transparent and accountable decision-making in justice, healthcare, transport, supply-chain and digital governance contexts.

Awards, Honours and Highlights

Research Interests

My research interests include:

Selected Funded Research Projects

• PI / PCLAI-Powered Strategies for Strengthening UK Transport Systems Against Climate Change
  Funder: EPSRC | Period: July 2025 - June 2026 | Collaborator: Prof. Jun Liu
• PIPrivacy-Preserving Governance and Ethical Assurance Framework for Decentralised Agentic AI in Pre-Litigation Analysis
  Funder: EPSRC | Period: January 2026 - March 2026 | Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Privacy, Governance
• PCL / Co-IThe Use of Agentic AI in Judicial Decision-Making
  Funder: EPSRC | Grant value: £203,419.67 | Period: February 2025 - February 2026
• PLTrustworthy and Decentralised AI for Patient Communication and Clinical Workflows in LMICs
  Funder: DfE / ISPF | Grant value: £40,000 | Focus: federated SLMs, patient communication, clinical workflows, blockchain auditability and zero-knowledge verification
• PIBlockchain and AI in E-Healthcare
  Funder: Department for the Economy | Period: January 2026 - March 2026
• PLNIAS - Dynamic Resource Optimisation
  Funder: Northern Ireland Ambulance Service | Grant value: £92,338.20
• PLTransforming E-Healthcare Data Management in LMICs Using Blockchain Technology
  Funder: Department for the Economy | Grant value: £39,859.94 | Period: August 2024 - March 2025
• Research FellowDigital Twin and Blockchain for Business Decision Modelling
  ARC Research Centre, Queen's University Belfast in collaboration with PwC Belfast | Period: January 2023 - March 2024
• PCLMFSSIA: Multi-Factor Self-Sovereign Identity Authentication
  ONTOCHAIN Project, Agreement No. 957338 | Grant value: £50,000

Teaching

Selected Publications

• Dwivedi, V., Pattanaik, V., Deval, V., Dixit, A., Norta, A., & Draheim, D. (2021). Legally Enforceable Smart-Contract Languages: A Systematic Literature Review. ACM Computing Surveys. https://doi.org/10.1145/3453475
• Dwivedi, V., Norta, A., Wulf, A., Leiding, B., Saxena, S., & Udokwu, C. A Formal Specification Smart-Contract Language for Legally Binding Decentralized Autonomous Organizations. IEEE Access. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3081926
• Dixit, A., Deval, V., Dwivedi, V., Norta, A., & Draheim, D. (2021). Towards user-centered and legally relevant smart-contract development: A systematic literature review. Journal of Industrial Information Integration. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jii.2021.100314
• Deval, V., Dwivedi, V., Dixit, A., Norta, A., Shah, S., Sharma, R., & Draheim, D. (2024). Mobile Smart Contracts: Exploring Scalability Challenges and Consensus Mechanisms. IEEE Access. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3371901
• Iqbal, M., Kormiltsyn, A., Dwivedi, V., & Matulevičius, R. (2024). Blockchain-based ontology driven reference framework for security risk management. Data & Knowledge Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.datak.2023.102257
• Dwivedi, V., Iqbal, M., Norta, A., & Matulevičius, R. Evaluation of a Legally Binding Smart-Contract Language for Blockchain Applications. Journal of Universal Computer Science. https://doi.org/10.3897/jucs.97112
• Kormiltsyn, A., Norta, A., Nisar, S., & Dwivedi, V. (2024). Preventing Data-Security Breaches and Patient-Safety Risks in Cross-Blockchain e-Healthcare Systems. MEDES 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-51643-6_4
• Kormiltsyn, A., Dwivedi, V., & Norta, A. (2025). Challenge/Response-Lifecycle development for Multi-Factor Self-Sovereign Identity Authentication. ICBTA 2024. https://doi.org/10.1145/3708622.3708631
• Tiwari, A., Kadian, K., Garg, N., Kaur, S., & Dwivedi, V. (2025). Scaling Language Boundaries: A Comparative Analysis of Multilingual Question-Answering Capabilities in Large Language Models. AIST 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-75164-6_4

For a complete and updated list, please visit my Google Scholar, Ulster PURE or Scopus profile.

Activities and Event Leadership

• Organiser and Host, Blockchain Future Symposium 2026, Ulster University, Belfast, 9 June 2026. A one-day interdisciplinary event bringing together academics, industry practitioners, policymakers and students to explore blockchain across finance, regulation, governance, digital infrastructure and real-world adoption.
• Co-Chair / Organiser and Speaker, BCU-led RAI UK Trustworthy AI in Justice: Privacy, Governance and Ethical Assurance Workshop, 12 March 2026.
• Organiser and Speaker, Digital Discovery Day, Derry~Londonderry campus, 24 February 2026.
• Organiser and Speaker, Launch of the Centre for Legal Technology, Ulster University, 18 September 2025.
• Workshop Chair / Lead, ISPF-funded project workshop, IIT Kanpur, India, 2025, focused on blockchain-enabled e-healthcare data management, stakeholder engagement and responsible digital health adoption.
• Workshop Leadership, IIIT Hyderabad, contributed to UK-India workshop activity last year and currently organising an ISPF-funded project workshop on trustworthy and decentralised AI for patient communication and clinical workflows in LMICs.
• Co-Chair, Birmingham City University-led workshop, supporting interdisciplinary discussion on responsible AI, governance and legal technology.

Invited Talks, Presentations and Outreach

• Invited Speaker: HackTheBreach: A 15-Day Bootcamp on Cybersecurity, 29 March - 12 April 2025.
• Invited Seminar: Sharda University, India, 18 January 2025.
• Invited Speaker: Blockchain and Digital Twin in Supply Chain Management, Online Faculty Development Program (FDP) on Recent Research Trends in CS & IT, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Sharda School of Engineering & Technology, Sharda University, Greater Noida, India, 27 September 2024.
• Invited Expert Talk: Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs), Sharda University, India, April 2024.
• Presenter: Digital twin and supply chain, ARC Symposium, PwC Belfast, February 2024.
• Presenter: Digital twin and supply chain, ARC Symposium, PwC Belfast, September 2023.
• Invited Expert Talk: Non-fungible tokens, blockchains and Decentralised Finance (DeFi), IGDTUW, Delhi, India, July 2023.
• Invited Expert Talk: Blockchain and its applications, ABV-IIITM Gwalior, India, June 2023.
• Presenter: Digital twin and supply chain, ARC Symposium, PwC Belfast, March 2023.
• Presenter: Auto-generation of Smart Contract for blockchain applications, Intelligent Data Engineering and Analytics, June 2022.
• Presenter: Blockchain applications and formal verification, International Conference on Advances in Computing and Data Sciences, India, April 2021.
• Presenter: Smart contract programming language and blockchain, International Conference on Advances in Computing and Data Sciences, India, April 2019.
• Presenter: Smart contracts, blockchain and decentralised applications, IEEE International Workshops on Foundations and Applications of Self* Systems, Trento, Italy, September 2018.

Academic and Professional Service

• External PhD Thesis Examiner, Galgotia University, 2026.
• Member, EPSRC Peer Review College, 2026.
• Associate Director, Centre for Legal Technology, Ulster University, 2025.
• External PhD Thesis Examiner, VTU, India, December 2022.
• Technical Programme Committee Member, International Conference on Advances in Computing and Data Sciences, India, November 2016.
• Guest Editor, Mathematics.
• Reviewer and contributor to interdisciplinary research in AI, blockchain, healthcare, digital identity and legal technology.