Research Associate on Securing Convergent Ultra-large Scale Infrastructures

Full time, Fixed-term contract until 31 August 2026 (with possibility to extend)

Location: Computer Science, Wolfson Building, Parks Road, Oxford

The Department of Computer Science is looking to employ a Postdoctoral Researcher to work within an interdisciplinary team on securing convergent ultra-large scale infrastructures (SCULI). The SCULI project is a research collaboration between University of Oxford, University of Bristol and the University of Lancaster that will be working closely with stakeholders and organisations from industry and the critical national infrastructure sectors.

The project is investigating how to secure emerging ultra-large scale digital infrastructures which are seeing convergence and connectivity at unprecedented scale. This is true for both current critical national infrastructures and emerging future systems, e.g., smart cities, intelligent transportation, high-value manufacturing and Industry 4.0. Cybersecurity of such ultra-large scale infrastructures faces unprecedented complexity. Diverse legacy and non-legacy software and hardware compose on-the-fly to deliver services to millions of users with varying requirements and unpredictable actions. This complexity is compounded by intricate supply-chains and the need to deliver resilient operations in the presence of untrusted, partially trusted or compromised elements.

The successful candidate will be required to work primarily under the direction of Professor Ivan Flechais, with guidance from other senior academics and will be based in the Oxford team focused on the following research objectives:

• Predictability at ultra-large scale: How to elicit, specify and validate security assurances for service composition in the presence of uncertainty, dynamism and human behaviour (including addressing direct and indirect dependencies and resulting systemic risks)?

It is essential that successful candidate would hold a relevant PhD/DPhil or being close to completion in computer science or information systems.

In addition, the successful candidate will be expected to collaborate with researchers working across the SCULI project, and cybersecurity professionals from business and industry.

The closing date for applications is 12 noon on 6th January 2025. Interviews are expected to be held in January.

We are a Stonewall Top 100 Employer, Living Wage, holding an Athena Swan Bronze Award, HR excellence in Research and Race Equality Charter Bronze Award.

Our staff and students come from all over the world and we proudly promote a friendly and inclusive culture. Diversity is positively encouraged, through diversity groups and champions, for example http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/aboutus/women-cs-oxford/index.html , as well as a number of family-friendly policies, such as the right to apply for flexible working and support for staff returning from periods of extended absence, for example shared parental leave.

Demonstrating a commitment to provide equality of opportunity, we would particularly welcome applications from women and black and minority ethnic applicants who are currently under-represented within the Computer Science Department. All applicants will be judged on merit, according to the selection criteria.

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