PhD Studentship in Cyber Security

An opportunity to apply for a funded full-time PhD in the College of Arts, Technology and Environment at UWE Bristol.

The studentship will be funded by the Wallscourt Foundation to further our continued research investment and commitment at UWE Bristol for growing capacity and expertise within our Cyber Security team.

Ref: 2425-OCT-CATE01

The expected start date of this studentship is 1 October 2024.

The closing date for applications is 19 April 2024.

We are delighted to offer two fully funded PhD studentships as part of our continued research investment for growing capacity within our Cyber Security team. 

We invite studentship proposals that outline a potential research project, scoping out clearly why there is a need for further research investigation in the chosen area, along with an initial research hypothesis and research question, and a proposed methodology for how you would plan to address this research challenge during the three-year research period.

The successful candidate would be a member of UWECyber, an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Education (ACE-CSE) as certified by the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), along with membership of the Computer Science Research Centre and the School of Computing and Creative Technologies. The group is actively involved in cyber security research ranging from cloud, IoT, and container-based security, AI for security and security of AI, digital forensics, home cyber security, geopolitics of cyber security and cyber situational awareness and decision making. The group have experience of working with a variety of industry and government stakeholders, across both national and international networks.

Within the broad scope of our research, we address a number of knowledge areas from the Cyber Security Body of Knowledge (CyBOK). We would expect a successful studentship proposal to clearly align to at least one knowledge area that should be explicitly stated, with particular interest in the following areas: 

• Security Operations and Incident Response
• Operating Systems and Virtualisation Security
• Malware and Attack Technologies
• Distributed Systems Security
• Web and Mobile Security
• Digital Forensics
• Network Security
• Software Security
• Cyber Physical Systems

In addition, we welcome proposals that also address the recent CyBOK supplementary guides in emerging areas of Security and Privacy of AI, AI for Security, and Security Economics.

Interested applicants are strongly encouraged to discuss their proposals with a suitable member of the UWEcyber academic team prior to application.

For an informal discussion about the studentship, please email Professor Phil Legg at phil.legg@uwe.ac.uk.

The studentship is available from 1 October 2024 for a period of 3.5 years, subject to satisfactory progress and includes a tax exempt stipend, which is currently 18,622 (2023/24) per annum.

In addition, full-time tuition fees will be covered for up to three years (Home).

Applicants must have an undergraduate or postgraduate qualification in Cyber Security (or a closely related subject), along with strong written and spoken communication skills.

A recognised English language qualification is required.

Please submit your application online. When prompted use the reference number 2425-OCT-CATE01.

Supporting documentation: You will need to upload your research proposal, all your degree certificates and transcripts and your proof of English language proficiency as attachments to your application, so please have these available when you complete the application form.

References: You will need to provide details of two referees as part of your application. At least one referee must be an academic referee from the institution that conferred your highest degree. Your referee will be asked for a reference at the time you submit your application, so please ensure that your nominated referees are willing and able to provide references within 14 days of your application being submitted.

The closing date for applications is 19 April 2024.

It is expected that interviews will take place in the week commencing 6 May 2024. If you have not heard from us by this time, we thank you for your application but on this occasion you have not been successful.