His primary areas of teaching and research are structures, advanced composite materials, fracture mechanics and fatigue analysis of aerospace structures. Akbar joined RMIT University in 2011, and his professional experience includes working as the program manager for Master of Airworthiness and HDR manager of the discipline. In his academic research, he was involved as a chief investigator in several competitive research grants including those from ARC Discovery and Linkage schemes as well as ONR-USA.