Mehdi Rasti

Mehdi Rasti is a Full Professor at the Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC), University of Oulu, Finland, with a secondary affiliation at the Water, Energy and Environmental Engineering Research Unit (WE3). He has more than 15 years of research experience in wireless communications and networking, spanning radio resource management, 5G and beyond-5G networks, ultra-reliable and low-latency communications, O-RAN, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, near-field communications, and integrated sensing and communication.

Building on this foundation, his current research focuses on AI-native 6G systems, digital twins, world models and representation learning, semantic communications, and networked cyber-physical systems. A central theme of his research is the development of connectivity and beyond-connectivity services tailored to the requirements of vertical sectors. In particular, he investigates the joint design of communication, sensing, computing, intelligence, and control for applications in energy, water, transportation, industrial systems, and other critical infrastructures. His research spans the full pathway from fundamental methods and system-level design to platforms, demonstrations, and real-world pilots.

Professor Rasti has led and co-led several competitively funded research projects in close collaboration with academic, industrial, and public-sector partners. He has served as Principal Investigator of the Business Finland-funded Local 6G Connectivity Solutions (Local 6G) and Digital-Twin-Enabled and Data-Driven Pavement Maintenance Planning (DigiPave) projects and as Co-Principal Investigator of the Business Finland-funded Reliable 6G for Energy Vertical Applications (REEVA) project. He also contributes to the interdisciplinary VDA, TEKU, and DaRe-X projects, extending his research into water data spaces, infrastructure maintenance, and industrial circularity through European Regional Development Fund and Business Finland instruments. In the Digital Waters Flagship (DIWA), he leads Task 4.3 on Digital Services and Co-Creation, focusing on AI-enabled digital services and digital twins for sustainable water management. Since joining the University of Oulu in 2022, he has secured research funding and leadership responsibilities across ten competitive projects, with approximately €4.3 million in direct funding allocated to the University of Oulu and his research team. Collectively, these projects address advanced wireless connectivity, digital-twin platforms, intelligent services, and practical solutions for vertical sectors.

Before joining the University of Oulu, he was a faculty member in the Department of Computer Engineering at Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Iran, where he held several academic leadership positions, including Research and Technology Deputy, Director of International Cooperation, Head of the ICT Research Centre, and President of the Kish International Campus. He was also a faculty member at Shiraz University of Technology and held visiting research positions at LUT University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and the University of Manitoba.

Professor Rasti is a Senior Member of IEEE and an Associate Editor of the IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society. He is a co-author of the book Radio Resource Management in Wireless Networks: An Engineering Approach, published by Cambridge University Press in 2017.