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 background is required, but a strong cryptography background is not necessarily a must (but it’s of course a plus). Some knowledge/experience in coding (for example, Python, C/C++, SageMath) is also a plus. Candidates must have completed a significant research component either as part of their undergraduate (honours) degree or masters degree.

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

Australian universities generally offer highly competetive stipend scholarships, at least at the rate detailed here (which is currently around AU$30,000 per annum). A standard Monash Faculty of IT scholarship for 2023 is AU$33,000 (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.

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. 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. Nikai Jagganath [2023–present]
    • works on quantum security analysis of post-quantum cryptography schemes
  2. Xinyu Zhang [2021–present]
    • works on post-quantum cryptography solutions based on symmetic-key primitives