Internet-based systems have transformed our lives in the last decade. The next decades are likely to see an ever-increasing use of the internet to support more and more of our activities. Such systems are used by individuals, companies and organisations, and governments, for leisure and business alike. All of this raises questions of security and privacy. Are the systems robust against attackers that are trying to defeat their operation? Can users have guarantees that the data they provide will be used exclusively for the intended purpose?
The projects address these questions in two ways. First, we design and
program prototypes of new systems which have better security and
privacy properties than the ones they replace. Examples of our work
include or have included new protocols for: mobile telephony,
web-based workflow systems, email, and electronic voting. Second, we
develop methods to formally analyse whether the design of systems
satisfies the intended security properties. For this, we use
mathematical methods, including methods based on process calculus and
logic.
The posts
Research Fellow posts
There are two Research Fellow positions for a period of up to 18 months each, and one Research Fellow position for up to 4 months. The starting salary is £27,854 a year in a range up to £36,298 a year, with potential progression to £38,522 a year. Candidates should have strong mathematical and analytical skills, and should have completed or be near to completing a PhD. Candidates without a PhD will also be considered, if they have equivalent research experience (demonstrated by appropriate conference and journal publications).
- Research Fellow - Trust Domains. Post is available up to 4 months. Closing date: 8 July 2013. Reference: 52076.
- Research Fellow - Analysing Security and Privacy Properties (Two posts available). Posts are available up to 18 months. Closing date: 23 July 2013. Reference: 52077.
Research Associate posts
Additionally, there are two Research Associate positions, one of them for a period of up to 12 months, and another one for up to 6 months. The starting salary is £24,766 a year in a range up to £27,047 a year, with potential progression to £30,424 a year. Candidates should have strong design, programming, and analytical skills, and should have a degree qualification. Candidates without a degree will also be considered, if they have equivalent experience (demonstrated by appropriate programming or research achievements). Candidates with postgraduate degrees are also welcome.- Research Associate - Trust Domains. Post is available up to 6 months. Closing date: 8 July 2013. Reference: 52075.
- Research Associate - Analysing Security and Privacy Properties. Post is available for 12 months. Closing date: 8 July 2013. Reference: 52079.
Application procedure
Applicants should complete an online application form available from the university's HR website, available through the links above. Applicants should upload their full CV in pdf format. The CV will probably duplicate much the information requested in the online form; that's OK. Applicants should also upload a letter briefly explaining their motivation in applying for the post. In order to demonstrate their mathematical and computational skills, applicants are asked to provide answers to some exercises located at http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~mdr/exercises-appts2013.pdf