CYD Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowships

This program is designed to expand research and education in the area of cyber-defence. It is intended to bring together basic and applied research skills and hence encourage new solutions to major challenges in the fields of cyber-security and data science.

This program is highly competitive, and the primary evaluation criterion is excellence, as measured by academic records and professional accomplishments. Candidates applying for a CYD fellowship are expected to have excellent grade transcripts.

Mission

• CYD Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowships are open to researchers at postdoctoral level who are willing to engage with cross-cutting issues in cyber-defence, with a particular emphasis on:
  • Protection of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of cyber and cyber-physical systems.
  • Information sharing, data fusion and crowdsourcing.
  • Data science & AI methods for analysing cyber- and technology-relevant data.
  • Security, privacy and digital trust technologies.

Funding Information

• Salary
  • The requested salary contribution is based on the salary scale associated with the applicant’s position in the host institution.
• Social Security Contributions
  • Based on the SNSF standard practice, the equivalent of the statutory Social Security Contributions payable by employers in accordance with AHVG/IVG/EOG, BVG, AVIG and UVG (Swiss federal acts on social security contributions) will be paid to the host institution as a lump sum to be calculated as a percentage of the gross salary.
• Research and Conference Costs
  • A maximum amount of CHF 3’000.- per year can be granted for research costs (only for specific equipment needed for the project, not general IT material), and a maximum amount of CHF 5’000.- per year can be granted for conference costs. These costs can be granted during the fellowship upon submission of a request with a justification for the funding.
• Overheads
  • Institutional overhead rates are set at a fixed rate of 15% of overall project costs. This rate takes into account the fact that CYD Doctoral and Postdoctoral fellows benefit from the CYD Campus facilities and receive research and conference funds.

Eligibility Criteria

• Citizens of any nationality may apply for the CYD Postdoctoral fellowships.
• No age restrictions apply.
• Applicants are only eligible to apply if they will conduct their distinguished postdoctoral fellowship in a different laboratory from the one of their doctoral and (if applicable) of their current postdoctoral research.
• In addition, applicants cannot be employed by the host laboratory where the CYD Fellowship is planned to be hosted during the Stage 1 submission period, i.e. between 31 May 2024 and 15 August 2024.
• Applicants must have the endorsement of a professor employed at a Swiss higher education institution willing to supervise them when they submit their Stage 2 application.
• The fellowship should be carried out on a full-time basis (100%). Specific exceptions linked to personal reasons (maternity/parental leave, care of family members, etc.) could possibly be considered depending on individual circumstances.

For more information, visit EPFL.