Fellowship overview

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, and the Cyber-Defence (CYD) Campus have jointly designed the “CYD Fellowships – A Talent Program for Cyber-Defense Research.” Hence, a number of fellowships are offered to master degree students to enable them to complete a master thesis on one of the 58 topics defined by CYD or other candidate-proposed topics at the institution under the observation of a professor from a Switzerland higher education institution or university.  Applicants from around the world who meet the eligibilities below can apply and take advantage of this opportunity to produce a reputable and high-quality master thesis.

Details

Application deadline: Accepted on a rolling basis

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

Location: Switzerland

Institution: CYD Campus

Duration of support: 6 months

Benefits

Benefits provided include and are limited to:

• Living stipend worth CHF 2’000.- per month for a maximum duration of 6 months.

• Research costs: a maximum amount of CHF 1’500

Program research areas

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

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

See the full list of thesis topics here.

Eligibility criteria

• Citizens of any country are eligible to apply for the CYD Master Thesis Fellowships.
• No age restrictions are in place.
• Applicants must be registered in a Master’s program at a higher education institution (university or school of applied sciences) in Switzerland and have the confirmation of a professor employed in this institution ready to supervise them.

How to apply?

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

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

Apply Now

Selection and evaluation

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

Plus Applicants applying for a CYD fellowship need to have outstanding scores on their grade transcripts.

The selection has two stages: first candidate’s application and suitability will be evaluated and shortlisted applicants will be given a CYD campus mentor and the mentor interviews the applicants for stage 2. Next, those endorsed will go to the second stage of the application and will be selected by the CYD campus committee.

Required documents

• Letter of motivation
• Curriculum Vitae (max. 2 pages) including a list of publications, if relevant.

• Diploma and transcript
• Referees’ names
• Host institution’s acceptance letter
• Master thesis topic
• Project proposal

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