Zeeshan Jan

Research Software Engineer

Research Software Engineer with experience delivering robust, maintainable, and reproducible software across academic and startup environments. I work with researchers and product teams to turn ambiguous requirements into reliable systems with measurable outcomes.

Edinburgh, UK

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Research Systems Delivered

10+

Blockchain Networks Operated

Years Engineering

12+

Journey

Track Record

Work experience

Research Engineer

Nov 2023 - Present

The University of Edinburgh-UK

Leading development of distributed, data-intensive software for the Edinburgh Decentralisation Index, including backend APIs, data-extraction tooling, analytical pipelines, and full archival node infrastructure across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, and Ripple.

Blockchain Lead

Oct 2021 - Jun 2022

Niftysplits - London-UK

Led engineering for an NFT gaming platform, delivering smart-contract systems, wallet authentication, IPFS asset pipelines, backend APIs, event listeners, and deployment automation with strong testing and reproducibility practices.

Researcher

Dec 2014 - Aug 2017

Insight Centre for Data Analytics, NUI Galway-Ireland

Led backend development for an EU-funded IoT project, delivering a scalable semantic data store (DMS), linked data ontology, and interoperable APIs used across research partners.

Software Engineer and Lecturer

2011 - 2014

Earlier Roles-Pakistan and Remote

Delivered web and mobile applications in small teams, mentored junior developers, and taught software engineering fundamentals as a visiting lecturer.

Toolbox

Stack

A concise capability map for research-grade and production software delivery.

Frontend

React

Next.js

TypeScript

JavaScript

Tailwind CSS

Framer Motion

HTML/CSS

Backend

Node.js

Express

REST APIs

Python

Java

Distributed Systems

Data Pipelines

Data & Infrastructure

Docker

Ubuntu

Git

CI/CD

Reproducible Environments

Research Infrastructure

Blockchain

Ethereum

Bitcoin

Cardano

Ripple

ERC-20/721

Web3

Hardhat

Solidity

Languages

JavaScript

TypeScript

Python

Solidity

Java

Rust (beginner)

Portfolio

Builds

Detailed problem framing, architecture decisions, and measurable outcomes.

Edinburgh Decentralisation Index

2024

Lead Engineer

A distributed research platform quantifying decentralisation across major blockchain protocols with reproducible methodology and public-facing metrics.

Next.jsTypeScriptNode.jsPythonPostgreSQLDocker

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PeerMiles (PhD Project)

2022

Full-Stack Engineer

A decentralised reputation system for academic peer review implemented with Ethereum smart contracts and identity integrations.

SolidityERC-20ERC-721HardhatNode.jsExpressVue.jsWeb3

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VITAL IoT

2014 - 2017

Research Engineer

An EU-funded, platform-agnostic IoT framework with semantic data infrastructure for interoperable research workflows.

PythonRDFSPARQLDockerUbuntu

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Background

Foundations

Academic training and research foundations that shaped my systems and software engineering approach.

Ph.D.

KMi - The Open University

2022 · UK

Thesis: Peer-review on a decentralised web

M.Sc. in Advanced Software Engineering

University of Leicester

2010 - 2011 · UK

BS (Hons) Computer Science

Bahauddin Zakariya University

2004 - 2008 · Pakistan

Research

Insights

Selected scholarly output and academic dissemination.

Overcoming the heterogeneity in the internet of things for smart cities
A Kazmi, Z Jan, A Zappa, M Serrano - International workshop on interoperability and open-source solutions, 20-35 · 2016 · 85 citations
View source 85 cited
Sciencemiles: Digital currency for researchers
Z Jan, A Third, LD Ibanez, M Bachler, E Simperl, J Domingue - Companion proceedings of the web conference 2018, 1183-1186 · 2018 · 12 citations
View source 12 cited
A framework for handling internet of things data with confidentiality and blockchain support
M Ramachandran, N Chowdhury, A Third, Z Jan, C Valentine, ... · 2020 · 8 citations
View source 8 cited
Peer-reviews on the blockchain
Z Jan, A Third, M Bachler, J Domingue · 2018 · 7 citations
View source 7 cited
Recognition and reward system for peer-reviewers
Z Jan - CEUR workshop proceedings 2181, 46-54 · 2018 · 6 citations
View source 6 cited
Peer-review on a Decentralised Web
Z Jan - KMi, The Open University · 2022
View source
Digital Currency for Researchers
Z Jan, M Bachler, E Simperl, J Domingue · 2018
View source
Managing Data Streams for Cross-Platform Cross-Context IoT Applications Development: The Smart City Landscape
MS Zeeshan Jan, Aqeel Kazmi - European Conference on Networks and Communications, Athens, Greece · 2016
View source

Collaboration

Get in Touch

If you are working on research software, distributed systems, or data-heavy platform challenges, I can help shape architecture, implementation, and delivery.

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