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ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY, Kushtia, Jun 18, 2026 (BSS)- A research paper on the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in detecting Monkeypox (Mpox), conducted by Associate Professor Dr Md Shamin Hossain of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Islamic University (IU), Kushtia, and former IU student and PhD researcher Dipankar Bala of Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea, has earned international recognition.

The paper published by the duo has been nominated for the Best Paper Award of the Q1-ranked journal Neural Networks.

Dr Shamin Hossain is scheduled to travel to the Netherlands on June 20 to receive the award. The honour will be formally presented at the IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence (WCCI 2026), scheduled to be held from June 21 to 26 in the Netherlands.

According to sources, the research was conducted under a collaborative framework involving the Computer Vision Lab of Islamic University and the Department of Computer Science and Technology at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). The study was supervised by Professor Zhangjin Huang of USTC.

The core focus of the research was the rapid and accurate detection of Mpox using AI-based techniques. Following the emergence of Mpox as a potential global health threat after the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of advanced diagnostic research in this area increased significantly.

As no publicly available standardized dataset existed at the time, the researchers developed a new dataset by collecting images of infected patients from multiple international sources. Using this dataset, they demonstrated an AI-based diagnostic framework capable of effectively identifying Mpox cases, highlighting the potential of AI in healthcare and future epidemic preparedness.

Talking about the achievement, PhD researcher Dipankar Bala said that Neural Networks is a highly reputed Q1 journal, and being selected for its Best Paper Award is a moment of pride for the research team. He added that the recognition reflects not only the quality of their work but also the growing global research capacity of Islamic University and Bangladesh.

Dr Shamin Hossain stated that the recognition represents an international validation of both the research team and the university’s academic strength. He expressed hope that the achievement would inspire young researchers in Bangladesh to engage more actively in global research collaboration.

It is noteworthy that the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Mpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on July 23, 2022. 

The paper, published in Neural Networks later that year, gained significant attention in the global research community and has since become a highly cited work, widely referenced in studies on Mpox detection and medical image analysis using AI.

The Best Paper Award of Neural Networks is presented annually to a single outstanding paper selected from all publications in the journal. The selection is based on nominations from international experts, followed by evaluation from the editorial board and expert reviewers.