Blockchains (distributed ledgers) are increasingly permeating distributed systems thinking and have attracted significant attention from researchers and practitioners alike. This attention on decentralized protocols that can provide transparency, accountability and robustness, based on open sourced and permissionless innovation, motivates a research agenda towards creating, testing, and improving better systems for finance, government, banking, accounting, IoT applications, other facets of digital ownership and beyond.
The University of Nicosia has been the first university in the world to embrace the disruptive potential of blockchains since 2013. The Blockchain Research Centre at the University of Nicosia offers the world’s first and only academic degree on the subject (MSc in Digital Currency) and hosts a wide number of education, research and innovation development activities around blockchains. As we continuously expand the Centre, we seek to recruit talented and motivated PhD candidates and post-doctoral researchers to the group.
Applications are sought on any aspect of blockchain research, with a focus on:
- Business, innovation, entrepreneurship and policy dimensions of blockchains, including governance, business models, ICOs, regulation, M2M commerce, etc.
- Technology development, including security, cryptography, scalability, and resilience of distributed ledgers; mining; consensus; anonymity; etc.
- Financial and economic aspects of blockchains, including adoption dynamics, macro- & micro-economic implications, price prediction, digital currency markets, etc.
- Vertical and horizontal applications, for example in financial services, health, transport, supply chain management, IoT, fraud detection and others.
PhD candidates and post-doctoral researchers will join the Blockchain Research Centre and will also be working with partner universities of the University of Nicosia’s Digital Currency programme in Europe and the US. Ability and willingness to relocate to Cyprus if preferable, but not mandatory.
PhD candidates should have a strong academic background (BSc and/or MSc) in computer science, business, economics or related discipline, while post-doctoral researchers should have (or be near the completion of) a PhD in similar areas. Prior work in blockchains and digital currencies will be a significant plus, although not required.
To apply, please send your CV and a letter of intent in which you motivate your interest in doing a PhD or post-doctoral research in this area, including a short research proposal on a subject you would like to work on. Short-listed candidates will be asked to provide two letters of reference at a later stage.
