School of Computing and Communications
Salary: £35,326 to £40,927
Closing Date: Tuesday 15 February 2022
Interview Date: To be confirmed
Reference: A3572
We are seeking to appoint one Post-Doctoral Research Associate, to conduct cutting edge research covering cyber security and privacy in cyber physical systems. This research will tie into existing areas of interest within the Security Lancaster Institute, including work on privacy of cyber physical systems and the security of the Internet of Things.
The successful candidate will undertake research to develop new techniques for the provision and quantification of privacy for cyber physical systems. They will have the opportunity to write up their results for publication and represent Lancaster University at external events.
We invite applications from enthusiastic individuals with experience in relevant aspects of Computer Science. You must be able to demonstrate (via research publications) a research background in one or more of the following areas: Cyber Security, Privacy, Cyber Physical Systems and/or the Internet of Things.
The School of Computing and Communications offers a highly inclusive and stimulating environment for career development, and you will be exposed to a range of further opportunities over the course of this post. We are committed to family-friendly and flexible working policies on an individual basis, as well as the Athena SWAN Charter, which recognises and celebrates good employment practice undertaken to address gender equality in higher education and research.
You will join us on an indefinite contract however, the role remains contingent on external funding which, at this time is for 18 months.
Informal enquiries can be made to Prof. Neeraj Suri, email: neeraj.suri@lancaster.ac.uk; Dr Matthew Bradbury, email m.s.bradbury@lancaster.ac.uk; and Dr Yang Lu y.lu44@lancaster.ac.uk.
We welcome applications from people in all diversity groups.
To apply click here.
Details
Start Date: September/ October 2022 onwards
Deadline for applications: TBC
Interview Date: TBC
Academic Requirements: First-class or 2.1 (Hons) degree, or Masters degree (or equivalent) in the topic appropriate subject eg., Computer science, systems security, ML, etc.
Description
A wide variety of autonomous systems (in domains such as critical infrastructure, technology, and defence) are either presently or are expected to incorporate Machine Learning (ML) as a core technology to deliver their functionality. Due to the increased criticality of ML within autonomous systems, it is important that such ML models are secured against a wide variety of adversarial cyber attacks attempting to extract the ML model characteristics and data leakage. However, understanding and defending ML-enabled autonomous systems is challenging giving the plethora of attack and deployment scenarios, as well as determining appropriate countermeasures required.
For this PhD position, we seek candidates interested in developing novel theoretical foundations and practical technologies towards understanding and securing ML-enabled autonomous systems against cyber attacks. We are interested in the development and analysis of new and existing adversarial cyber attacks against ML within autonomous systems, and proposed new defences in order to enhance system privacy and confidentiality towards achieving trustworthy ML systems.
The appointed candidate will reside in the Systems Security Group (SSG) and Experimental Systems Laboratory (EDS Lab) and will interact closely with the Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Node in Security (TAS-S) project. Professor Neeraj Suri and Dr Peter Garraghan will co-supervise, please contact Peter with informal enquiries. Due to restrictions on the post we are only able to accept applicants with an existing right to work in the UK.
Further details and application process
- Each PhD positions is for a three and a half years duration. Tuition fees are covered (for EU/UK citizens) along with a tax-free stipend for the duration of the PhD.
- Candidates should submit an application following the instructions provided on our Applying for postgraduate study webpage.
Please note if English is not your first language you will be required to provide evidence of your proficiency in English. For more information please visit our entry requirements webpage. We only need this evidence if we offer you the funded position. We don’t expect it as part of this application process.