UK 2009/2010 Postdoc / PhD positions in IT Security

Secure Change: Security Engineering for lifelong Evolvable Systems”
(http://mcs.open.ac.uk/jj2924/securechange)

Department of Computing, The Open University (OU), UK
(http://www.computing.open.ac.uk)

Several three-year Postdoc and PhD positions are available
from 1st February 2009.

Salary range is up to GBP 33,780 per year (depending on
qualifications and experience), plus resources for conference travel
and equipment .

The positions are part of an Integrated Project on “Security
Engineering for lifelong Evolvable Systems (Secure Change)” funded by
the European Union, within the programme “Future and Emerging
Technologies” (FET) of the 7th Framework Programme (subject to contract).

The project will involve: University of Trento (Italy, coordinator),
the Open University (UK, research director), University of Innsbruck
(Austria), SINTEF (Norway), INRIA (France), KU Leuven (Belgium),
Budapest UTE (Hungary), Gemalto (France), Thales (France), Telefonica
R&D (Spain), Smartesting (France), and Deep Blue (Italy). The total
budget of the project is about 7 million EUR, with the OU’s share
being about 600,000 EUR.

There is growing demand to evolve systems continuously to meet
changing business needs, new regulations and policies, novel
technologies and computing infrastructures. Unfortunately, the pace
of required change affects developers’ ability to establish and
maintain desirable levels of quality of systems. Therefore, the aim
in this project is to develop techniques and tools that ensure
“lifelong” compliance to security, privacy and dependability
requirements of long-running evolving software systems. This is
challenging because these requirements are not necessarily preserved
by system evolution. The project will develop processes and tools
that support design techniques for evolution, testing, verification,
re-configuration and local analysis of evolving software. The project
will focus on mobile devices and homes, which offer both great
research challenges and long-term business opportunities. The results
will be continuously validated jointly with key industry players.

Each position will focus on one of the following two topics:
* Requirements engineering techniques for security requirements of
long-living evolvable systems; or
* Model-based security analysis techniques and tools for long-living
evolvable systems based on UML.

The Open University maintains a highly regarded research base at its
central headquarters in Milton Keynes (near London and within one
hour from Cambridge and Oxford). The Department of Computing is part
of the Centre for Research in Computing (http://crc.open.ac.uk). The
Software Engineering and Design group (SEAD -
http://computing-research.open.ac.uk/sead) in the Department has a
world class research record in security requirements and secure
software engineering; software architecture, design and evolution;
automated software engineering; and empirical studies of software
development.

The successful candidates will also be able to interact with other
relevant research projects, such as:
* Automated Verification of Security-Critical Software (VeriSec)
(Royal Society Industrial Fellowship with Microsoft Research Cambridge)
* Verifying Implementations of Security Protocols in C (funded by and
in cooperation with Microsoft Research Cambridge)
* Modelling for Compliance (EPSRC CASE studentship with BT Research)
* Royal Society Joint International Project on model-based security
analysis with TU Munich (Germany)
* Royal Society Joint International Project on “Relating Security
Requirements and Design” with National Institute for Informatics
(Tokyo, Japan)
* Privacy Rights Management for Mobile Applications (PRiMMA), funded
by EPSRC and in collaboration with Imperial College London and IBM.
* Security and Privacy for All (SP4A), an EPSRC-funded project for
improving public awareness of security and privacy, in cooperation
with Bletchley Park and the National Museum of Computing.

Applicants should have (or expect to have by the start of the project):
* In the case of a PhD position: a good Masters level or very good Bachelor
level degree (or equivalent) in Computing, Mathematics, or a related
discipline.
Experience or strong interest in Software Engineering, IT Security, or
Formal
Methods would be an advantage.
* In the case of a Postdoc position: a PhD in Computing or Mathematics,
preferably with experience in one of Software Engineering, IT Security, or
Formal Methods.

The planned start date for the project and the positions is 1st
February 2009. This may be negotiable in justified cases. Each
position will run for three years and includes no teaching obligations.

Informal enquiries are welcome and encouraged. Contact details and
more information can be found at http://mcs.open.ac.uk/jj2924/securechange .

The application process consists of two steps: First, please email an
expression of interest to j.jurjens@open.ac.uk and
b.nuseibeh@open.ac.uk which should contain the following information:

1) a full CV including the names and addresses of three referees,
2) a two page research statement, indicating what you see are
interesting research issues relating to the project and what relevant
experience you have to date; and
3) transcripts of all degree results where available.

We will then send you the relevant application form and inform you
about the further steps and deadlines in the application process.

Expressions of interest received by 8 December 2008 are guaranteed
full consideration. Early contact would be appreciated.

Disabled applicants who meet the essential job requirements will be
interviewed. Further particulars are available in large print, disk
or audiotape (minicom 01908 654901). The Open University promotes
diversity in employment and welcomes applications from all sections
of the community.

—
Dr. Jan Ju”rjens, Computing Department, The Open University
http://mcs.open.ac.uk/jj2924 - mobile +44 7804 941884
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*** Postdoc / PhD positions in Model-based Security for Evolving Systems ***
*** http://mcs.open.ac.uk/jj2924/securechange ***
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The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt
charity in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland (SC 038302).