HomeCollegesCollegesCollege of Technological InnovationFaculty And StaffDubaiInformation Systems and Technology ManagementProfilesMaher Alaraj
Associate Professor

BSc in Computer Science, Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Jordan.

MSc in Modelling and Management of Risk, Brunel University London, UK.

PhD in Credit Risk Modelling with Machine Learning, Brunel University London, UK.


Bio

Dr Maher has been an Associate Professor in the College of Technological Innovation since August 2019. Before joining Zayed University, Maher worked in both industry and academia. Professionally, working in the banking and consultation sector, Maher was responsible for developing and implementing various credit and behavioural scoring models that served as essential tools for credit decision-making. Besides, he was carrying validation exercises for banks risk models against best practices and standards. In academia, he worked on various projects in intelligent systems, financial modelling, sustainability and healthcare analytics in the UK and UAE. Maher also is an IBM certified Artificial Intelligence Analyst.

Maher has been an active researcher; his work can be seen in prestigious journals and international conferences such as the Journal of Big Data, Expert Systems with Applications, knowledge-Based Systems and Annals of Operational Research. Similarly, he is a regular reviewer for leading journals such as Expert Systems with Applications and IEEE Access in credit scoring.

 
Office

Dubai Academic City, D-L1-039

Phone:

+971 4 4021238

Email:
Teaching Areas

  • Undergraduate level
    • Management Information Systems.
    • IT Project Management.
    • Data Analytics.
    • Data Science.
    • Data Science Lab.
    • Senior Project.

Research and Professional Activities

Research Interests

  • Intelligent Systems for Credit and Behavioral Scoring.
  • Time Series of Stock Exchange Market Modelling.
  • Sustainability and Lean Manufacturing.
  • Business Process Mining.
  • Blockchain and IoT in Supply Chain Management.
  • Capital Stress Testing in Banks.
  • Credit Impairment and IFRS9 Modelling in Banks.
  • Health-Care Data Analytics and Optimization.
  • Infectious Disease Modelling.

Refereed Journals 

  •  Juma, L., Ikram, M., Alkalha, Z., & Ala'raj, M. (2021). Factors affecting managers' intention to adopt green supply chain management practices: evidence from manufacturing firms in Jordan. Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2021): 1-17. (Springer) (IF= 3.056, Q2 Scopus)
  • Ala'raj, M., & Abbod, M. F., Majdalawieh, M. (2021). Modelling customers credit card behaviour using bidirectional LSTM neural networks. Journal of Big Data. 8(1), 1-27. (Springer). (IF= 11.09, Q1 Scopus)
  • Majdalawieh, M., & Nizamuddin, N., Ala'raj, M., Khan, S., & Bani-Hani, A. (2021). Blockchain-based solution for Secure and Transparent Supply Chain Network. Peer-to-Peer Networking and Applications. 1-20. (Springer) (IF= 3.06, Q2 Scopus)
  • Ala'raj, M., Majdalawieh, M., & Nizamuddin, N. (2020). Modelling and forecasting of COVID-19 using a hybrid dynamic model based on SEIRD with ARIMA corrections. Infectious Disease Modelling, 6, 98-111. (Elsevier) (IF=1.18, Q1 Scopus)
  • Ala’raj, M., Majdalawieh, M., & Abbod, M. F. (2020). Improving binary classification using filtering based on k-NN proximity graphs. Journal of Big Data, 7(1), 1-18. (Springer) (IF=2.50, Q1 Scopus)
  • Abualfaraa, W., Salonitis, K., Al-Ashaab, A., & Ala’raj, M. (2020). Lean-Green Manufacturing Practices and Their Link with Sustainability: A Critical Review. Sustainability, 12(3), 981. (MDPI) (IF=2.59, Q2 Scopus)
  • Ala'raj, M., Abbod, M. F., & Radi, M. (2018). The applicability of credit scoring models in emerging economies: an evidence from Jordan. International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management, 11(4), 608-630. (Emerald) (IF=0.94, Q3 Scopus)
  • Malik, M. M., Abdallah, S., & Ala’raj, M. (2018). Data mining and predictive analytics applications for the delivery of healthcare services: a systematic literature review. Annals of Operations Research, 270(1-2), 287-312. (Springer) (IF=2.57, Q1 Scopus Indexed)
  • Ala'raj, M., & Abbod, M. F. (2016). A new hybrid ensemble credit scoring model based on classifiers consensus system approach. Expert Systems with Applications, 64, 36-55. (Elsevier) (IF=5.45, Q1 Scopus)
  • Ala'raj, M., & Abbod, M. F. (2016). Classifiers consensus system approach for credit scoring. Knowledge-Based Systems, 104, 89-105. (Elsevier) (IF=5.92, Q1 Scopus)

Refereed Conference Proceedings

  • Ala'raj, M., & Majdalawieh, M. (2020, March). A Hybrid Approach for Counting Templates in Images. In Proceedings of the 2020 2nd International Conference on Image, Video and Signal Processing, 75-80. (ACM, Scopus)
  • Al-hnaity, B., Abbod, M., & Ala'raj, M. (2015, November). Predicting FTSE 100 close price using hybrid model. In 2015 SAI Intelligent Systems Conference (IntelliSys) (pp. 49-54). (IEEE, Scopus)
  • Ala'raj, M., & Abbod, M. (2015, September). A systematic credit scoring model based on heterogeneous classifier ensembles. In 2015 International Symposium on Innovations in Intelligent SysTems and Applications (INISTA) (pp. 1-7). (IEEE, Scopus)
  • Ala'raj, M., Abbod, M., & Al-hnaity, B. (2015). Evaluation of Consumer Credit in Jordanian Banks: A Credit Scoring Approach. In Proceedings of the 2015 17th UKSIM-AMSS International Conference on Modelling and Simulation (pp. 125-130). (IEEE, Scopus)
  • Ala'raj, M., Abbod, M., & Hunaiti, Z. (2014). Evaluating Consumer Loans Using Neural Networks Ensembles. In International Conference on Machine Learning, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering.

 

Grants

  • Co-Principal Investigator, Zayed University Cluster Research Fund, AED 500,000, January 2021 – December 2022.
  • Principal Investigator, Zayed University Research Incentive Fund, AED 185,500, December 2020 – November 2022.
  • Principal Investigator, Zayed University Start-up Fund, AED 20,000, March 2020 - February 2021.

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