PhD position in Network Security for Distributed AI

This PhD project focuses on strengthening network security for large-scale distributed AI training. As training increasingly spans multiple data centers connected over wide-area networks, it introduces new and underexplored vulnerabilities to network-based threats. The goal of this research is to uncover such threats, evaluate their impact on training performance and model integrity, and develop cross-layer defenses that ensure secure and efficient AI model development at scale.

Information about the division
The department of Computer Science and Engineering is strongly international, with approximately 300 employees from over 30 countries. The department is a fully integrated department with Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg as principals. The position is placed in the Division for Computer network and systems and the employment is placed with Chalmers University of Technology.

Our research spans from theoretical computer science to applied systems development. We provide high-quality education at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels, offering over 120 courses each year. We also have extensive national and international collaborations with academia, industry, and society.

The PhD position will be placed in the Secura Lab led by Assistant Professor Muoi Tran . Dedicated to advancing the field of Network Security, Secura Lab focuses on innovative solutions to protect modern digital infrastructure from emerging network threats. Despite being young, Secura Lab has an excellent track record in publishing at top-tier security and blockchain conferences. At Secura Lab, we strongly believe a healthy work-life balance is the key to our research excellence. Please visit our website for a letter to prospective students.

Project description
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gradually become a cornerstone of modern life. Its success depends on immense computational effort and extended training times to produce sophisticated models. To handle the scale of these models, distributed AI training has emerged as the standard approach, which utilizes thousands of high-performance devices within a data center to collaboratively process tasks. When they are even more complex, the training infrastructure must eventually scale beyond a single data center, requiring communication between multiple data centers over Wide Area Networks or the Internet. Such communication exposes the training process to several network threats, such as DDoS attacks, traffic hijacking, and traffic analysis. While these risks are well-studied in existing literature, their impacts on distributed AI training, unfortunately, remain largely unexplored. This project envisions Bifröst, secure networks built for distributed AI training. Our objectives include identifying novel network attacks against distributed AI training systems. Furthermore, we aim to develop a measurement framework to assess the impact of such attacks on training performance, adversary costs, and model accuracy. Our ultimate goal is to design a generalized, cross-layer defense framework that integrates network-level mitigation and application-level optimization to comprehensively protect distributed AI training from network threats while maintaining competitive performance.

This position is supported by the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP). WASP is Sweden’s largest individual research program ever, a major national initiative for strategically motivated basic research, education and faculty recruitment. The program addresses research on artificial intelligence and autonomous systems acting in collaboration with humans, adapting to their environment through sensors, information and knowledge, and forming intelligent systems-of-systems. The vision of WASP is excellent research and competence in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and software for the benefit of Swedish society and industry

Who we are looking for: 

• To qualify as a PhD student, you must have a Master's degree (masterexamen) of 120 credits or a Master’s degree (magisterexamen) of 60 credits in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, or another relevant field* 
• You will need strong written and verbal communication skills in English 
• Excellent grades in computer networks, distributed systems, or cybersecurity courses
• Strong programming language skills

*for students with an education earned outside of Sweden, a 4-year Bachelor’s degree is accepted.
The following experience will strengthen your application: 

• Familiarity with Federated Learning

We value a collaborative attitude and an interest in working both in teams and independently. Self-motivation, attention to detail, and problem-solving analytical ability are important personal qualities for this position.

What you will do: 

• Take courses at an advanced level within the Graduate school of Computer Science and Engineering
• Develop your own scientific concepts and communicate the results of your research verbally and in writing 
• The position generally also includes teaching on Chalmers' undergraduate level or performing other duties corresponding to 20 percent of working hours 
• Successful candidates will be enrolled, in addition to the department’s PhD program, to the WASP graduate school. The graduate school within WASP is dedicated to provide the skills needed to analyze, develop, and contribute to the interdisciplinary area of artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and software. lecturers, the graduate school actively supports forming a strong multi-disciplinary and international professional network between PhD-students, researchers and industry.

Contract terms and what we offer: 

• The PhD positions are fully funded from start. 

• As a PhD student at Chalmers, you are an employee and enjoy all employee benefits. Read more about working at Chalmers  and our benefits  for employees. 

• The position is limited to four years, with the possibility to teach up to 20%, which extends the position to five years. 

• Doctoral studies require physical presence throughout the entire study period. A valid residence permit must be presented by the study start date, otherwise the admission may be withdrawn. 

• A dynamic and inspiring working environment in the coastal city of Gothenburg . 

• A starting salary of 34,550 SEK per month (valid from May 25, 2025). 

• Read more about Sweden’s generous parental leave, subsidized day care, free schools, healthcare etc at Move To Gothenburg.  

Chalmers is dedicated to improving gender balance and actively works with equality projects, such as the GENIE Initiative for gender equality and excellence . We celebrate diversity and consider equality and inclusion as fundamental aspects of all our activities. 

If Swedish is not your native language, Chalmers offers Swedish courses to help you settle in. 

Discover more
Find more general information about doctoral studies at Chalmers here .  

Application procedure
The application should be written in English be attached as PDF-files, as below. Maximum size for each file is 40 MB. Please note that the system does not support Zip files.  

• CV (Please name the document: CV, Family name)
• Personal letter (Please name the document: Personal letter, Family name)
  • Introduce yourself
  • Describe selectively your previous experience of relevance for this position (e.g., education, research activities)
  • Express your expectations regarding research direction, supervision, and working environment for this position.

Bachelor’s and, if available, master’s thesis together with the transcripts. 

Use the button at the foot of the page to reach the application form.  

Please note: The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the application is complete. Incomplete applications and applications sent by email will not be considered. Contact details to references will be requested after the interview. 

We welcome your application no later than September 30th, 2025.

For questions, please contact:
Muoi Tran
Email: muoi@chalmers.se  

Tomas Olovsson
Email: tomas.olovsson@chalmers.se

We look forward to your application! 

*** Chalmers declines to consider all offers of further announcement publishing or other types of support for the recruiting process in connection with this position. ***  

 Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg conducts research and education in technology and natural sciences at a high international level. The university has 3100 employees and 10,000 students, and offers education in engineering, science, shipping and architecture. With scientific excellence as a basis, Chalmers promotes knowledge and technical solutions for a sustainable world. Through global commitment and entrepreneurship, we foster an innovative spirit, in close collaboration with wider society.
Chalmers was founded in 1829 and has the same motto today as it did then: Avancez – forward. 

URL to this page
https://www.chalmers.se/en/about-chalmers/work-with-us/vacancies/?rmpage=job&rmjob=14079&rmlang=UK