Research Associate in User-Centred Systems’ Security/Privacy

We are looking to hire a Research Associate (post-doctoral) to work on the UKRI Open Plus Fellowship awarded to Professor Hamed Haddadi at the Department of Computing at Imperial College London. The objective is to provide better security and privacy for edge devices (IoT & Browser), all the way from the on-device ML models and TEE, to analytics done at the ISP end. The industrial supporters of the fellowship are : Arm Research , Telefonica I+D , Samsung AI , and CISCO . As part of the Plus component of the fellowship, we will be closely working with The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO ) addressing the privacy recommendations and regulatory challenges raised by the consumer IoT sector and its data collection practices.

You will join the exciting new Imperial-X initiative as a PDRA, and collaborate with the existing and new faculty members, post-doctoral researchers and PhD students in the Computing and I-X. This role is part of Dr Haddadi’s new URKI EPSRC Open Plus Fellowship on Securing the Next Billion Consumer Devices on the Edge . You will have the opportunity to work on larger projects (involving other members of the Department of Computing and Imperial-X, the Institute for Security Science and Technology , as well as external & industry collaborators). You will also have time to develop your own research agenda towards a successful career in academia or industrial research.

The post will be based in Imperial-X at White City Campus, and the Department of Computing at Imperial College London at the South Kensington Campus. The Department of Computing is a leading department of Computer Science in the UK and the world and has consistently been awarded the highest research rating. In the 2021 REF assessment, the Department claimed the top spot for computer science and informatics. Overall, Imperial College London ranked first in the UK for research outputs, first in the UK for research environment, and first for research impact among Russell Group universities.

The position is fully funded for two years and includes funding for equipment and travel. Depending on success, the position may be extended beyond the initial three years.

Duties and responsibilities

The candidate would be joining the Imperial-X and the Department of Computing under the supervision of Professor Hamed Haddadi. The group currently has 6 Ph.D. students and two postdocs, with new PhD studentships and an engineer position being advertised as part of this new fellowship. We work on topics as diverse as User-Centred Systems, IoT, Applied Machine Learning, Privacy, and Human-Data Interaction (with a systems touch).

Main responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Performing world-class research on edge/network privacy and security using TEEs
• Supporting existing and new research projects in the group with hands-on contributions and supervision
• Coordinating contributions to projects by external collaborators
• Developing new research ideas into world-class publications and open-source code

Essential requirements

• A completed or about-to-be-completed Ph.D. in computer science or a related field*
• A track record of publications in top conferences or journals in the field
• Strong knowledge of networking and systems (mobile, IoT, TEEs)
• Strong & proven implementation skills in the development of complex software/hardware systems
• Programming experience in a systems programming language (Java, C++, C#, Rust, C, etc.)
• Familiarity with applied Machine Learning and platforms (e.g., TinyML, PyTorch, etc)

It is desirable that you have experience in either the development of data management systems or mobile/IoT systems.

*Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as Research Assistant within the salary range £40,694 – £43,888 per annum.

Further information

In addition to completing the online application, candidates should attach:

• A full CV, with a list of all publications
• A brief (up to 2-pages) research statement indicating what you see are interesting research issues relating to the above post and why your expertise is relevant.

Informal enquiries related to the position should be directed to Professor Hamed Haddadi: [email protected]

For queries regarding the application process contact Jamie Perrins: [email protected]

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