Ph.D. student in Formal Methods and Design Automation for Cryptography and Hardware Security in Amsterdam

Ph.D. student in Formal Methods and Design Automation for Cryptography and Hardware Security CWI (Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica), Computer Security group; Amsterdam, The Netherlands CWI Amsterdam has an opening for a fully funded 4-year PhD position in the Computer Security group (headed by Prof. Marten van Dijk), supervised by Dr. Chenglu Jin. The position is part of the NWO Gravitation program Challenges in Cyber Security (CiCS). The project develops formal methods and design automation for cryptography and hardware security. Possible directions include: Logic synthesis for secure computation: new cost metrics and circuit optimization for MPC and FHE. Computer-aided cryptography: automated reasoning for protocol security proofs and for hardware security properties such as side-channel resistance. Privacy-preserving verification: combining formal verification with zero-knowledge proofs to certify confidential designs. The exact focus will be shaped together with the candidate. Recent related work: "Proving Circuit Functional Equivalence in Zero Knowledge" (CCS 2026) and "Think Locally Before Computing Jointly" (TCHES 2027). Requirements: a Master's degree in CS, mathematics, computer engineering, or a related field. Students currently enrolled in a Master's program are welcome to apply, provided they complete their degree before the start date. We look for a strong theoretical foundation (e.g., logic, discrete mathematics, cryptography, formal methods) and programming skills (e.g., Python/C++). Background in MPC/FHE/ZK, SAT/SMT, model checking, or side-channel analysis is a plus. Flexible start date. Applications are evaluated on a rolling basis until the position is filled. The final deadline for applications is 31 December 2026.