When TRG Datacenters released its list of the World’s Top AI Superpowers in 2025, the United Arab Emirates was named the second-most dominant country. TRG’s research focused on AI supercomputing power, but also considered AI company activity and workforce, as well as government readiness for AI.

The UAE’s position as an AI superpower came as no surprise to researchers at Ajman University (AU), where QS ranks our Data Science and Artificial Intelligence subjects among the Top 100 worldwide and #1 in the UAE.

Pursuing AI-Powered Dental Diagnostics

After visiting peers at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, Dr Alexander M. Luke, Assistant Professor at AU’s College of Dentistry, returned to the UAE ready to form an international, interdisciplinary team to develop radiology technologies that leverage the power of AI.

“Our journey began with a shared and united vision: to make dental diagnostics faster, more accurate, and more accessible for every patient,” explains D. Luke.

“In Maxillofacial Radiology, we were seeing the same challenges repeated. Subtle pathologies that are missed in early stages, delayed interventions, and limited tools for predictive treatment planning. We knew the solution couldn’t come from dentistry alone.”

AU and the University of Glasgow brought together specialists to define clinical needs, engineers with expertise in imaging hardware, and data scientists trained AI models capable of detecting and classifying oral and maxillofacial conditions with remarkable precision. Interactions created a feedback loop in which clinician-informed model development and AI’s evolving capabilities led to new clinical questions and applications.

Dr Luke says that these AI-assisted tools do not replace the clinician but instead act as a second set of expert eyes, increasing diagnostic confidence and enabling earlier intervention. As of Fall 2025, the international research team has submitted applications for two patents and is collaborating on two more related projects.

“This collaboration exemplifies how AI can transform not only diagnostic accuracy but also the overall patient experience,” says Professor Qammer H. Abbasi, Professor of Applied Electromagnetics and Sensing at the University of Glasgow.

“By combining interdisciplinary expertise from dentistry, engineering and data science, we are building solutions that can redefine the standards of dental care worldwide.”

Data Science & Safeguarding Cyberspace

AU is the only organisation in the Middle East, the only higher education institution in Asia, and one of only five universities globally, to receive a prestigious international grant from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to work on improving the security and resilience of the global Internet.

ICANN is a nonprofit public benefit corporation established in 1998. Its mission is to ensure a stable, secure, and unified global Internet by coordinating the allocation and management of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, domain names and protocol parameters.

The US$410,300 grant, secured through Dr Rao Naveed Bin Rais, Professor of Computer Engineering, will fund the development of a DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) Protocol data collection and archiving lab at AU. The project will create research and learning opportunities for the entire global Internet community.

“Domain Name System (DNS) is a service that functions like a telephone directory for the Internet. It translates domain names (websites) into IP addresses so that servers can be accessed and website data can be loaded,” explains Dr Rao. “DNS is vulnerable to several security loopholes as some malicious entity could change the DNS data and redirect a user to a compromised website rather than the original one.”

Dr Rao will lead the development of a data collection system that will periodically crawl the entire Internet to identify gaps in DNSSEC implementation. The data will be stored on AU servers and made available to the global Internet community, enabling researchers, engineers, organizations, and authorities to take necessary actions to safeguard cybersecurity.

“The system is the first of its kind across the world,” says Dr Rao.

About AU

Ajman University (AU) is a community of thinkers, doers and makers driven by a bold purpose: empowering youth to thrive through inclusion, innovation and sustainability.

With nine colleges, AU stands out in the UAE as a dynamic and comprehensive institution – now ranked #440 worldwide by QS. Students are welcomed, challenged, and transformed here. Thanks to 19 international accreditations, including WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC) in the United States, our graduates are ready for careers anywhere.

Our pioneering spirit took root in 1988 when AU opened as the first private university in the GCC to accept expatriate students. Since then, more than 44,000 alumni have forged meaningful lives and livelihoods in 102 countries.

In 2024, in a rare move for our region, we made the bold decision to become a non-profit institution. AU’s endowed scholarships ensure that financial hardships never stand in the way of talent. Among our 7,000+ cohorts, 65 percent receive financial aid.

The most significant measure of AU’s success will be our ability to foster social change and nurture the changemakers to drive it forward. We believe AU is more than a historic and pioneering institution. We are a movement dedicated to breaking barriers and building a better world for everyone to share.

Our motto is “Make It Happen,” and we fulfil it every day.

AU is the proud headline sponsor of the AI for ImpACT Challenge Series, created by QS ImpACT to empower young people in the ethical and responsible use of artificial intelligence for advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).