ENCYRCLE Research Assistant
| Posting date: | 12 February 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £34,132 to £38,249 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 08 March 2026 |
| Location: | Swansea, Wales |
| Remote working: | On-site only |
| Company: | Swansea University |
| Job type: | Contract |
| Job reference: | SU01270 |
Summary
The ENCYRCLE project is looking for an enthusiastic research assistant to join the Swansea University project team. You will be part of a £2 million research initiative with the Wales-based National Data Exploitation Centre (NDEC), part of global technology leader Thales, to strengthen the cyber resilience of interconnected systems, including those in transport.
Cyber resilience concerns a system's ability to continuously deliver intended outcomes despite adverse cyber events. In ENCYRCLE, modelling and verification shall inform the engineering of system updates designed to recover affected services without endangering the delivery of other (unaffected) services. One trigger of such updates is the need to replace cryptosystems by quantum-safe ones, a change that, e.g., NCSC encourages to carry out from 2028 onwards.
Your role is to develop innovative solutions to enhance the security of connected and automated technologies throughout their lifecycle. This involves developing a simulation-based solution for analysing and evaluating resilience properties of the designs of cyber-physical systems. Your tasks include the evaluation and setup of simulation tools, focusing on several case studies involving automotive systems and post-quantum cryptography. The simulation of these case studies will enable the validation of their cyber resilience properties by employing appropriate AI approaches such as reinforcement learning.
To this end, you will be applying reinforcement learning to explore potential simulation runs that falsify the relevant cyber resilience properties.
The modelling work package in ENCYCRLE is led by Professor Markus Roggenbach, who is head of the Cyber Security Group at Swansea. This research project is aligned with the UK Government’s strategy and its results will directly inform industry best practice, guidance, and will contribute to resilient engineering systems and infrastructure. The impact of this work will directly inform guidance and principles underpinning the design of critical national infrastructures and complex engineering systems in a range of sectors.
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
The University is committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity in all its practices and activities. We aim to establish an inclusive environment and welcome diverse applications from the following protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race (including colour, nationality, ethnic and national origin), religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation.
As an inclusive and welcoming workplace, we value people for their skills regardless of their background. Applications are welcome in Welsh and will not be treated less favourably than those submitted in English.
Cyber resilience concerns a system's ability to continuously deliver intended outcomes despite adverse cyber events. In ENCYRCLE, modelling and verification shall inform the engineering of system updates designed to recover affected services without endangering the delivery of other (unaffected) services. One trigger of such updates is the need to replace cryptosystems by quantum-safe ones, a change that, e.g., NCSC encourages to carry out from 2028 onwards.
Your role is to develop innovative solutions to enhance the security of connected and automated technologies throughout their lifecycle. This involves developing a simulation-based solution for analysing and evaluating resilience properties of the designs of cyber-physical systems. Your tasks include the evaluation and setup of simulation tools, focusing on several case studies involving automotive systems and post-quantum cryptography. The simulation of these case studies will enable the validation of their cyber resilience properties by employing appropriate AI approaches such as reinforcement learning.
To this end, you will be applying reinforcement learning to explore potential simulation runs that falsify the relevant cyber resilience properties.
The modelling work package in ENCYCRLE is led by Professor Markus Roggenbach, who is head of the Cyber Security Group at Swansea. This research project is aligned with the UK Government’s strategy and its results will directly inform industry best practice, guidance, and will contribute to resilient engineering systems and infrastructure. The impact of this work will directly inform guidance and principles underpinning the design of critical national infrastructures and complex engineering systems in a range of sectors.
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
The University is committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity in all its practices and activities. We aim to establish an inclusive environment and welcome diverse applications from the following protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race (including colour, nationality, ethnic and national origin), religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation.
As an inclusive and welcoming workplace, we value people for their skills regardless of their background. Applications are welcome in Welsh and will not be treated less favourably than those submitted in English.