Youssef Al Hariri

Edinburgh, UK
I am a Machine Learning and AI Engineer at Qualitrol Corporation, where I help drive innovation through Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs). My hands-on experience includes: RAG & CAG pipelines, Prompt engineering, and Cloud-native deployments across major platforms.
I have a strong background in technical computing and analytics, with experience across both academia and global industry. In a recent role at an international company, I developed chatbots and RAG/CAG systems, fine-tuned pretrained LLMs, and automated processes for customer support, developer assistance, and report generation. These solutions significantly boosted team productivity by enhancing engagement and reducing manual efforts.
I served as a postdoc Research Associate at the School of Informatics, the University of Edinburgh. I was also a member at SMASH Research Group, the Neuropolitics Research Lab, and the Digital Influence & Intelligence Lab (DIIL).
My research interests include applying ML and AI to data analytics, computational social science, social and technological network analysis, and data mining.
In November 2022, I completed my PhD at the School of Informatics, the University of Edinburgh. During my PhD, I used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to study online network dynamics and community interactions on X (formerly Twitter). I was supervised by Prof. Walid Magdy and Dr Maria Wolters. In 2018, I completed my MSc in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh. During my master’s I focused on NLP, STN, and HCI. My dissertation was about the cultural disengagement among Arab Twitter users. Finally, I completed my BSc in Computer Engineering (Hons) from Qatar University in Doha, Qatar. For the BSc graduation project, we proposed and implemented a metal detection module by leveraging the computational and integration capabilities of the FPGA SoC platform.
My journey reflects a strong blend of academic research and industry innovation, with a focus on applying AI to solve real-world problems.