PhD

Cyber Security

Study mode:On campus Study type:Full-time Languages: English
Local:$ 9.11 k / Year(s) Foreign:$ 28.2 k / Year(s) Deadline: Jan 6, 2025
1 place StudyQA ranking:2842 Duration:4 years

Photos of university / #oxford_uni

The CDT in Cyber Security is a four year interdisciplinary doctoral programme which looks at the topic from a range of angles including computer science, social science, business and international relations. The core research themes are cyber-physical security, real-time security, assurance and big-data security.

The CDT expects students to progress into diverse employment areas in line with the CDT's multidisciplinary approach. Future career destinations may include government or consultancy employment, furthering an academic career within the field or pursuing a cutting edge industrial research career. Graduates will leave the CDT with the skills necessary to succeed in their chosen career path.

As the technologies of cyberspace come to inhabit all parts of everyday life, cyber security has become everyone’s problem. We face a growing collection of adversaries who are agile, opportunistic, and increasingly strategic, developing an ecosystem of suppliers involved in delivering elements of attack capability. They seek to defraud consumers, exploit their trust, or invade their privacy; to misappropriate corporate secrets and intellectual property; and/or to disrupt the operation of the state or critical infrastructure.

The CDT sets out to educate a new generation of research leaders as well as the highest tier of security professionals, who appreciate the real-world challenges which arise from security needs in existing and emerging contexts, equipped with both the expertise and adaptability to address those needs. You will need to become as agile in your thinking as the attackers are, and as resourceful in defence as their counterparts are in attack.

As a student in the CDT you will spend the first year in a group with the other CDT students in your cohort on an intensive programme of study designed to introduce the dimensions and nature of the challenge of cyber security from a range of academic perspectives.

These will include as a core, cyber security principles (systems and operations), usability, security risk management, system architectures and high-integrity systems engineering. There will also be a range of courses in research methods and tools. This understanding will be placed in the context of courses in business processes, policy and governance, international relations, and criminology. You will have access to leading thinkers and practitioners in cyber security.

Following this intensive education, you will spend the summer of the first year undertaking two mini projects in diverse areas, usually involving placement in a company or government organisation. You will normally choose these from a list proposed by supervisors and sponsors. One or both of these mini projects will typically form the basis for your long-term research project.

For this substantive project, you will be based in one of the departments contributing to the CDT, and undertake supervised research in the usual manner for a DPhil. The normal duration of this project will be three years, after which you will submit a thesis and be examined in the usual way.

During the three years of the individual research project, you will retain contact with the CDT, returning for skills training, an annual conference and other events.

The CDT programme also includes “Deep Dive Days” which are a supplement to the academic programme of classes, lectures, and seminars. They are an opportunity to interact with someone who practices cyber security daily: technologists, CISOs, security consultants, lawyers, government risk owners and more. Some of these are visits and field trips; others take the form of a master class in Oxford. Deep Dives allow the academic material to be illustrated, and challenged, by exposure to everyday practice. Sometimes, they can become the basis of ongoing project work too.

Applicants are normally expected to be predicted or have achieved a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours (or equivalent international qualifications), as a minimum, in computer science and related topics, social science and related topics, international relations, business, internet security, or public policy and related topics.

For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum GPA sought is 3.6 out of 4.0.

However, entrance is very competitive and most successful applicants have a first-class degree or the equivalent.

A master's degree is not essential but would be an advantage. Professional experience is not essential but is considered alongside academic ability. 

If you hold non-UK qualifications and wish to check how your qualifications match these requirements, you can contact the National Recognition Information Centre for the United Kingdom (UK NARIC).

No Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or GMAT scores are sought.

  • Official transcript(s)
  • CV/résumé
  • Statement of purpose/personal statement: 1,000 to 1,500 words
  • References/letters of recommendation: Three overall, all of which must be academic

ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS

Higher level

est

Standard level scores

Higher level scores

IELTS Academic 
Institution code: 0713

7.0 Minimum 6.5 per component  7.5  Minimum 7.0 per component 

TOEFL iBT 
Institution code: 0490

100

Minimum component scores:

  • Listening: 22
  • Reading: 24
  • Speaking: 25
  • Writing: 24
110

Minimum component scores:

  • Listening: 22
  • Reading: 24
  • Speaking: 25
  • Writing: 24
Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) 185

Minimum 176 per component

191 

Minimum 185 per component

Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English (CAE) 185

Minimum 176 per component

191 

Minimum 185 per component

  • Global Education
  • Hill Foundation Scholarships
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