Digital Innovation for Environmental and Societal Impact

About the Digital Innovation for Environmental and Societal Impact cluster

The Digital Innovation for Environmental and Societal Impact research cluster aims to drive impactful technological innovations that address critical environmental and societal challenges. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, the cluster leverages advancements in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and emerging digital technologies. Our goal is to create solutions that promote sustainable development, enhance resilience to environmental hazards and foster secure digital infrastructure for societal benefit. By fostering partnerships with academia, industry and government, the cluster aspires to advance knowledge, influence policy and translate research into impactful real-world applications.

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Key themes

  • Cybersecurity for a safer society
  • AI for environmental sustainability
  • Emerging technologies for societal impact

Notable events

Photo of a group of RMIT students attending the RMIT GenAI and Cybersecurity Hackathon 2024

RMIT GenAI and Cyber Security Hackathon 2024

Students from Australia and Vietnam came together for RMIT University's first GenAI and Cyber Security Hackathon to tackle cutting-edge challenges.

Cluster resources

  • FIREfly 2.0: Enhancing Forest Fire Monitoring and Biodiversity Conservation with an UAV-Based IoT System (ISIF Asia Grant)
    • Dinesh Bhatia, Alberto Bernabeo (RMIT VN), Henrik Hesse (University of Glasgow),
    • Kampol Woradit (Chiang Mai University)
  • RMIT Cyber Arena (RMIT VN Strategic Innovation Challenge)
    • Ling Huo Chong, Ben Scott, Long Nguyen Minh, Jonathan Crellin (RMIT VN)
  • Medication Adherence Among Elderly Vietnamese: Identifying Challenges and Technological Solutions for Effective Management (VRG 2025) Ushik
    • Shrestha Khwakhali, Phong Ngo, Gordon Ingram (RMIT VN)
  • Phishing in the Blockchain: Financial Fraud Anomaly Detection with Machine Learning (VRG 2025)
    • Jeff Nijsse, Binh Nguyen, Kapil Dev (RMIT VN)
  • Design and development of robust digital watermarking algorithm for e-Commerce applications in Vietnam (VRG 2025)
    • Ling Huo Chong, Dang Tran Tri, Son Dao (RMIT VN)
  • Assessing Sand Mining Impacts in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VRG 2025)
    • Gianmarco D’Alessandro, Hai Nguyen (RMIT VN)
  • Project 3AI for Substantiable Agriculture Development: Application of AI for Forecasting Agricultural Commodity Prices in Vietnam (VRG 2024)
    • Tran Nhat Quang, Linh Tran,Thanh Nguyen, Hiep Pham (RMIT VN), Edouard Amouroux, Huong Ha (RMIT AU),
    • Huong Nguyen (University of Agriculture and Forest, HCMC),
    • Anh Nguyen (Department of Science and Technology HCMC).

  • V. Shanmugam, H.-C. Ling, L. Gopal, S. Eswaran, and C. W. R. Chiong, “Network-aware virtual machine placement using enriched butterfly optimisation algorithm in cloud computing paradigm”, Cluster Computing, vol. 27, pp. 8557–8575, 2024 (Q1)
  • D. Bhatia, J. Loukas, A. Cabrera, and K. Lyras, “A deep learning computational fluid dynamics solver for simulating liquid hydrogen jets”, Physics of Fluids, 36(5), 057120, 2024 (Q1).
  • Y. J. Teoh, H.-C. Ling, W. K. Wong, and T. A. Basuki, "A Hybrid SVD-Based Image Watermarking Scheme Utilizing Both U and V Orthogonal Vectors for Robustness and Imperceptibility", IEEE Access, vol. 11, pp. 51018-51031, 2023 (Q1).
  • C. Dhasarathan, M. K. Hasan, S. Islam, S. Abdullah, U. A. Mokhtar, A. R. Javed, and S. Goundar, “COVID-19 health data analysis and personal data preserving: A homomorphic privacy enforcement approach”, vol. 199, pp. 87-97, 2023 (Q1).
  • V. Truong, “Optimizing mobile in-app advertising effectiveness using app publishers-controlled factors”, Journal of Marketing Analytics, 2023 (Q1).

Cluster lead

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Dr Ling Huo Chong, Senior Lecturer

Ling Huo Chong received his B.Eng. (Hons), M.Eng.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Multimedia University, Malaysia. Before joining RMIT University Vietnam, he was an Associate Professor in Curtin University Malaysia from May 2015 until Jan 2023. Dr. Ling was thus appointed as Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University Malaysia from Jan 2023 until Dec 2023. From 2001 until 2015, Dr. Ling was affiliated with Faculty of Engineering, Multimedia University, Cyberjaya, Malaysia. His research interests include digital watermarking, steganography, access control system, image processing and cyber security.

Cluster members

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Pursue a Graduate research degree at RMIT

RMIT offers fully funded scholarships (full tuition and a stipend of 14 million VND per month) for Vietnam based PhD candidates who fulfill the scholarship eligibility requirements, subject to availability of funding.

Contact our research team

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