The Services and Cybersecurity (SCS) group at the University of Twente invites applications for a 4-year PhD position in secure data management.

In this PhD project, we will investigate cryptographic concepts for secure data management with a particular focus on searchable encryption schemes that enable the secure search over encrypted data. Existing searchable encryption schemes typically allow for some leakage in order to achieve efficient solutions, which makes them susceptible to leakage-abuse attacks. The PhD project will investigate different ways to attack such schemes and will deliver new schemes that are secure against such attacks while still being efficient. The developed solutions will be validated in the application domain of healthcare in collaboration with our partners CZ (a major Dutch health insurance company) and TNO (the Dutch Organization for Applied Scientific Research).

The prospective PhD candidate is expected to perform high quality and internationally visible research that gets published at some of the top security conferences and journals. The candidate will be supervised by Prof. Dr. Willem Jonker and Assoc.-Prof. Dr. Andreas Peter from the Services and Cybersecurity (SCS) group (www.utwente.nl/scs) of the University of Twente. Further group members who work on secure data management are Dr. Florian Hahn and Dr. Maarten Everts. The candidate will be appointed for a period of four years, at the end of which he/she delivers a PhD thesis. During this period, the PhD student has the opportunity to broaden his/her knowledge by joining international exchange programs, to participate in national and international conferences and workshops, and to visit other research institutes and universities worldwide.

• You are highly motivated and an enthusiastic researcher (f/m/d).
• You have a MSc degree with excellent grades in computer science, (applied) mathematics, or similar; applications from students who are about to finish their MSc degree studies will be considered as well.
• You specialized in the domain of cybersecurity and particularly have a strong background in cryptography; good programming skills and prior experience with writing scientific papers are of additional advantage.
• You are an independent and original thinker with a creative mindset.
• You are a fast thinker with excellent analytical and communication skills.
• You have good team spirit and like to work in an internationally oriented environment.
• You are fluent in English
  

INFORMATION AND APPLICATION

Please send your application before 26 March 2020 (deadline: 25 March 2020, 23:59 CET) via the 'Apply now' button, and include:

• A motivation letter, emphasizing your specific interest and motivation to apply for this PhD position;
• A detailed CV (resume);
• Contact details of at least 2 referees;
• An academic transcript of B.Sc. and M.Sc. education, including grades;
• An assessment may be part of the application procedure.

The offered PhD position is in the context of the SHARE project funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) in collaboration with the health insurance company CZ and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO).

As a PhD student at the UT, you will be appointed on a fulltime position for four years, with a qualifier in the first year, within a very stimulating scientific environment;

• The university offers a dynamic ecosystem with enthusiastic colleagues;
• Salary and conditions are in accordance with the collective labour agreement for Dutch universities (CAO-NU);
• You will receive a salary ranging from around €2.325,- gross per month at the start to around €2.972,- in the fourth year;
• Excellent benefits including a holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary, a year-end bonus of 8.3% and a solid pension scheme;
• A training program in which you and your supervisor will make up a plan for additional suitable education and supervision;
• We encourage a high degree of responsibility and independence, while collaborating with close colleagues, researchers and other university staff.

The University of Twente. We stand for life sciences and technology. High tech and human touch. Education and research that matter. New technology which leads change, innovation and progress in society. The University of Twente is the only campus university of the Netherlands; divided over five faculties we provide more than fifty educational programmes. We have a strong focus on personal development and talented researchers are given scope for carrying out groundbreaking research.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability status. Because of our diversity values we do particularly support women to apply.

The faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) comprises three disciplines that shape Information and Communication Technology. ICT is more than communication. In almost every product we use mathematics, electronics and computer technology and ICT now contributes to all of societies' activities. The faculty works together intensively with industrial partners and researchers in the Netherlands and abroad and conducts extensive research for external commissioning parties and funders. The research which enjoys a high profile both at home and internationally, has been accommodated in the multidisciplinary research institutes MESA+, CTIT and MIRA.