The University of Luxembourg is an international research university with a distinctly multilingual and interdisciplinary character.
The Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) at the University of Luxembourg is a leading international research and innovation centre in secure, reliable and trustworthy ICT systems and services.
We play an instrumental role in Europe by fueling innovation through research partnerships with industry, boosting R&D investments leading to economic growth, and attracting highly qualified talent. We look for researchers from diverse academic backgrounds to contribute to our projects in areas such as: Network Security, Information Assurance, Model-driven Security, Cloud Computing, Cryptography, Satellite Systems, Vehicular Networks, and ICT Services & Applications.
The SnT is seeking a Doctoral Researcher to support the research and development work within the SEDAN group (https://www.uni.lu/snt-en/research-groups/sedan). We seek a candidate with expertise and/or interest in the following relevant fields: artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
The candidate will have the opportunity to work on a collaborative project with a leading industry in cybersecurity allowing thus to validate and receive feedback from on-the-field cybersecurity practitioners.
The PhD candidate will investigate how AI and above all Generative AI (GenAI) can be leveraged to support effective mitigation of cyber-threats. Indeed, AI is revolutionizing the field of cybersecurity, for instance by enabling faster and more efficient responses to evolving threats. However, despite the advancements brought by AI, there is currently no tool sufficiently intelligent to fully aggregate and utilize diverse data sources to create a comprehensive and adaptive dashboard for taking effective and strategic decisions. Indeed, deciders face the deluge of alerts and dashboard while they would expect less but more efficient and actionable insights which are particularly relevant for the environments they manage and their level of expertise because actions may be from different types and/or at different level (technical vs. organizational for example). This requires a solution to provide coherent actionable insights but tailored to their specific actioners. This will be essential to ensure an effective and collective response to threats while avoiding narrowed or unsynchronized decisions.
The research project of the PhD student will thus focus on aggregating heterogeneous OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) sources and aggregate retrieved data with cyber-risks indicators of the targeted environment to evaluate. The main research question is how to automatically harmonize the retrieved information allowing a unique analysis and to map them against multiple user-tailored outputs. This is necessary as the one-fits-all model was proven unsuccessful.
Large Language Models (LLMs) and knowledge graph models are expected to harmonize the formats and semantics but there are many open questions about their proper customization, fine-tuning, extension to include context- or time-specific information and above all how to make all the process as much as automated as possible to support the automatic analytics pipeline generation and reconfiguration based on new data feeds.
In addition, the candidate will be also involved in project reporting and dissemination and will participate to meetings with our partner. The project is an academic project oriented but applied research. It is a unique opportunity to develop new concepts with a close collaboration with industry.
During the PhD studies, the candidate will have the opportunity to participate and propose other projects within the group and so also develop his/her/their own research agenda. We are working on various topics related to applied ML and cyber-security, including applications and security of LLMs.
The candidate should possess a Master’s degree in Computer Science/engineering or Telecommunication Engineering,
What we’re looking for:
Knowledge and Experience:
The ideal candidate should have some knowledge and/or experience in one or several of the following areas:
The following qualifications of the applicant are a bonus:
Language Skills: Fluent written and verbal communication skills in English are required. Knowledge of either French, German or Luxembourgish will be appreciated but are not a requirement to apply.
Please note that, due to the specific requirements and constraints of the project, we are only able to consider applicants from NATO member countries or NATO partner nations
Applications should include:
Early application is highly encouraged, as the applications will be processed upon reception. Please apply ONLINE formally through the HR system. Applications by Email will not be considered.
The University of Luxembourg is committed to achieving gender parity among its staff. Should candidates present equivalent profiles, preference will be given to female candidates in all departments where gender parity is not yet achieved.
The University of Luxembourg embraces inclusion and diversity as key values. We are fully committed to removing any discriminatory barrier related to gender, and not only, in recruitment and career progression of our staff.
General information:
The yearly gross salary for every PhD at the UL is EUR 41976 (full time).
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