Md. Iftekhar Hussain
Contact

Prof. Md. Iftekhar Hussain

0364 2307930 - 3617
9436337792
ihussain@nehu.ac.in

Prof. Md. Iftekhar Hussain

Professor

Department of Information Technology

Qualifications:

  • Ph.D. in Computer Science & Engineering from Tezpur University
  • M.Tech. in Information Technology from Tezpur University
  • B.E. in Computer Science & Engineering from Jorhat Engineering College

Areas of Interest/Specialization:

  1. Wireless Networks
  2. Network Intelligence
  3. Internet of Things (IoT)

 Experience:

  1. Professor, Department of Information Technology, NEHU, Shillong since November 2015
  2. Associate Professor, Department of Information Technology, NEHU, Shillong from March 2010 to November 2015
  3. Reader, Department of Information Technology, NEHU, Shillong from March 2007 to March 2010
  4. Reader, Department of Information Technology, Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology (SMIT), Sikkim from August 2006 to March 2007
  5. Lecturer, Department of Information Technology, SMIT, Sikkim from August 2001 to August 2006
  6. Visiting Fellow, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Mizoram University, Aizwal
  7. Visiting Fellow, Nepal College of Information Technology, Kathmandu, Nepal

Administrative responsibilities undertaken: 

  1. Head, Department of Information Technology, NEHU, Shillong from 2008 – 2010 and 2017-2018
  2. Warden, Arbella Halls of Residence, NEHU, Shillong from 2009 to 2014
  3. Chairman, Board of Undergraduate Studies in Information Technology, NEHU, Shillong (2008–2010)
  4. Member, Academic Council, NEHU, Shillong from (2008–2010, 2017-2018)
  5. Member, School Board, School of Technology, NEHU, Shillong (2011-2013)
  6. Member, Board of Professional Studies in Computer Science and Engineering, NEHU, Shillong (2009 - )
  7. Member, Board of Undergraduate Studies in Computer Application, NEHU, Shillong (2009 – 2012)
  8. Member, Board of Undergraduate Studies in Computer Science, NEHU, Shillong (2008 - 2013)
  9. Member, Board of Professional Studies in Information Technology, NEHU (2010- )
  10. Member, Board of Professional Studies in Law, NEHU from 2008 to 2011
  11. Member, Board of Professional Studies in Architecture, NEHU (2014 - )
  12. Member, B.Tech Regulation Committee, 2007
  13. Member, B.Arch Regulation Committee, 2014
  14. Member, Executive Committee,  NEHU Teachers ‘Association (2009-10)
  15. Cluster Representative, Campus Residents Welfare Committee (CRWC), NEHU, Shillong (2012-13, 2021-22)
  16. Served as members of various College Inspection Teams nominated by the Vice Chancellor time to time

Phd Awarded/Supervised/Supervising

Name of Research Scholars Title of Research Current Status Role
Mr. Nurzaman Ahmed Designing IEEE 802.11ah-based scalable network for Internet of Things Completed Supervisor
 Mr. Keshab Nath Community Mining in Large Social Graphs using Machine Learning Approach Completed Joint Supervisor
Syed Sazzad Ahmed Inference and Analysis of Gene Regulatory Networks using Data Mining Techniques Completed Joint Supervisor
Kumar Sekhar Roy Design and Development of a Hybrid Authentication Protocol for the Internet of Things Completed Joint Supervisor
Juniorika Lyngdoh Design and Analysis of Bio-inspired Secure Techniques for Self-Organizing Networks Completed Joint Supervisor
Miss Leki Chom Thungon Designing Lightweight Authentication scheme for 6LoWPAN based Internet of Things Thesis Submitted Supervisor
Mr. Hafizur Rahman Provisioning Semantic Interoperability for Large-scale Internet of Things Thesis Submitted Supervisor
Mr. Kishore Medhi Data Analytics in Internet of Things
using Machine Learning		 Ongoing Supervisor
Md. Arifuzzaman Mondal Quality of Service provisioning in
802.11ah-based Internet of Things 		Ongoing Supervisor
Mr. Minhazur Rahman - Ongoing Supervisor
Mr. Jediael Blah - Ongoing Supervisor
Mr. Dharmendu Sekhar Rout - Ongoing Supervisor

Research Projects

  1. Project Title: “QoS Provisioning in WiFi-based Long Distance Wireless Networks for Hilly Terrain Areas”
    Role: Chief Investigator
    Funding Agency: Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY)  Sanctioned  Amount: Rs 67.08 Lacs
    Duration: 3 Years  (2012-2015)
    Current Status: Completed
  2. Project Title: “QoS Provisioning in Internet of Things”
    Role: Chief Investigator
    Funding Agency: Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Govt. of India  
    Sanctioned  Amount: Rs 82.40 Lacs
    Duration: 4 Years (2015-2019)
    Current Status: Completed

Publications

Books Published:

  • Edited Books:
  1. 2015 International Conference on Computing and Communication Systems (I3CS’15) Volume-I. Hemanta Kumar Kalita, Pradeep Kumar Mallick, Iftekhar Hussain, Bubu Bhuyan, Swarup Roy. IGI Global, USA, April 2015, ISBN: 978-1-4799-5857-01
  2. 2015 International Conference on Computing and Communication Systems (I3CS’15) Volume-II. Hemanta Kumar Kalita, Pradeep Kumar Mallick, Iftekhar Hussain, Bubu Bhuyan, Swarup Roy. IGI Global, USA, April 2015, , ISBN: 978-1-4799-5857-01 
  • Book chapters Contributed:
  1. Leki Chom Thungon, Ravinandan, Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “Performance Evaluation of Zero Knowledge and HMAC-Based Authentication in Fog-Based Internet of Things”. In: Maji A.K., Saha G., Das S., Basu S., Tavares J.M.R.S. (eds) Proceedings of the International Conference on Computing and Communication Systems. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, Vol 170. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4084-8_61, 2021
  2. Kishore Medhi, M. Arifuzzaman Mondal, Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “An Approach to Handle Heterogeneous Healthcare IoT Data Using Deep Convolutional Neural Network”. In: Bora P.K., Nandi S., Laskar S. (eds) Emerging Technologies for Smart Cities. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, Vol 765. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1550-4_4, 2021
  3. Nurzaman Ahmed,  and Iftekhar Hussain, “Scalability analysis of medium access control protocols for Internet of Things” In: Proceedings of International Conference on Communication and Networks. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing. Modi N., Verma P., Trivedi B. (Eds.), vol. 508. Springer, Singapore, p. 601-611, 2017
  4. Iftekhar Hussain, “Wireless Networks for Rural Connectivity: An affordable Solution to Digital Divide”,  Information and Communication Technology for Education, Healthcare and Rural Development, Narosa Publishing House, ISBN: 978-81-8487-205-7, pp. 15-21, 2012
  5. Iftekhar Hussain, Nityananda Sarma and Dilip Kumar Saikia “QoS Issues in Long Distance Wireless Networks for Rural Areas”,  Machine Intelligence-Recent Advances, Narosa Publishing House, ISBN: 978-81-8487-140-1, pp. 109-118, 2011

Research Publications:

Published in International/national Journals:

  1. Nurzaman Ahmed, Debashis De, Ferdous Ahmed Barbhuiya, Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “MAC protocol for IEEE 802.11ah-based Internet of Things: A Survey”, IEEE Internet of Things Journal, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 916-938, 2022 (SCIE, IF: 9.94)
  2. Md. Iftekhar Hussain, Nurzaman Ahmed, Zaved Iqubal Ahmed, Nityananda Sarma, “QoS Provisioning in Wireless Mesh Networks: A Survey”, Wireless Personal Communications,122, pp. 157-195, Springer, 2022 (SCIE, IF: 1.67) 
  3. Nurzaman Ahmed, Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “Scalable Internet of Things Network Design Using Multi-hop IEEE 802.11ah”, Telecommunication Systems 78, 577-588 Springer, 2021 (SCIE, IF: 2.3) 
  4. Kishore Medhi, Nurzaman Ahmed, Md. Iftekhar Hussain, Dew-based offline computing architecture for healthcare IoT, ICT Express, ISSN 2405-9595, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icte.2021.09.005, 2021,  (SCIE, IF: 4.3) 
  5. Leki Chom Thungon, Nurzaman Ahmed, Subhash Chandra Sahana, and Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “A Lightweight Authentication and Key Exchange Mechanism for 6LoWPAN-based Internet of Things”, Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies, Vol. 32, Issue 5, pp. 25-31, 2021 (SCI, IF: 2.6)
  6. Nurzaman Ahmed and Md. Iftekhar Hussain, "Periodic Traffic Scheduling for IEEE 802.11ah Networks," in IEEE Communications Letters, Vol. 24, No. 7, pp. 1510-1513, 2020 (SCI, IF: 3.46)
  7. Hafizur Rahman, Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “A light-weight dynamic ontology for Internet of Things using machine learning technique”, ICT Express, ISSN 2405-9595, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icte.2020.12.002, 2020 (SCIE, IF: 4.3)
  8. Hafizur Rahman and Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “A comprehensive survey on semantic interoperability for Internet of Things: State-of-the-art and research challenges”, in Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies, Vol. 31, No. 12, https://doi.org/10.1002/ett.3902, 2020 (SCI, IF: 2.6)
  9. Hafizur Rahman and Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “Fog-based semantic model for supporting interoperability in IoT” in IET Communications, Vol. 13, No. 11, pp. 1651-1661, 2019 (SCI, IF: 1.6)
  10. Nurzaman Ahmed, Satish Kumar Das, Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation Schemes for Multi-hop Wireless Mesh Networks” in International Journal of Next-Generation Computing, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2019 (UGC Listed)
  11. Nurzaman Ahmed, Debashis De, and Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “Internet of Things (IoT) for Smart Precision Agriculture and Farming in Rural Areas” in IEEE Internet of Things Journal, Vol. 5, No. 6, pp. 4890-4899, 2018, (SCIE, IF: 9.94)
  12. Nurzaman Ahmed, Hafizur Rahman, and Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “An IEEE 802.11 ah-based scalable network architecture for Internet of Things,” in Annals of Telecommunications, Vol. 73, No. 7-8, pp. 499-509, 2018 (SCI, IF: 1.6)
  13. Hafizur Rahman, Nurzaman Ahmed, and Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “A QoS-aware hybrid data aggregation scheme for Internet of Things,” In Annals of Telecommunications vol. 73, no. 7-8, pp. 475-486, May. 2018 (SCI, IF: 1.6)
  14. Leki Chom Thungon, Nurzaman Ahmed, and Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “Comparison of AES and PRESENT Block Cipher for 6LoWPAN Based Internet-of-Things” in International Journal of Computational Intelligence & IoT, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 255-259, 2018
  15. Hafizur Rahman and Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “LiO-IoT: A Light-weight Ontology to provide Semantic Interoperability in Internet of Things” in International Journal of Computational Intelligence & IoT, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 571-575, 2018
  16. Nurzaman Ahmed, Hafizur Rahman, and Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “A comparison of 802.11 AH and 802.15. 4 for IoT,” in ICT Express, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 100-102, 2016 (SCIE, IF: 4.3)
  17. Iftekhar Hussain, “Internet of Things: challenges and research opportunities”,  CSI Transactions on ICT, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 87-95, 2016 (Springer)
  18. Iftekhar Hussain, Zaved Iqubal Ahmed, Nityananda Sarma and Dilip Kumar Saikia, “An Efficient TDMA MAC Protocol for Multi-hop WiFi-Based Long Distance Networks”, Wireless Personal Communications, Vol. 86, No. 4, pp. 1971-1994, 2016 (SCIE, IF: 1.67)
  19. Iftekhar Hussain, Sushanta Kabir Dutta, Nurzaman Ahmed, Iftikar Hussain, “A WiFi-based Reliable Network Architecture for Rural Regions”, ADBU Journal of Engineering Technology (AJET), Vol. 3, No. 1, 2016 (UGC Listed)
  20. Iftekhar Hussain and Nurzaman Ahmed, “A Performance Analysis of E-Learning over WiFi-based Long Distance Networks”, Journal of Wireless Networking and Communications, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 85-93, 2016
  21. Iftekhar Hussain, Zaved Iqubal Ahmed, Dilip Kumar Saikia, and Nityananda Sarma, “A QoS-aware dynamic bandwidth allocation scheme for multi-hop WiFi-based long distance networks”, EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, 2015, 160, 2015, (SCIE, IF: 2.0)
  22. Iftekhar Hussain, Nityananda Sarma and Dilip Kumar Saikia, “TDMA MAC Protocols for WiFi-based Long Distance Networks: A Survey”, International Journal of Computer Applications, Vol. 94, No. 19, pp. 1-8, 2014
  23. Rohima Ahmed and Iftekhar Hussain, “An Empirical Analysis on Correlates of Information Technology, Business Process Reengineering and Organizational Culture”, International Journal of Applied Management Research, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 75-99, 2013

Published in International/national Conferences:

  1. Juniorika Lyngdoh, Md. Iftekhar Hussain, Suktilang Majaw  and Hemanta Kumar Kalita, “An Intrusion Detection Method Using Artificial Immune System Approach,” in the proc. of International Conference on Advanced Informatics for Computing Research, pp. 379-387, Springer, Singapore, 2018.
  2. Nurzaman Ahmed, Debashis De, and Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “A QoS-aware MAC protocol for IEEE 802.11 ah-based Internet of Things,” in the proc. of Fifteenth International Conference on Wireless and Optical Communications Networks (WOCN), pp. 1-5, IEEE, Kolkata, 2018.
  3. Hafizur Rahman, and Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “A fog-based semantic model for supporting real-time application in Internet of things,” in the proc. Of International Conference on Computing, Communication and Sensor Networks (CCSN), pp. 1–7, New Town, Kolkata, India, 2018,
  4. Alakesh Kalita, Nurzaman Ahmed, Hafizur Rahman, Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “A QoS-aware MAC protocol for large-scale networks in Internet of Things” In proc. of 11th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Networks and Telecommunications Systems (ANTS), Bhubaneswar, 17-20 Dec 2017, p. 1-6
  5. Nurzaman Ahmed, Hafizur Rahman , and Md. Iftekhar Hussain, “Scalability Analysis of Medium Access Control Protocols for Internet of Things,” in proc. of International Conference on Communication and Networks, pp. 601-611, Springer,  2017.
  6. Hafizur Rahman, Nurzaman Ahmed,  and Iftekhar Hussain, “Comparison of Data Aggregation Techniques in Internet of Things (IoT)”, in the proc. of International Conference on Wireless Communications, Signal Processing and Networking (WiSPNET 2016), pp. 11296-1300, March 23-25, 2016, Chennai, India (IEEE)
  7. Nurzaman Ahmed, Hafizur Rahman,  and Iftekhar Hussain, “Relay-based IEEE 802.11ah network: A Smart City Solution”, in the proc. of Cloudification of the Internet of Things (CIoT), pp. 1-6, 2016, Ahmedabad, India (IEEE)
  8. Nurzaman Ahmed and Iftekhar Hussain, “A Distributed Channel Access Mechanism for IEEE 802.11ah”, In the proc. of IEEE World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT 2016), pp. 490-495, 2016 (IEEE)
  9.  Hafizur Rahman, Nurzaman Ahmed, and Iftekhar Hussain “Internet of Things (IoT): Advances and Research Challenges” in the proc. of International conference on Computing and Communication Systems (I3CS-2015), Shillong, India, pp. 89-96
  10. Nurzaman Ahmed, Zaved Iqubal Ahmed, Shakeel Iqbal Saikia, and Iftekhar Hussain,  “Augmentation of Directional and Sector Antenna Support in NS2”, in the proc. of the International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Networks (CINE- 2015), Bhubaneswar, India, Jan 12-13, 2015, pp. 68-73, IEEE (doi: 10.1109/CINE.2015.23)
  11. Syed Sazzad Ahmed, Iftikar Hussain, Nurzaman Ahmed, and Iftekhar Hussain, “Driver Level Implementation of TDMA MAC in Long Distance WiFi”, in the proc. of the International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Networks (CINE- 2015), Bhubaneswar, India, Jan 12-13, 2015, pp. 80-85, IEEE (doi: 10.1109/CINE.2015.25)
  12. Iftekhar Hussain, Nurzaman Ahmed, Dilip Kumar Saikia, and  Nityananda Sarma “A QoS-aware Multipath Routing Protocol for WiFi-based Long Distance Mesh Networks” in the proc. of the 2nd IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technology Trends in Electronics, Communication and Networking (ET2ECN-2014), Surat, India, December 26-27, 2014, pp.1-8, IEEE (doi: 10.1109/ET2ECN.2014.7044990)
  13. Iftekhar Hussain, Zaved Iqubal Ahmed, Dilip Kumar Saikia, and Nityananda Sarma “A Tightly Synchronized TDMA MAC Protocol for multi-hop WiFi-based Long Distance Networks” in the proc. of Sixth International Conference on Ubiquitous and Future Networks (ICUFN- 2014), Shanghai China, July 8- 11, 2014, pp. 543-548, IEEE (doi= {10.1109/ICUFN.2014.6876854})
  14. Iftekhar Hussain, Sushanta Kabir Dutta, Nurzaman Ahmed, and Iftikar Hussain “A Multi Gateway based Reliable Low Cost Network Architecture for Rural Region” in the proc. of National Conference on Emerging Global Trends in Engineering and Technology (EGTET 2014), Guwahati, March 7-8, 2014
  15. Iftekhar Hussain, Dilip Kumar Saikia, Nityananda Sarma, and Nurzaman Ahmed “A Fine-tuned Packet Scheduling for WiFi-based Long Distance Networks” in the proc. of IEEE Sponsored International Conference – Advances and Innovations in Mobile Computing (AIMoC 2014), Kolkata, India, Feb 27- March 1, pp. 97-103, 2014, IEEE (doi={10.1109/AIMOC.2014.6785526})
  16. Anuradha Rao and Iftekhar Hussain, “Optimizing Route-cache Life Time in Ad-hoc Networks using Frequent Routes”, in the proc. of NASCoIT, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2006,
  17. Bhupesh Deka, Anuradha Rao and Iftekhar Hussain, “A Parameter Selection Technique for Elliptical Curve Cryptography”, In the proc. of NASCoIT, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2006       
  18. Iftekhar Hussain, and Tawal Koirala, “Fault Tolerant Scheduling in Real Time Multiprocessor   Systems”, in the  proc. of NASCoIT, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2006
  19. Iftekhar Hussain and Nityananda Sarma “A Fault Tolerant Scheduling in Hard Real Time Multiprocessor  Systems” in the proc. of Sixth International Conference on Information Technology,  Bhuwaneswar, India, Dec ’21 – 24, 2003

Invited Papers:

  1. Iftekhar Hussain, “Rural Wireless Networks: A low cost possibility” ANAKALYPSI’11,  pp. 31-36,   2011 

Papers presented in Conferences/Seminars:

  1. A QoS-aware MAC protocol for large-scale networks in Internet of Things, 11th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Networks and Telecommunications Systems (ANTS), 2017
  2. Scalability analysis of medium access control protocols for Internet of Things, International Conference on Communication and Networks (ComNet 2016), Ahmedabad, Feb 2016
  3. A Multi Gateway based Reliable Low-Cost Network Architecture for Rural Region, National Conference on Emerging Global Trends in Engineering and Technology (EGTET 2014), Don Bosco University, Guwahati, March 7-8, 2014
  4. QoS Issues in Long Distance Wireless Networks for Rural Areas, National Conference on Trends in Machine Intelligence (NCTMI ’11), Tezpur University, Mar 23-25, 2011
  5. A Fault Tolerant Scheduling in Hard Real Time Multiprocessor Systems, Sixth International Conference on Information Technology, Bhuwaneswar, India, Dec 21 – 24, 2003

Collaboration/Consultancy: (if any)

  1. Dr. Debashis De, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, West Bengal, Title of the Research Project: QoS Provisioning in Internet of Things (IoT).
  2. Dr. Ferdous Ahmed Barbhuiya, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Guwahati, Assam, Title: IEEE 802.11ah standard for IoT

Any other

Other Responsibilities Handled at NEHU, Shillong:

  1. Chairman, B.Tech Admission Committee for the year 2009, 2012 & 2016
  2. Chairman, Space Management & Allocation Committee, School of Technology, NEHU, Shillong (2011-2013)
  3. Member, Board of Management, Computer Centre (2009 – 2018 )
  4. Member, NEHU Data and Voice Network (NDVN) Committee (2014 – 2018)
  5. Co-ordinator, Ph.D Admission Committee, Department of IT, NEHU (2019 - 20)
  6. Co-ordinator, M.Tech Admission Committee, Department of IT, NEHU (2015 - 16)
  7. Executive Committee member of ALKALYPSI-2011
  8. Sectional Secretary, Engineering Sciences, 96th Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) held at NEHU, Shillong in 2009
  9. Member,  Media and Publicity Subcommittee, 96th Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) held at NEHU, Shillong in 2009
  10. Member,  Hospitality Subcommittee, 96th Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) held at NEHU, Shillong in 2009

Membership of Professional Bodies:

  1. Life member of Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA)
  2. Life member of Computer Society of India (CSI)
  3. Member, IEEE
  4. Member, IEEE Communication Society (ComSoc)

National Level Assignments:

  1. a. Member, Project Review and Steering Group for MeitY-funded Research projects on “Design and deployment of IOT based hydroponics system for Agri-research in North East Region” implemented by CDAC, Mohali
  2. Member, Project Review and Steering Group for DeitY-funded Research projects on “MAC Protocols Design for Cognitive Radio Networks” implemented by Tezpur University, Assam
  3. Member, Project Review and Steering Group for DeitY-funded Research projects on “Multiuser MIMO in 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard using Soft-Computing Tools” implemented by Dibrugarh University, Assam

Conferences/ Workshops Organized:

  1. International Faculty Development Programme on “Data Analytics and Machine Learning” March 21-25, 2022 Funded by Department Information and Communication Technology, Government of Mizoram, India (Role: Joint Coordinator)
  2. Workshop on “Technology Empowerment of North-East: Water, Energy and Communication Solutions (TENE-WECS)”, Dec 21-22, 2017, jointly with NISTADS, New Delhi (Role: Convener)
  3. Two-day’s workshop on “Internet of Things: It's Inside-Out” May 12-13, 2017, Funded by MeitY, GoI (Role: Convener)
  4. Capacity Building of Govt. Employees on e-Waste Management, Feb 21, 2018, by NIELIT, Kolkata
  5. Two-day’s workshop on “Wireless Communication: Protocols and Practice” Jan 29-30,  2015, Funded by DeitY, GoI (Role: Convener)
  6. International Conference on Computing. & Communication (I3CS’15) at Department of IT, NEHU, Shillong (Role: Organizing Co-Chair)
  7. One week Winter School on Soft Computing, Pattern Recognition and Image Processing, October 20 – 24, 2011 at Department of IT, NEHU Shillong (Role: Convener)
  8. Member of Programme Committees /Organizing Committees of several national and international conferences

2025, North-Eastern Hill University
Designed & developed at Bioinformatics Centre, NEHU