I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Computer Vision Department at the Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI). My research focuses on the intersection of multimodal deep learning and trustworthy AI. I received my PhD in Computer Vision from MBZUAI in 2025 and I was kindly advised by Prof. Fahad Khan and Prof. Salman Khan. Before joining MBZUAI, I was a Research Associate at the ITU. I received my B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from ITU and UET, respectively.


Portrait of Asif Hanif

Asif Hanif

Postdoctoral Researcher, MBZUAI

News

August 2025 One paper accepted at EMNLP 2025.
July 2025 I have joined Prof. Yaqub's BioMedia Lab as a Postdoctoral Researcher at MBZUAI.
July 2025 One paper accepted at ICCV 2025 (CLVL).
April 2025 Successfully defended PhD thesis.
September 2024 One paper accepted at EMNLP 2024.
June 2024 One paper accepted at MICCAI 2024.
May 2023 One paper accepted at MICCAI 2023.
August 2021 Started PhD at MBZUAI.

Research

Trustworthy AI & Interpretability

My research primarily focuses on the development of trustworthy AI techniques aimed at ensuring model safety and reliability. I am also interested in understanding and improving the interpretability of AI models and their decision-making processes.

Adversarial Robustness · Backdoor Attacks · Multimodal Learning · Vision-Language Models · Audio-Language Models

Test-Time Adaptation & Prompt Learning

I am also interested in developing test-time adaptation, prompt learning, and base-to-novel generalization techniques to improve model performance at inference time.

Vision-Language Models · Audio-Language Models · Visual Prompt Learning · Audio Prompt Learning

Selected Publications

Following is the list of selected publications. Please visit my Google Scholar profile for the full list.

  • TrojanWave: Exploiting Prompt Learning for Stealthy Backdoor Attacks on Large Audio-Language Models
    EMNLP 2025 (Main · Oral)
    Asif Hanif, Maha Tufail Agro, Fahad Shamshad, Karthik Nandakumar
  • Noise is an Efficient Learner for Zero-Shot Vision-Language Models
    ICCV 2025 (CLVL)
    Raza Imam, Asif Hanif, Jian Zhang, Khaled Waleed Dawoud, Yova Kementchedjhieva, Mohammad Yaqub
  • BAPLe: Backdoor Attacks on Medical Foundational Models using Prompt Learning
    MICCAI 2024
    Asif Hanif, Fahad Shamshad, Muhammad Awais, Muzammal Naseer, Fahad Shahbaz Khan, Karthik Nandakumar, Salman Khan, Rao Muhammad Anwer
  • PALM: Few-Shot Prompt Learning for Audio Language Models
    EMNLP 2024 (Main)
    Asif Hanif, Maha Tufail Agro, Mohammad Areeb Qazi, Hanan Aldarmaki
  • Frequency Domain Adversarial Training for Robust Volumetric Medical Segmentation
    MICCAI 2023
    Asif Hanif, Muzammal Naseer, Salman Khan, Mubarak Shah, Fahad Shahbaz Khan

Education

2021-2025
Ph.D. in Computer Vision

Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), Abu Dhabi, UAE

2018-2020
M.S. in Electrical Engineering

Information Technology University (ITU), Lahore, Pakistan

2011-2015
B.S. in Electrical Engineering

University of Engineering & Technology (UET), Lahore, Pakistan

Research Experience

2025-Present
Postdoctoral Associate

Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), UAE

Multimodal Learning Vision-Language Models Trustworthy AI
2021-2025
Graduate Research Assistant

Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), UAE

Adversarial Robustness Multimodal Learning Vision-Language Models Audio-Language Models
2020-2021
Research Associate

Information Technology University (ITU), Pakistan

2018-2020
Graduate Fellow

Information Technology University (ITU), Pakistan

2015-2018
Research Assistant

Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Pakistan

Teaching

I have served as a teaching assistant for the following courses:


  • Advanced Topics in Vision and Language
    MBZUAI · Spring 2026 (Ongoing)
  • Human Computer Interaction
    MBZUAI · Spring 2026 (Ongoing)
  • Advanced Topics in Vision and Language
    MBZUAI · Spring 2025
  • Advanced Topics in Vision and Language
    MBZUAI · Spring 2024
  • Foundations of Artificial Intelligence
    MBZUAI · Fall 2023
  • Deep Learning
    MBZUAI · Spring 2023
  • Foundations of Artificial Intelligence
    MBZUAI · Fall 2022
  • Machine Learning
    ITU · Spring 2020
  • Signals and Systems
    ITU · Fall 2019
  • Electromagnetic Field Theory
    ITU · Fall 2018
  • Topics in RF Sensing
    LUMS · Fall 2017
  • Topics in RF Sensing
    LUMS · Fall 2016
  • Computer Organization and Assembly Language
    LUMS · Fall 2015

Service

  • Training / Mentoring
    AI Trainer @ MBZUAI Executive Program (MEP), 2024–2025
    Organized MBZUAI Winter School (2024, 2025) and Summer School (2025) programs for high school students.
  • Conference/Journal Reviewing
    CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, MICCAI, NeurIPS, ICLR
  • Organizing / Leadership
    MICCAI 2026 (Member of Local Organizing Committee)

Contact

Email is the best way to reach me. I welcome collaboration inquiries and student supervision.


  • Email: asif DOT hanif AT mbzuai DOT ac DOT ae
  • Office: 1B Building, Computer Vision Department, MBZUAI