Profile

Executive Profile

Rahul Sharma

Academic Leader | Institutional Strategist

Executive Summary

Globally accomplished academic leader with over 18+ years of experience in higher education, research, and institutional transformation across India and Europe. Demonstrated expertise in leading universities through large-scale reforms aligned with NEP 2020, outcome-based education (OBE), and national/global accreditation frameworks including QS, THE Ranking, NAAC, NBA, and NIRF. Proven track record in building research-intensive universities, securing competitive international funding, and establishing strategic partnerships across global universities. Experienced in implementing modern classrooms and AI-enabled digital governance systems (ERP, CRM, LMS) to enhance institutional efficiency, transparency, and scalability. Recognized for driving innovation ecosystems, internationalization, and academic excellence, with a strong commitment to developing globally competitive, industry-aligned, and socially impactful universities.

Leadership Profile

Governance & Strategy
  • University governance and strategic planning
  • Institutional transformation and change leadership
  • Policy design and regulatory alignment
Academic Excellence & Quality
  • Accreditation, rankings, and quality assurance (NAAC, NBA, NIRF)
  • Outcome-based education and curriculum modernization
  • Faculty development and academic leadership
Research & Innovation
  • Research leadership and competitive funding
  • Internationalization and global partnerships
  • Innovation, entrepreneurship, and ecosystem building
  • AI-enabled digital transformation

Experience

  • 2024 - Present

    Karlsruhe, Germany

    Sr. Scientist, KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany
    Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
    Leading research on Large Language Models for Software Engineering, with emphasis on model-driven engineering, intelligent automation, and research collaboration.
    • Contributing in the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1608 CONVIDE project as a Sr. Scientist, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).
    • Providing intellectual leadership in defining research directions, coordinating interdisciplinary teams, and fostering collaborations across institutions.
    • Actively collaborating with leading institutions alongside KIT, TU Munich, University of Mannheim, Ruhr-University Bochum, and TU Dresden to advance research on AI-driven consistency management and CPS engineering.
    • Coordinating joint research workshops, contributing to strategic planning, dissemination, and leadership in international research forums.
  • 2024 - Present

    Ghaziabad, India

    Member, Board of Governors
    AKG Engineering College, Ghaziabad, India
    Contributing to strategic governance, policy design, and long-term academic planning for institutional transformation.
    • Provide strategic oversight on establishing a new state university, institutional governance, academic policy, research expansion, and long-term growth strategy.
    • Advise on curriculum transformation, faculty excellence frameworks, accreditation preparedness, and integration of emerging technologies.
    • Strengthen industry-academia linkages, infrastructure planning, and international partnerships to enhance institutional competitiveness and visibility.
    • Contribute to high-level decision-making on institutional performance, quality assurance, and strategic positioning within national higher education frameworks.
  • 2023 - 2024

    Ghaziabad, India

    Professor and Head of the Department
    AKG Engineering College, Ghaziabad, India
    • Led strategic transformation of the department through outcomes-based academic governance, resulting in the highest number of university rank-holders and gold medalists
    • Reengineered the research and innovation ecosystem by strengthening faculty capability, expanding competitive funding participation, and fostering industry–international collaborations aligned with emerging technology domains.
    • Mobilized external funding (INR 1.25 Million under AICTE and DST schemes) to advance institutional research priorities in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, and Industry 4.0.
    • Conceptualized and institutionalized industry-integrated Centres of Excellence including, AI CoE, AWS Academy, AR/VR Centre of Excellence, Big Data Centre of Excellence, Google Development Centre, and Centre for Digital Learning.
    • Elevated institution’s global visibility by founding two IEEE and Springer International Conferences, positioning the department within global research and innovation networks.
  • 2024 - Present

    Lucknow, India

    Associate Dean, Innovation & Entrepreneurship (Advisory)
    Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University, Lucknow, India
    Advising on innovation strategy, startup ecosystem development, and industry-aligned academic initiatives.
    • Provide strategic oversight on establishing a new state university, institutional governance, academic policy, research expansion, and long-term growth strategy.
    • Advise on curriculum transformation, faculty excellence frameworks, accreditation preparedness, and integration of emerging technologies.
    • Strengthen industry-academia linkages, infrastructure planning, and international partnerships to enhance institutional competitiveness and visibility.
    • Contribute to high-level decision-making on university positioning within national higher education frameworks.
  • 2023 - Present

    Tallinn, Estonia

    Visiting Professor, TalTech, Estonia
    Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia
    Conducting research in Large Language Models for Software Engineering.
    • Providing research leadership in AI-driven Natural Language Processing (NLP) systems
    • Contributing to large-scale funded research programmes supported by the Estonian Research Council, Archimedes Foundation, and the European Social Fund.
    • Collaborating with interdisciplinary international consortia to develop prototype systems bridging structured data architectures and human-centric digital interfaces.
    • Supervising doctoral and Master’s researchers, contributing to research capacity building and advancing trustworthy AI in eID and public digital governance systems.
  • 2023 - 2024

    Helsinki, Finland

    GFCP Senior Specialist, Nordea Bank Abp, Helsinki, Finland
    Nordea Bank Abp, Helsinki, Finland (EU)
    • Led cross-functional coordination across technology, compliance, and operations teams, strengthening organizational risk culture and enterprise-wide control environments.
    • Provided strategic leadership in enterprise risk analytics, delivering data-driven intelligence to support executive decision-making, governance oversight, and long-term institutional resilience.
    • Strengthened enterprise-wide financial crime risk frameworks (AML, sanctions, compliance), identifying systemic vulnerabilities and reinforcing regulatory governance across cross-border operations.
    • Established KPI-driven risk dashboards and reporting mechanisms for senior leadership, improving accountability, audit readiness, and regulatory alignment.
  • 2019 - 2023

    Tallinn, Estonia

    Scientific Researcher
    Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia
    • Involved in securing and managing competitive research funding across multiple European Union–funded projects.
    • Played a key role in developing proposals and driving research funding initiatives across Europe.
    • Served as a Researcher in the Information Systems Group, contributing to teaching, supervision, and research activities.
    • Supervised Bachelor’s and Master’s students and delivered lectures and facilitated seminars at undergraduate and graduate levels across courses on Data Mining and Data Science.
  • 2017 - 2024

    Ghaziabad, India

    Dean – Innovation, International Affairs & Alumni Relations
    AKG Engineering College, Ghaziabad, India
    • Architected and institutionalized a comprehensive innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, founding the IDEA Lab model, subsequently adopted by AICTE as a national policy framework, catalyzing nationwide replication across higher education institutions.
    • Established and led the IPR Cell, creating a structured innovation-to-commercialization pipeline that resulted in 450+ patent filings within two years, including 200+ AICTE KAPILA-funded patents, significantly strengthening institutional research visibility and IP capacity.
    • Positioned AKGEC as the No. 1 ranked institution nationally in the Smart India Hackathon (MoE & AICTE), reinforcing a culture of innovation excellence and student-led problem solving.}
    • Strengthened global alumni engagement by activating a network of 15,000+ alumni worldwide, launching the Delhi Alumni Chapter, and expanding international alumni platforms to enhance mentorship, philanthropy, and institutional advocacy.
    • Forged strategic partnerships with international universities, enabling collaborative research, student mobility, internships, joint programs, and global academic visibility.
  • 2014 - 2017

    Ghaziabad, India

    Assistant Professor and Head of Big Data Centre of Excellence
    AKG Engineering College, Ghaziabad, India
    • Delivered undergraduate teaching in Data Mining, Data Science, and Database Systems, integrating research-led and industry-aligned pedagogical approaches.
    • Established and Led the Big Data Centre of Excellence, advancing applied analytics training, industry engagement, and emerging technology adoption in data-driven systems.
    • Contributed to curriculum design, program development, and academic quality enhancement initiatives, aligning courses with evolving technological and industry standards.
    • Engaged in academic outreach, conferences, and technology forums to strengthen industry-academia linkage and incorporate best practices into teaching and research.
  • 2010 - 2014

    Ghaziabad, India

    Assistant Professor and Head of Big Data Centre of Excellence
    RKG Institute of Technology, Ghaziabad, India
    • Conducting lectures for undergraduate students in various subjects of computer science and information technology.
    • Making an effective contribution to teaching and learning in the discipline of computer science, modeling teamwork and flexibility to ensure the educational and commercial success of the faculty and University.
    • Supervising undergraduate students, participating in scholarly activities that influence and enhance learning and teaching at the University.
  • 2009 - 2010

    Noida, India

    Software Engineer
    HCL Technologies, Noida, India
    • Developed and maintained enterprise software solutions for clients, ensuring timely delivery and adherence to quality standards.
    • Collaborated with cross-functional teams to design, implement, and test modules, improving overall system efficiency.
    • Optimised existing codebases, resulting in improved performance and reduced execution time.
    • Participated in requirement analysis and provided technical inputs for solution design, enhancing client satisfaction.
  • 2008 - 2009

    Noida, India

    Software Engineer
    NG Tech Soft Pvt. Ltd., Noida, India
    • Implemented and supported SQL Server high-availability topologies (Windows Server Failover Clustering, Database Mirroring, Log Shipping) to meet client SLAs for uptime and recovery.
    • Diagnosed and tuned performance bottlenecks using execution plan analysis, DMVs, SQL Profiler traces, and the Database Engine Tuning Advisor; optimized indexing and queries to improve throughput and reduce latency.
    • Automated routine DBA tasks (backups, index maintenance, integrity checks, alerts) with T-SQL jobs and scripts, strengthening reliability and recoverability.
    • Authored runbooks, root-cause analyses, and performance reports, improving incident response and stakeholder visibility.

Education

  • 2024 - 2025

    Karlsruhe, Germany

    Post Doctoral Fellowship
    Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
    LLMs for Model Driven Software Engineering
    • LLM4SE
  • 2019 - 2023

    Tallinn, Estonia

    Ph.D.
    Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia
    Artificial Intelligence
  • 2010 - 2012

    Uttar Pradesh, India

    M.Tech.
    Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU)
    Computer Science Engineering
  • 2004 - 2008

    Uttar Pradesh, India

    B.Tech.
    Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU)
    Computer Science Engineering

Research & Funding / Projects

  • CRC/SFB 1608

    CRC Convide Project – Convide is a Collaborative Research Centre (CRC 1608) funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), focusing on digitalisation in engineering design and consistency management across cyber-physical systems.

    • Cyber-physical systems
    • Model Driven Software Engineering
  • EITSA18020

    Funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Education Information Technology Foundation, this project focused on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, Big Data, Robot–Human Cooperation, and the Internet of Things in industrial processes.

    • Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, Big Data, Robot–Human Cooperation, and the Internet of Things in industrial processes
    • Designing and implementing scalable data-driven solutions within industrial use cases
  • LEP19022

    LEP19022: Applied Research for Developing a Cost-Effective, Interchangeable 3D Spatial Data Infrastructure – Project Volume: EUR 1,916,000.

    • Data modelling
    • System architecture

Publications

Awards & Recognition

  • The Catalyst Award

    Recognized for innovation leadership and institutional transformation impact

  • Best Teacher Award

    Awarded for excellence in teaching and academic mentorship

  • International Research & Collaboration Recognition

    Recognition through participation in EU-funded projects and international research collaborations

  • Academic Leadership & Governance Roles

    Appointment to Board of Governors and advisory roles in innovation and entrepreneurship

Skills

Machine Learning, LLMs (Master): LLMs, MDE, SE

Languages

Hindi : Native speaker
English : Fluent

Interests

Artificial Intelligence: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Large Language Models, Model Driven Software Engineering, Data Science

Certificates

  • Machine Learning - Stanford University (2018)
  • Quantum Computing - Stanford University (2018)
  • Quantum Information - Stanford University (2018)

References

  • Professor Dirk Draheim