PhD Studentship - A development methodology for cyber-secure safety-critical software systems

The aim of this PhD is to address the issues of safety and security co-design in the

Design and Implementation and Verification phases of software development processes.

This research aims at making impact in the safety-critical community facilitating the inte-gration of secure development principles in commonly used software development processes. To this aim, the research will conceptualise a flexible, yet rigorous methodology for coherent tuning of safety and security practices. As such, it will build on modern Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) to prototype new co-design assisted development tools. This supportive control will build on modern real-time code review systems empowered by AI technology. Both the methodology and the tooling will be validated on real-world industrial case study where both safety and security are primary concerns.

If you wish to discuss any details of the project informally, please contact Professor Vladimiro Sassone, Cyber Security Research Group, Email: vsassone@soton.ac.uk ; Tel: +44 (0) 2380599009

Key facts

Entry requirements: first or upper second-class degree or equivalent, Applicants must be UK nationals.

Closing date: applications should be received no later than 31 August 2019 for standard admissions, but later applications may be considered depending on the funds remaining in place.

Duration: four years (full-time)

Funding: full tuition fees, for UK students, and a tax-free stipend of £15,009 per year

Assessment: Nine month and 18 month reports, viva voce and thesis examination

Start date: typically September