Ali completed a Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours) at Flinders University, where his thesis extended social psychology research on the Ingroup Projection Model and group processes by observing whether prospective thought affected minority ingroup members’ perceptions of relative standing within their superordinate ingroup.

He has provided research assistance in public health research investigating how to reduce consumption of sugary drinks, ultra-processed food items, and the usefulness of food labelling such as the Health Star Rating in Australia.

He joined NeuRA in 2026 as a Research Assistant in the Anstey Group and is contributing to projects focused on improving cognitive and brain health outcomes. He is currently involved in the CogCoach-Health and CogCoach-Brain studies.