PhD Scholarship in Engineering

PhD Research Studentship

Identity federation and access control in cloud computing

Glasgow Caledonian University -School of Engineering and Built Environment

Reference Number:  11/12_59

Applications are invited for this full-time PhD research studentship within the School of Engineering and Built Environment at Glasgow Caledonian University.  The studentship is for a period of three and a half years (42 months), subject to satisfactory progress and provides payment of tuition fees at the UK/EU rate plus an annual stipend of £14,600 [please note that students from outside the EU are required to pay the difference between International and EU fees, currently this would amount to £6,672 per annum].  The successful candidate is expected to undertake up to 6 hours of academic support activity per week.

Project Description

Cloud computing is a new way for access to and utilisation of extensively distributed, outsourced resources. Virtualisation is the fundamental concept. When third-party resources are deployed to provide services, two distinctive characteristics are multi-tenancy and ultra-scalability, which make cloud computing suffer totally unconventional security challenges. New security issues arise at cloud applications, virtualisations, and data and networks. Intermingled throughout are the delegation and trust of authentication, authorisations, accounting of user identities, and accesses across multiple layers and domains. This project will conduct a systematic study into cloud security and build up a working prototype cloud environment in which essential security techniques are integrated, and then propose a robust mechanism for identity federation and access control and implement it in the prototype for performance evaluations.

Project Lead:  Prof Hua Tianfield (H.Tianfield@gcu.ac.uk)  

Further information available here

Required background and/or experience of the candidate:

The candidate should possess a relevant 1st or 2.1 honours degree.  It is anticipated that the candidate will liaise with a wide range of stakeholders and that he/she will have to travel nationally/internationally for meetings and conference presentations.

How to Apply:

Application forms are available here  and once completed should be returned to GCUStudentships@gcu.ac.uk 

Please state the Project Title and reference number (as above) on the completed application form.

The closing date for applications is Friday 7^th September; short-listed candidates will be contacted by 28^thSeptember with interview details.