Doctoral student in Electrical Engineering focusing on Applied Cryptography and Privacy

Description of the workplace

The Secure and Networked Systems Division within the Department of Electrical and Information Technology works broadly with research within Cryptography, Computer Security, Wireless and Fixed Networks. The security group within the Division has around 20 members. The main research directions are Cryptography, Privacy and System Security for Connected Systems. The division runs several research projects through different large research collaboration platforms and arranges extensive workshops and seminar series, making the research at the division visible to larger audiences. Cross-disciplinary projects are formed through our research collaboration platforms and national and international research networks, contributing to a dynamic research environment.

Being a doctoral student

As a doctoral student, you are both admitted as a student and employed at Lund University.

As a doctoral student, you will be trained in a scientific approach. In short, you will be trained to think critically and analytically, to solve problems independently using the right methods and to develop an awareness of research ethics. In addition, you will have the opportunity to work on projects, to develop your leadership and pedagogical skills. Throughout your studies, you will be guided by supervisors. Doctoral studies end with a thesis and a doctoral degree. More about being a doctoral student at LTH on lth.se .

Subject and project description

Through the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP) we now offer a new doctoral student position in the field of Applied Cryptography and Privacy. WASP is Sweden’s largest individual research program ever, a major national initiative for strategically motivated basic research, education and faculty recruitment. The program addresses research on artificial intelligence and autonomous systems acting in collaboration with humans, adapting to their environment through sensors, information and knowledge, and forming intelligent systems-of-systems. More about WASP (wasp-sweden.org).

The primary duties of the doctoral student positions are to perform research and teaching within the Applied Cryptography and Privacy area. The research is devoted to the broader area of privacy-preserving communication and computation outsourcing. Communication over the internet is susceptible to surveillance and censorship. Privacy preserving communication techniques (e.g., Tor, Nym, Snowflake) allow users to circumvent such surveillance and censorship. The research scope would include designing, analysing and implementing such systems; additionally, studying different attacks and countermeasures are expected to be part of the research method.

Privacy-preserving computation outsourcing allows users to outsource computation tasks to a cloud server without revealing to the server anything about the user data or even what kind of computations the user is performing. There are different techniques for such privacy-preserving computation outsourcing such as Trusted Execution Environment (e.g., Intel SGX) and Fully Homomorphic Encryption (TFHE, BGV). Furthermore, the specific functions/tasks can be subject to attacks, and identifying attacks and countermeasures is expected to be studied. The research method will be a combination of system studies, design, and experimental research.

Work duties

You will primarily devote yourself to your doctoral programme, which includes participation in research projects as well as third cycle courses, seminars and conferences.

The work duties include

• Research in applied cryptography and privacy.
• Contributing to research projects.
• Taking doctoral students courses.
• The duties also include participation in teaching and other departmental work (however, a maximum of 20% of working hours).

Qualifications

To be eligible for admission and employment as a doctoral student, you must fulfil the requirements below.

Admission requirements

A person meets the general admission requirements for third-cycle courses and study programmes if the applicant:

• has been awarded a second-cycle qualification, or
• has satisfied the requirements for courses comprising at least 240 credits of which at least 60 credits were awarded in the second cycle, or
• has acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way in Sweden or abroad.

A person meets the specific admission requirements for third cycle studies in Electrical Engineering if the applicant has:

• at least 60 second-cycle credits in subjects of relevance to Electrical Engineering, or
• a MSc in Engineering in Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Engineering Mathematics, Nanoengineering, Engineering Physics, or Information and Communication Engineering.

Additional requirements

In order to complete the doctoral programme in question, the following are also required:

• Good programming skills.
• Good ability to work independently and to formulate and tackle research problems.
• Good written and oral communication skills.
• Good ability to cooperate.
• Very good knowledge of English, spoken and written.

Other qualifications

For the doctoral programme in question, the following are considered as other qualifications:

• Completed courses and/or master thesis work within Computer Security and/or Cryptology.
• Industrial experience.
• Documented software development skills.
• Documented teaching and communication skills.

We offer

Lund University is a public authority which means that employees get particular benefits, generous annual leave and an advantageous occupational pension scheme. More about working at Lund University on lu.se .

About the employment

The employment is a fixed-term employment at full time, starting as soon as possible by agreement, however no later than May 1, 2027. Third cycle studies at LTH consist of full-time studies for 4 years. In the case of teaching and other departmental duties, the employment is extended accordingly. Doctoral studentships are regulated in the Higher Education Ordinance (1993:100), chapter 5, 1-7 §§. More about terms of employment for doctoral students on Lund University’s Staffpages .

How to apply

Applications shall be written in English and include

• CV and a cover letter stating the reasons why you are interested in the doctoral programme/ employment and in what way the research project corresponds to your interests and educational background.
• Copies of issued study certificates and/or awarded degree certificates. These must confirm that you meet the general and specific admission requirements for the doctoral programme and show that you have the subject knowledge required for the doctoral programme project.
• Other documents you wish to be considered (grade transcripts, contact information for your references, letters of recommendation, etc.)

We welcome your application.

About the Faculty of Engineering