Postdoctoral Researchers

The group of Sebastian Brandt is looking for PhD applicants and Postdocs interested in working in the theory of distributed and parallel algorithms. Possible topics include distributed complexity theory, algorithms for symmetry-breaking and other fundamental graph problems, distributed lower bounds, the role of randomness in distributed computing, and many others. Besides computer scientists, we expressly encourage bright students from maths (in particular pure maths) to apply if they are interested in algorithmic questions. Find Sebastian Brandt here: https://scbrandt.github.io

The group of Cas Cremers is looking for Postdocs with research interests in applied cryptography, provable security, automated analysis, formal methods, or protocol design. Our group works in the intersection between provable security and  formal methods for automated security analysis. Our members bring together expertise from a range of subdomains, and research ranges from theory and tools (e.g. the Tamarin prover) to real-world protocol analysis (Signal, MLS, TLS). Find Cas Cremers here: https://cispa.saarland/group/cremers/index.html

The group of Dániel Marx is looking for Postdoc researchers interested in working on the theoretical aspects of algorithms and computational complexity. Our research has a strong focus on graph algorithms, combinatorial optimization, and parameterized algorithms and complexity. For more information, see https://cispa.de/en/people/c01dama

The group of Krikamol Munadet has an opening for postdoctoral researchers with a strong interest in the broad areas of machine learning (ML). The group's research aims at understanding the principles that enable autonomous agents to learn from past experience and interact succesfully with complex environments, and to use this understanding to design new learning algorithms. The research theme spans the following areas:

• Prediction: How do we design ML algorithms that can cope with distrbutional shifts? The topics of interest are domain adaption (DA), domain generalization (DG), out-of-distribution (OOD) generalization, and robustness. Kernel methods, kernel mean embedding of distributions and applications thereof are our mathematical arsenal to tackle these problems.

• Causation: How do we leverage cause-effect relationships in improving ML models, and conversely how do we use sophisticated ML methods to aid causal inference in complex environments? Topics of interest are unobserved confounders in causal inference, spurious correlation in machine learning, distributional treatment effects, counterfactual inference, and algorithmic decision making. Natural experiments and quasi-experimental designs such as instrumental variable (IV), proxy variables, and regression discontinuity design (RDD) offers tools to address these problems.
  

• Regulation: How do we regulate the deployment of ML models in heterogeneous environments to ensure the democratic use of AI? Topics of interest are feedback loops and strategic behavior. To gain a better understanding of these problems, we will be adopting techniques from algorithmic game theory, mechanism design, social choice theory, and other related sub-fields of economics.

 Successful candidates are expected to have an excellent Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, or a related discipline with a strong record of publications in top-ier venues such as ICML, NeurIPS, UAI, KDD, EC, AAMAS, AAAI, FAccT, ICLR, AISTATS, JMLR, TPAMI, etc. Postdoc candidates with an Economics background are strongly encouraged to apply.

The research group of Christian Rossow in an enthusiastic research team that explores system and network security topics. We are searching for post-doctoral researchers starting at any time. Our research focuses on system and network security; network security spans practical protocol analyzing, network fuzzing, DDoS attacks and defenses, attack attribution, and traffic analysis. Our system security research is concerned about designing secure networked/distributed systems using novel trusted computing primitives (e.g., Intel TDX, AMD SEV, ARM Realms) or networking harward (e.g., P4-programmable switches, SmartNICs). Either way, our primary focus is practical high-impact research, aiming to present our results at the leading conferences in our field. We can offer you an excellent working environment on the campus of TU Dortmund, strong individual supervision, interesting and cutting-edge research topics, and world-wide collaborations. We only consider applicants that have documented experience in publishing at any of the top-tier security venues (S&P, USENIX, CCS, NDSS) in the field. There is no requirement, but surely possibilities to take responsibilities for teaching (i.e., teach only if you want).

The group of Andreas Zeller is looking for Ph.D. candidates and Postdocs with research interests in program analysis, software testing, and automated debugging. Research topics include novel methods for highly efficient software testing; mining specifications for inputs and programs; synthesizing oracles; explaining software failures; and more. Find Andreas Zeller here: https://andreas-zeller.info

Dr. Swen Jacob's group conducts research into formal techniques for obtaining provably correct systems, with a focus on component-based systems with a parametric number of components, and complex properties including security and real-time guarantees. The techniques encompass formal verification, automatic synthesis/repair, as well as learning of systems and their properties. The mission of the group is to make it easier to obtain systems with reliable correctness guarantees.

A candidate for this position must have a strong theoretical background, with experience and a keen interest in formal methods such as model checking, formal synthesis, or related topics. Experience in distributed systems, automated reasoning, or techniques for learning formal languages is a plus.

Sven Bugiel’s group focuses on system security with a strong focus on mobile and embedded platforms. This includes hardware-based security, trusted computing technology, and the intersection with usable security.

We are searching for motivated and skilled post-doctoral researchers. These are currently our areas of interest:

• Developing, extending, and integrating hardware primitives for secure and trusted computing (e.g., TALUS, simTPM), where we are looking especially into RISC-V, Intel TDX, ARM CCA, and TPM

• Intersection between mobile system security and usable security (e.g., Android rationales, Android system analysis)

• Compartmentalization of software and implementation of secure architecture principles, in particular with object capabilities (DroidCap) or new sandboxing solutions (A11y sandboxes)

• The intersection between authentication and system security and usability (e.g., FIDO2/WebAuthn or UX of 2FA)

The positions are not project-bound and allow much freedom in choosing the research projects! Thus, we also welcome new angles and directions and, in fact, expect new researchers to bring in their own ideas. More details can be found at https://trust.cispa.saarland/jobs/