Funded Ph.D. Scholarships in Cybersecurity from The University of Queensland in Australia 2021

The University of Queensland in Australia is offering Ph.D. Scholarships in Automation of cyber software security targeting agriculture, smart contract and blockchain, Internet-of-Things, and mobile devices. 

Supervisors: Professor Ryan Ko, Dr. Guangdong Bai, Dr. Naipeng Dong, Dr. Siqi Ma

Research Topics:

Students can choose one of the following topics:

• Traceability and Provenance Across Agriculture Digital Supply Chains: To assure the quality of agricultural products during export situations, there is often a need for the verification, traceability, and provenance of the data and products. There are also open research opportunities in agricultural digital supply chains. In this project, the research will focus on provenance-centric approaches to (1) understanding and modeling agricultural supply chains and their business processes, and (2) innovate on ways to provide high-quality and high-integrity provenance for both data and products in the agricultural sectors across Australia.
• Operational Technology Cyber Automation Utilizing Data Provenance and Automated Planning: Using data provenance approaches, this research will create Operational Technology cyber automation methods which will be agnostic to heterogeneous technology device and protocol and allow cyber response to scale to respond to the growth of Operational Technology cyber threats. In order to conduct the security analysis, technologies such as program analysis, formal analysis, quantitate analysis are utilized for analyzing the system/source code, network protocols, etc.

• Analysis of blockchain and smart contracts: Blockchain-based applications are emerging in various domains, as they can replace the centralized intermediary with better trust. This research aims to conduct security analysis targeting blockchain and based applications in the form of smart contracts. 
• Analysis of IoT (Internet of Things): As the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) among various industries continues to rise, securing IoT devices and their communication becomes a critical element. This research will be focused on security analytics to IoT systems. It will develop approaches to analyze various heterogeneous devices and protocols of IoT.
• Deep learning for symbolic execution: Symbolic execution relies on massive constraint solving, which is computationally expensive for traditional algorithms. This research will explore using deep learning for this task.
• Analysis of mobile apps and systems: The mobile phone used in our daily life is not only for texting and calling but for multiple purposes such as remote controlling and sharing documents. This research focuses on conducting security analysis to investigate whether users’ privacies are properly protected while leveraging these newly developed functionalities.

Note: A working knowledge of programming languages (e.g., C/C++, Java, Python) and some basic knowledge about software engineering, information security, and machine learning would be of benefit to someone working on this project.

Eligibility Criteria:

• You have to prove you are prepared for Ph.D. study. You do this by showing you:
  • have completed some research experience;
  • have completed an approved university degree and
• can meet the English language requirements. The following exams and scores are accepted:
  • IELTS (clinical projects): Minimum overall score of 7.0 and 7.0 in every sub-band.
  • IELTS (all other disciplines): Minimum overall score of 6.5 and 6.0 in every sub-band.
  • TOEFL (paper-based): Minimum overall score of 570 and 5.0 in TWE (written), and 54 in reading & listening.
  • TOEFL (internet-based): Minimum overall score of 87 and 21 in writing, 19 in reading, listening & speaking.
• An approved degree needs to be:
  • in an area relevant to your proposed Ph.D. project and
  • completed no more than 10 years ago.
• You need one of the following approved degrees to apply for a Ph.D.:
  • Master of Philosophy (or another research master’s degree); or
  • Bachelor’s degree from an approved university with at least honors class IIA or equivalent; or
  • Coursework master’s degree with an overall grade point average of 5.65 on the 7-point UQ scale which includes relevant research experience, approved by the dean; or
  • Postgraduate degree (at least one year full-time or equivalent) with an overall grade point average of 5 on the 7-point UQ scale, together with demonstrated research experience equivalent to honors class IIA will be considered on a case-by-case basis; or
  • Bachelor’s degree plus at least 2 years of relevant research experience, including research publications.

Benefits:

• HDR funding type: Living stipend scholarship.
• Scholarship value: $28,597 per annum (2021 rate), indexed annually.

Scholarship Duration:

Three years with the possibility of two 6-month extensions in approved circumstances.

About the University of Queensland:

The University of Queensland (UQ) was founded in 1909 and is one of Australia’s premier learning and research institutions. Today, UQ has almost 50,000 students including almost 12,000 international students from more than 140 countries. UQ offers a range of high-quality undergraduate and postgraduate programs. UQ through the UQ Advantage creates a learning and research environment for our students, staff, and alumni that rewards excellence and innovation and promotes engagement with local, national, and international communities.

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