International Association
for Cryptologic Research

We seek a PhD student to conduct research on secure multi-party computation in the Cryptography and Cybersecurity Group. The research goal of the position is to develop practical methods for performing computations on sensitive data, including technologies such as private set intersection, efficient generation of correlated randomness, and protocols for privacy-preserving statistics/machine learning.

The responsibilities of the PhD student are:

• Collaborating with faculty members and fellow researchers to develop and possibly implement novel cryptographic protocols.
• Publishing research findings in top-tier conferences and journals in computer science and related fields.
• Participating in academic activities such as seminars, workshops, and conferences to stay informed of the latest developments in the field.
• Supporting teaching activities in the department by serving as TA.

The project will be supervised by Diego Aranha and Peter Scholl, as part of a research program on Multi-Party Confidential Computing, funded by the German public funding agency Cyberagentur, which is aimed at developing cryptographic techniques for protecting sensitive data in cloud environments. For further details, see the official announcements:

• https://www.cyberagentur.de/en/press/forschungsinitiative-fuer-sichere-und-effiziente-kryptographie/
  
• https://phd.nat.au.dk/for-applicants/open-calls/may-2025/mpcc-multi-party-confidential-computing

Qualifications

• Candidates should ideally have a Msc in computer science or a related field, with a strong background in mathematical and algorithmic skills including some experience in cryptography. We may consider strong students with only a Bsc degree.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to work effectively in a collaborative research environment.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills
• Analytical and critical thinking, fluency in technical English

The application deadline is May 1st, 2025. After applying, please email a copy of your application materials to the contacts below.