International Association
for Cryptologic Research

Are you interested in devising private-enhancing technologies and cryptographic protocols?

Privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs), such as Secure Multi-party Computation (MPC) and Federated Learning (FL) allow parties to collaboratively analyze a collection of data partitions where each data partition is contributed by a different party (such as banks, or law enforcement agencies).

Two facts about most PETs exist: (i) often the output of PETs reveals some information about the parties’ private input sets (i.e., the computation result in FL or MPC), and (ii) various variants of PETs do not output the result to all parties, even in those PETs that do, not all of the parties are necessarily interested in it. Given these facts, a natural question arises: How can we incentivize parties that do not receive the result or do not express interest in it to participate in PETs?

This project aims to develop new PETs that incentivize participants to share their sensitive data by fairly rewarding them. Additionally, the project aims to ensure these PETs remain secure even when adversaries compromise some parties. The Secure and Resilient Systems research group (and possibly Edge AI Hub) will host the successful candidate at the Urban Science Building, Newcastle University.

Eligibility Criteria:

The studentship covers fees at the UK rate. International applicants are welcome to apply but will be required to cover the difference between UK and International fees.

Candidate must have a strong background in math and computer programming (e.g., C++, Python, or Java).

You must have, or expect to gain, a minimum 2:1 Honours degree or international equivalent in computer science, cybersecurity, mathematics, or software engineering.

Further Information: For more information and instructions on how to apply take a look at this webpage:

https://shorturl.at/PGX3Z