Secure and Resilient Computing: New computer architectures for more secure and low-energy devices and systems.

Summary

The research area of Secure and Resilient Computing addresses the growing need for computing systems that are secure, dependable and energy-efficient, supporting the development of trustworthy next-generation computing technologies and infrastructure.

The candidate will pursue one of the three complementary strands, each sharing a methodological core of Secure and Resilient Computing Architectures:

Strand 1: Fault-Tolerant Hardware Architectures for Post-Quantum Cryptographic Systems
(Lead: Dr. Yasir Ali Shah)

As post-quantum cryptographic (PQC) algorithms become essential for securing next-generation communications and critical infrastructure, ensuring their reliability in hardware implementations is a major challenge. This PhD project will investigate fault-tolerant cryptographic kernels that provide runtime error detection and correction with minimal area, power, and performance overheads.

The research will develop lightweight redundancy and resilience techniques for key PQC operations, including modular arithmetic, Number Theoretic Transforms (NTTs), and polynomial computations. The goal is to create secure and dependable cryptographic hardware capable of resisting natural faults and fault-injection attacks, enabling trustworthy deployment in resource-constrained, safety-critical, and high-performance computing environments.

or Strand 2:
Design and Evaluation of Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) in Neural Hardware for Secure Edge AI
(Lead: Dr. Aditya Japa)

The advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning has driven neural network accelerators (NNAs) for workloads, including applications such as medical diagnosis and autonomous driving. However, readout, fault injection, bit-flip, and side-channel attacks can expose training data, model parameters, and accelerator architectures.

Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) provide security by exploiting process variations to generate responses, enabling authentication, secure key generation, and protection of assets. Conventional PUFs face challenges in NNAs due to power, reliability, scalability, and robustness requirements.

This PhD project exploits neural hardware variability and randomness to develop PUFs, assessing security, uniqueness, randomness, area, power, robustness, and latency.

or Strand 3:
Low-Energy AI Hardware for High-Performance Computing (HPC)
(Lead: Prof Jim Harkin)

The rapid growth of AI is increasing data centre energy consumption, driven largely by power-intensive GPU architectures. This PhD will investigate alternative low-energy computing approaches, focusing on neuromorphic and event-based architectures inspired by the efficient information processing of the human brain.

The research will explore novel hardware architectures and accelerators for event-based AI applications, targeting improved energy efficiency without compromising performance. FPGA-based platforms will be used to prototype and evaluate these approaches, integrating with High-Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructure to enable benchmarking against conventional GPU-based systems. The project aims to advance sustainable, energy-efficient AI hardware for future HPC and data centre environments.

Essential criteria

Applicants should hold, or expect to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class Honours Degree in a subject relevant to the proposed area of study.

We may also consider applications from those who hold equivalent qualifications, for example, a Lower Second Class Honours Degree plus a Master’s Degree with Distinction.

In exceptional circumstances, the University may consider a portfolio of evidence from applicants who have appropriate professional experience which is equivalent to the learning outcomes of an Honours degree in lieu of academic qualifications.

• Experience using research methods or other approaches relevant to the subject domain

Desirable Criteria

If the University receives a large number of applicants for the project, the following desirable criteria may be applied to shortlist applicants for interview.

• Applicants should hold, or expect to hold a First Class Honours Degree in a relevant subject area
• International applicants should hold, or expect to hold a relevant Masters Degree at a level equivalent to a distinction at Ulster
• Work experience relevant to the proposed project
• Track record of peer reviewed publications
• Experience of presentation of research findings

Equal Opportunities

The University is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applicants from all sections of the community, particularly from those with disabilities.

Appointment will be made on merit.

Funding and eligibility

This project is funded by:

• Department for the Economy (DfE)
• Vice Chancellor's Research Scholarship (VCRS)

PhD Scholarships are available for this project and will cover:

• Tuition fees.
• A maintenance allowance of approximately £22,000 (exact rate is to be confirmed) per annum for three years, subject to satisfactory academic performance.
• A Research Training Support Grant (RTSG) of approximately £900 per annum.

To be eligible for these scholarships applicants must: be a UK or Irish national; or have pre-settled or settled status; or have indefinite leave to remain or enter.

Applicants should also meet the residency criteria which requires that they have lived in the EEA, Switzerland, the UK or Gibraltar for at least the three years preceding the start date of the research degree programme i.e. September 2027.

Applicants who already hold a doctoral degree or who have been registered on a programme of research leading to the award of a doctoral degree on a full-time basis for more than one year, or part-time equivalent, funded from any source, including self-financing students, are NOT eligible to apply for an award.

Students in full-time employment are not eligible for an award.

Due consideration should be given to financing your studies.

Part-time PhD scholarships may be available at a 0.5 pro rata rate of the full-time scholarship, which would require a six-year registration period.

The University will award a successful candidate one of the following scholarships for the project, depending on the funding available at the time an admissions offer is made:

1. Department for the Economy (DfE) PhD Scholarships
2. Vice Chancellor’s Research Scholarships (VCRS)

Please note that the Terms and Conditions for scholarships are subject to change for 2027/28.