supervision

Prospective Students

I have multiple PhD scholarships available. If you’re interested in pursuing a PhD under my supervision, please refer to the information below and contact me via email with the subject line “Prospective PhD student - <Your Name>”.

Requirements

A strong mathematical and cryptography background is required. Some knowledge/experience in coding (for example, Python, C/C++, SageMath) is a plus. Candidates are expected to have completed or complete a significant research component either as part of their undergraduate (honours) degree or masters degree. Candidates expecting to graduate in the next ~6 months are welcome to apply.

Why choose to pursue a PhD at Monash University or in Australia more generally?

At Monash Faculty of IT (and more broadly in Australia), a PhD study typically takes 3.5 years. For our PhD positions, there is no coursework, but there are rather “graduate research professional development activities” (see here for more details). Candidates start to work on their PhD research project from the very beginning. Of course, in many cases, the initial few months would involve a lot of background learning, so candidates are not expected to produce research results immediately.

Australian universities generally offer highly competetive stipend scholarships, at least at the rate detailed here (which was in 2023 around AU$30,000 per annum). A standard Monash Faculty of IT scholarship for 2024 is AU$35,000 (tax free). This scholarship does not require a PhD student to carry out any teaching duties. However, many students voluntarily take up teaching assistant (TA) duties (known mostly as tutoring in Australia). Depending on the activity type and number of activities undertaken, the teaching income can amount to a significant value, for example, between $5K to $15K. You can refer to here for the official Monash rates for teaching associate duties.

In general, there are three parts to the scholarship offered by Monash: (i) tuition fee waiver, (ii) stipend scholarship (as described above), and (iii) health insurance cover. Successful applicants will receive all three supports together.

I believe PhD supervision is not just about providing financial support, but rather helping a candidate develop themselves as a strong researcher who can both independently and collaboratively solve important scientific problems. Given the highly technical nature of cryptography (particularly, lattice-based cryptography and zero-knowledge proofs) and lack of textbook-style educative resources for the latest tech, it is easy to get lost in the technical details particularly in the early stages of a PhD project. I have regular (weekly or fortnightly) meetings with my students to discuss the technical aspects of their learning/projects and make sure they are keeping on track. I know this is not always the case for all groups around the world. I was extremely lucky to have had a PhD supervisor with whom I would spend hours discussing various technical things… I benefited immensely from this and carry on “the tradition” with my students :)

Monash University is one of the top universities in Australia and is ranked #44 in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2023. Monash is also home to one of the strongest cryptography and cybersecurity research groups in Australia (and more broadly in the Asia-Pacific region).

The cybersecurity group at Monash has a particular focus on cryptography and its applications (e.g., to blockchain). We aim to have a collaborative, friendly environment for anyone involved in the group and have a highly diverse team. As a researcher in the group, PhD candidates get an excellent opportunity to collaborate with leading researchers in cybersecurity both internally at Monash and externally thanks to the group’s existing connections and joint grants.

Why choose to live and study in Melbourne?

Melbourne constantly ranks as one of the most liveable cities in the world. It is also ranked as one of the safest cities (according to Safe Cities Index 2021). Melbourne has a diverse and welcoming environment for people from all around the world with more than 100 cultures represented. Melbourne is also very proud of its coffee culture :) You can find more reasons for ‘Why Melbourne’ at this website.

How to apply?

Contact me via email with the subject line “Prospective PhD student - <Your Name>”. Make sure to include

1. all of your transcripts (with grading schema), and
2. your CV (that adheres to the guidelines below).

For Monash-specific information, refer to this website.

What (not) to include in your CV?

Below are some guidelines you should follow when writing your CV to be sent to me. Although they are not written specifically as general advice, a standard academic CV would not be in contrast to most of these guidelines.

Your CV should contain the following information:

1. Full name,
2. Each of your educational course details starting from your bachelor’s degree,
3. Average score (GPA) of each of your educational course (you should specify the maximum score),
4. List of publications (if any),
5. Relevant work experience (if any),
6. Relevant research experience (if any),
7. Educational/work/research awards/highlights,
8. English language test (such as IELTS, TOEFL) results (if any).

Your CV should NOT contain the following information:

1. Primary/secondary/high school details,
2. Marital status,
3. Date of birth,
4. Home address,
5. Hobbies,
6. National identity or driver’s license details.

Current/Past PhD Students

I have (had) the privilege of supervising the following PhD candidates:

1. Yini Lin [2024–present]
   • works on post-quantum privacy tools
2. Jie Xu [2023–present]
   • works on post-quantum cryptography and zero-knowledge proofs
3. Mert Yassi [2023–present]
   • works on implementation aspects of post-quantum cryptography
4. Nikai Jagganath [2023–present]
   • works on quantum security analysis of post-quantum cryptography schemes
5. Xinyu Zhang [2021–present]
   • works on post-quantum cryptography solutions based on symmetic-key primitives