Places available September 2019: UCL Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security

Together, these three departments will jointly supervise at least 55 PhD students who will be specially trained to address the complex, interdisciplinary challenges of cyber security in the 21^st century. 

Our ambition is to forge the next generation of UK leaders in industry and government, working across engineering, public policy, and crime science. The CDT will admit candidates with a strong background in STEM (CS, Mathematics, Engineering, Physics) or Social Sciences (Psychology, Sociology, International Relations, Public Policy, Crime Science, Law, Economics, or Management), either recent graduates or mid-career applicants. Each candidate will be trained in research methods across these multidisciplinary facets of cybersecurity, (computing, crime science, and public policy) and then specialize within a discipline, with industrial experience through placements and internships.

The CDT aims to increase the capacity of the UK in answering the information and cybersecurity challenges of the 21st century, by training cohorts of highly skilled experts in this field, able to fill in leading engineering, public policy, and scientific research positions as required. The CDT will equip them with a broad understanding of a range of sub-fields of cybersecurity, as well as specialized knowledge and transferable skills to be able to operate professionally in business, academic, and policy circles.

'We’re delighted to be able to play this important role in shaping the future of cyber security research. Working closely with industry and government partners and across disciplines is the only way to comprehensively tackle the complex problems we continue to face in cybersecurity. We’re looking forward to welcoming some of the brightest, most innovative thinkers to our programme, beginning in September 2019.' Professor David Pym

Programme structure and progression

The CDT in cybersecurity will provide students with core skills and knowledge at the forefront of computing (systems security, cryptography, software security, network security), crime science (cybercrime) and policy (the geopolitics of cyber security, gender and the IoT, the politics of standards). It has long been recognised that cybersecurity is a ‘wicked problem’ --- one that spills across disciplines, jurisdictions, and borders of all kinds.

Deputy Director, Madeline Carr, explained: ‘our approach to multidisciplinary training is to ensure that doctoral students achieve deep domain-specific expertise, while being trained in other areas. We believe that by working side-by-side with students from other disciplines, PhD candidates in our CDT will emerge as individuals who can identify problems that can be resolved using a range of tools and methods, as well as being confident in their ability to work effectively with experts from across the socio-technical divide’.

Joint taught modules, skills activities, and joint research projects involving multidisciplinary teams will cement their ability to work effectively in such a setting. ‘This approach ensures that we will develop multidisciplinary experts, rather than generalists,’ said Deputy Director, Shane Johnson.

Further details on how to apply will be available soon. Please direct expressions of interest (include CV and proposal) to: cybersecurityCDT@ucl.ac.uk