Fellowship overview

In order to advance research and education in cyber-defense, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, and the Cyber-Defense (CYD) Campus have jointly designed the “CYD Postdoctoral Fellowships – A Talent Program for Cyber-Defense Research.” The fellowships will provide doctoral & postdoctoral researchers an opportunity to complete a research project at the institution under the observation of a professor from a Swiss higher education institution or university.  Applicants from around the world who meet the eligibilities below can apply and take advantage of this fantastic opportunity.

Details

Submission deadlines:

First stage: 15 Feb 2021 (17:00 CET)

2^nd stage (submitting a full proposal): 31 March 2021 (5 CET)

Finalists announced: 30^th April 2021

Start of project: 30 April or around

Organizers: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and CYD

Location: Switzerland

Institution: CYD Campus

Duration of support: 2-4 years

Doctoral: 4 years (will lead to a Ph.D. thesis)

Postdoctoral: 2 years (will lead to the conclusion of a research project)

Benefits

These fellowships provide a salary, research costs (max. CHF 3000 per year) and conference funding (max. CHF 6,000/year) for 4 years (doctoral fellows) and 2 years (postdoctoral fellows) to enable them to contribute to the mission of CYD and scientifically thrive at the stimulating campus of CYD in Lausanne.

Fellowship research areas

The Fellowships are open to researchers at the postdoctoral level who are willing to contribute to issues at the crossroads of cyber-security and data science, with a particular focus on:

• New technologies for preserving the privacy, integrity, and availability of cyber and cyber-physical systems
• Privacy-strengthening technologies
• Data science and artificial intelligence techniques for analyzing cyber- and technology-relevant data
• Research on vulnerabilities and backdoors in digital systems.

Eligibility criteria

• Citizens of any country are eligible to apply for the CYD Post-doc Fellowships.
• No age restrictions are in place.
• Applicants must be in receipt of enrollment in a PhD program at a higher education institution/university in Switzerland and have the confirmation of a professor employed in this institution ready to supervise them after the second stage of the application.
• Candidates only qualify to apply if their postdoctoral research is funded by a Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship in a different laboratory other than the one of their doctoral and (if relevant) of their current postdoctoral research.

How to apply?

Applicants must apply online and submit all mandatory documents through the online submission platform.

Before applying, please make sure you have read the application guidelines carefully.

Apply Now

Selection and evaluation

This fellowship selection process is highly competitive with excellence being the main evaluation criterion and measured by academic records and professional achievements.

Plus Applicants applying for CYD fellowships need to have excellent grade transcripts.

The selection has two stages: first, the candidate’s application, pre-proposal of and suitability will be evaluated by the CYD committee and shortlisted applicants will be given a CYD campus mentor interviewing the applicants to endorse h/her for stage 2. Next, those endorsed for the second stage of the application by the mentor will be selected by the CYD campus committee for the 2^nd stage.

Required documents

Stage 1 documents:

• Letter of motivation
• Research pre-proposal
• Curriculum Vitae/resume (max. 2 pages) including a list of publications.
• Diploma and transcript
• Referees’ names

Stage 2 documents:

• Original research proposal
• Host institution’s acceptance letter
• Salary scale
• Budget plan
• Ethical form

All documents must be in English.

Visit the official link to read more details about the fellowship.

Should you need more information and help, refer to the contact information below.

Research Office

Av. Auguste-Piccard 1
CH – 1015 Lausanne

Contact email: research@epfl.ch