Studentships

Applications for studentships are handled by the Computing Department. Please see the application details for PhD studentships.

Industrial PhD Studentship: Risk Management in Wireless Sensor Networks

We are expecting to recruit a PhD student in the research area of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) applied to sensors within high security environments. Wireless sensor networks are a new type of communication system that is useful for a number of applications. For example, a WSN can be used to build a physical intrusion detection system. If unauthorized access is detected personnel can be informed about the intrusion or, alternatively, the WSN can interact directly with other systems to respond to the incident. However, before a WSN can be used in practice it must be ensured that the WSN can be operated securely. The WSN must be able to handle and withstand attacks. However, the threat to a WSN is generally not constant. The threat situation may differ from one application scenario to the next and threat levels change over time. Therefore, it is necessary to use adaptive security mechanisms that can be tailored to the currently experienced threat level. To allow for such adaptation it must also be possible to monitor and identify the current threat level. The goal of this research project is to develop a risk management strategy for WSNs comprising adaptive security mechanisms and threat monitoring methods.

The studentship covers university fees and a stipend of at least £13,590 - the amount to be dependent upon qualifications and experience. Additional finance is available to provide equipment, consumables and a travel budget. Successful applicants will have the opportunity to interact with the industrial partner and will be part of a laboratory involved in state-of-the-art research in communication systems.

Applicants should have, or expect to obtain, at least a 2.1 Honours degree in a relevant discipline, for example Electrical and Electronic Engineering or Computer Science. Priority will be given to applicants with an understanding of computer networks and/or communication systems.

For further information about the project in general, please contact Dr Utz Roedig. To apply please complete the on-line PhD application form found here and indicate on the form that you wish to be considered for the Industrial Studentship with Dr Utz Roedig. Please accompany this with a written statement giving the reason for your application.

PhD Studentship in the area of: Adaptive intrusion detection systems

Applications are invited for a PhD studentship in the School of Computing and Communications at Lancaster University (http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/), starting in or as soon as possible after October 2010.

This research will investigate intrusion detection systems, which mainly fall into two categories, i.e. 1) misuse detection and 2) anomaly detection. An objective of the research is to investigate current trends in cyber- and information security and to develop improved solutions to the problem of intrusions, whether the challenge originates from natural disasters, component failures, mis-configurations or attacks. More specifically the research will develop new security system architectures aiming not only to detect and categorise challenges, but also to provide solutions to combat them. An important aspect of the architectures and the underlying mechanisms is also the systems’ adaptation to constantly changing environments and intrusion behaviours. The main emphasis of the research is on designing and implementing an adaptive system and demonstrating its validity and effectiveness.

The research will be carried out in collaboration with BT Research at Adastral Park, Martlesham, Ipswich, and with the India-UK Advanced Technology Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks, Systems and Services (see http://www.iu-atc.com/theme4.html).

Candidates should have a degree at 2.1 or better, or a good MSc in communications, computer science or a related subject. Further, applicants need to hold a UK passport or have been ordinarily resident in the UK throughout the 3 year period preceding the date of the application for the studentship. EU students can be offered Tuition Fees only. International students can receive a full award if they have Indefinite Leave to Remain issued by the UK Home Office.

Enquiries to: Prof. David Hutchison, School of Computing and Communications InfoLab 21, South Drive Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4WA. Phone: +44/1524/510331. Fax: +44/1524/510492. E-mail: dh@comp.lancs.ac.uk

To apply please apply for PhD Computer Science online here.

Please indicate on the form that you wish to be considered for this specific PhD Studentship. To your application please append a brief statement describing your interest in this research.

Industrial CASE PhD studentship in the area of Malware detection and prevention based on application-specific behavioural monitoring

Applications are invited for an Industrial CASE PhD studentship in the School of Computing and Communications at Lancaster University (http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/) starting in October 2010. The studentship is co-funded by BT (http://www.btplc.com/) and the EPSRC (http://www.epsrc.ac.uk).

The proposed research looks at Malware (Worm, Virus, Trojan, Bots) and the way it can be detected and its impact on computer systems and networks can be minimised or completely eliminated. Malware is malicious code that achieves the harmful intent of attackers by infecting end systems and by spreading from there to other systems via computer networks (such as the global Internet). The aim of the research is to develop novel malware prevention and infection detection mechanisms. The detection will be based on observing and correlating a range of anomalous behaviour observed at the end-host and the network. Based on this novel approaches will be researched through which a portfolio of evidence of malware activity will be created which is looking at the effects Malware has on the execution environment, both at the point of infection and thereafter. The idea also is to combine this approach to malware detection with mechanisms that correlate observable behaviour from a network perspective, i.e. establishing an end-system and network view in order to provide more accurate and timely Malware detection.

The research will be carried out in collaboration with BT at Adastral Park, Martlesham Ipswich and Theme 4 of the India-UK Advanced Technology Centre of excellence in next generation networks systems and services (IU-ATC, http://www.iu-atc.com/theme4.html).

Candidates should have a degree at 2.1. or better, or a good MSc in communications, computer science or a related subject. Further, applicants need to hold a UK passport or have been ordinarily resident in the UK throughout the 3 year period preceding the date of the application for the studentship. EU students can be offered Tuition Fees only. International students can get full award if they have Indefinite Leave to Remain issued by the Home Office.

Enquiries to Dr. Andreas Mauthe, School of Computing and Communications, InfoLab21, South Drive, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4WA. Phone: +44/1524/510485. Fax: +44/1524/510492. Email: andreas@comp.lancs.ac.uk

To apply please apply for PhD Computer Science online here. Please indicate on the form that you wish to be considered for the CASE studentship with Dr. Andreas Mauthe. Please complete the application with a written statement about the reason for your application.

HighWire Digital Economy Innovation Centre Studentships available

Announcing the Digital Economy Innovation Centre

10 PhD Studentships available this at an enhanced stipend

Lancaster has recently been awarded an RCUK Doctoral Training Centre addressing the training needs of a new generation of scientists working at the cutting edge of the digital economy. This is an exciting new initiative which includes a fundamentally multi-disciplinary training programme with particular emphasis on innovation from a technical, design and business focus. Students on the programme will also have the opportunity to work closely with a number of companies (small or large) and also to participate in international placements.

Most of the funding is in the form of RCUK studentships, but offered for a full 4 years (with the first year devoted to specialist research training), and applicants must meet standard RCUK eligibility criteria. A small number of studentships are also available to other candidates in terms of home/ EU level fees plus stipend). We pay an enhanced stipend of £3,000 more than the current RCUK rate.

For more information on the programme and eligibility for the scheme please visit the official HighWire site.

Applicants should apply using the Faculty Admissions Online Portal.

Prospective students are invited to a special recruitment event for the scheme at Lancaster University annually. Candidates will have the opportunity to meet with key staff from HighWire, view our facilities and discuss potential directions for their PhD research.Please visit the site to register your interest in the day.

Further details are also available from Prof. Gordon Blair, the director of the Digital Economy Innovation Centre, preferably by e-mail.

EPSRC Research studentships (PhD)

The Department also has a number of EPSRC Research studentships available for prospective PhD students. These are available to UK or EU residents only. If you are interested in research in the Department and in applying for one of these studentships, please contact our postgraduate secretary.

We also, naturally, welcome applications from overseas students. Please consult the university funding page regarding information on university overseas scholarships (Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme (ORS), country specific scholarships).

Please contact our postgraduate secretary for more information.

A PhD Studentship is available on a three-year EU-funded project 'ECODE':

A PhD studentship is available on a three-year EU-funded project ‘ECODE' in the area of Future Internet control techniques. This project will explore the experimentally-driven study and design of high-level, future-proof Internet control techniques, based on machine learning a broad subfield of artificial intelligence. It is essential that any potential candidate has an appropriate background in computer networking. The studentship will require either good knowledge of statistical signal processing and machine learning, or experience in system programming (the area not covered by this studentship will be covered by a research associate post). Knowledge of either machine learning or network measurement and modelling techniques would also be considered advantageous.

A good quality first degree in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering is essential for this studentship, and an MSc in a closely related area would be desirable. Please note this studentship is only available to UK and EU applicants- Overseas applicants are only entitled to the maintenance allowance and therefore would be required to finance their fees themselves.