
I am a Postdoctoral Researcher in Cybersecurity at UNSW Sydney and GuardWare Australia, where my research focuses on encrypting unstructured data in the defence supply chain. My broader research interests include privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs), differential privacy, generative models, and applied cryptography.
I completed my PhD at UNSW Sydney and CSIRO’s Data61 in 2025, supported by the competitive CSCRC and UIPA scholarships. My PhD focused on the privacy of location trajectories using differential privacy and generative models. This thesis identified shortcomings of existing privacy mechanisms, proposed a novel reconstruction attack, and explored synthetic data generation as a privacy-preserving solution. My research was recognised with the Best Paper Award at PST’24 and publications at venues such as PETS, ACSAC, and AsiaCCS.
I am strongly committed to open science, and the code for all my publications is available on GitHub to ensure reproducibility and support future research. So far, I supervised over 20 students on theses, capstone projects, and internships, with two projects leading to international conference submissions. I served on the student advisory board for the AGSE Industry PhD program, acted as system administrator for the Information Security and Privacy (ISPri) research group, and was recognised as one of Australia’s Top100 Future Leaders in 2025.
I value opportunities to share my research with both the academic community and the public. I have delivered more than 15 oral and poster presentations, receiving the AGSE 3MT People’s Choice Award and the SecEdu Best Poster Award. These engagements help bridge the gap between research and practice, and I welcome further opportunities to collaborate and give talks.
Before my PhD, I earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees with distinction from RWTH Aachen, Germany. My master’s thesis on the privacy-preserving exchange of process parameters was published at ACSAC20 and received both the Vöcking Master Award and the FOLKS Best Master’s Thesis Award in 2020. During my studies, I was consistently ranked in the top 5% of students, featured on the dean’s list, and sponsored by the German Education Fund.
Outside my academic pursuits, I am passionate about fitness and nutrition, with a focus on competitive CrossFit and endurance running, including marathons and half-marathons. I also enjoy salsa dancing, cooking, and travelling with my partner. You can find my personal blog (in German) at downunder.erikbuchholz.de.
Awards & Scholarships
- GradConnection Top100 Future Leader Award: February 2025
- Best Paper Award: 21st Annual International Conference on Privacy, Security, and Trust (PST2024)
- Engineering Industry Engagement Grant: May 2024
- Best Poster Award: SecEdu Conference 2023
- AGSE 3 Minute Thesis Competition 2023: People’s Choice & 2nd Place Overall
- AGSE Industry PhD program: March 2023 – November 2024
- ACSAC Student Conferenceship : 2022 – Valued at 1900 USD
- Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CSCRC) PhD Scholarship: Mai 2021 – Mai 2024
- University International Postgraduate Award (UIPA) Scholarship: Mai 2021 – November 2024
- FOLKS Award for the Best Master’s Thesis: 2020
- Vöcking Master Award: 2020 – Award for an outstanding master’s thesis in Computer Science
- ACSAC Student Conferenceship: 2020 – Free attendance of ACSAC’20 conference
- Final of eurobits e.V. Excellence Award: 2020
- Dean’s List RWTH Aachen(4x) (Top 5% of CS students): 2013/14, 2014/15, 2017/18, and 2019/20
- German Education Fund (3x): 2015/16, 2017/18, and 2018/19
- DAAD Year Scholarship for a year abroad at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS): 2017
- FOLKS Best Seminar Award: 2016
- Best High School Graduate in Wolfsburg: 2013
Education
- PhD at UNSW Sydney
- Thesis Title: The Long Road to Trajectory Privacy: Differential Privacy and Generative Models
- Supervisors: Prof. Salil S. Kanhere and Dr. Surya Nepal
- Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CSCRC) Scholarship
- Master of Science with Distinction in Computer Science at RWTH Aachen
- Final Grade: 1.0 (German Grading System)
- Master’s Thesis: Privacy-Preserving Exchange of Process Parameters
- Applied Course: Business Administration
- Bachelor of Science with Distinction in Computer Science at RWTH Aachen
- Final Grade: 1.1 (German Grading System)
- Bachelor’s Thesis: A User-controlled Data Market for Privacy-preserving Data Analyses
- Study Abroad at University of Technology Sydney for one year
- Applied Course: Physics
- German Abitur at Albert-Schweitzer-Gymnasium with overall degree 1.0
- Focus Subjects: Physics, Maths, Chemistry.
(Academic) Service & Leadership
- See: Academic Service
Qualifications & Courses
- HDR Employability Program: 2023
- IMNIS Engage Mentoring Program: 2023 – 2024
- Leadership Foundations Program by UNSW Sydney: 2022
- Deep Learning Specialisation by DeepLearning.AI: 2021
- Personalized English Learning Enhancement Course at UNSW Sydney: 2021
- Precision Nutrition Level 1 Nutrition Certification: 2019
- UTS BUiLD Leadership Program Graduate: 2017
- Toastmasters Speechcraft Seminar: 2017
Languages
- German: Native speaker
- English: Fluent in speech and writing (both theses in English)
- Spanish: CEFR Level B2
Personal Interests
- Fitness: competitive CrossFit, Marathon (3:52:54 in Sydney), (Sprint Triathlon 1:29:51 in Port Stephens) [STRAVA]
- Nutrition: Precision Nutrition certified
- Salsa Dancing
- Photography (@x20ckx)
- Travelling
Curriculum Vitae
Personal Blog
- Downunder.erikbuchholz.de [GERMAN]