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About

Since 2021, I have been a PhD candidate at UNSW Sydney and CSIRO’s Data61, specialising in Cybersecurity, with a focus on the intersection of privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) and artificial intelligence (AI), particularly deep learning. I am fortunate to be supported by multiple scholarships, including funding from the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CSCRC) and the University International Postgraduate Award (UIPA) at UNSW. My PhD research centres on the privacy-preserving publication of location trajectories. I am privileged to be supervised by Prof. Salil Kanhere and Dr. Surya Nepal. My research interests encompass various security & privacy-related areas, with a particular focus on safeguarding personal and industrial data.

To date, I have published three papers based on my PhD candidature, with additional publications currently under review. In total, I have published six papers, four of which were presented at CORE A-ranked conferences, including PETS, ACSAC, and AsiaCCS. One of these publications received the Best Paper Award at the 21st Annual International Conference on Privacy, Security, and Trust (PST2024). I am particularly proud that the source code for all my publications has been made available as open source (refer to Publications for links), supporting the reproducibility of my results and facilitating future research in this domain. I firmly believe in the importance of sharing knowledge and resources to advance the state-of-the-art as a research community.

During the first project of my PhD candidature, we identified significant shortcomings in existing privacy-preserving publication mechanisms. Specifically, we developed the first deep learning-based reconstruction attack. This attack takes supposedly anonymised trajectories as input and reconstructs trajectories that are much closer to the sensitive, unprotected originals, thereby reducing the privacy level of the released data. Following this, we investigated synthetic data generation as a potential solution to balance utility and privacy for trajectory data. In our large-scale experimental analysis of more than six generative models for trajectories, we discovered that none could yet provide sufficient formal privacy guarantees for this domain. As a result, we began developing a novel privacy-preserving generative approach. Throughout this ongoing work, we have actively shared our intermediate results and insights with the research community. For a complete list of my academic publications, see Publications.

Throughout my candidature, I have actively participated in various extra-curricular activities. I deeply enjoy mentoring and education, having mentored two cohorts of first-year HDR students and supervised a total of 12 students through thesis supervision, capstone projects, and internships. Two of these projects resulted in submissions to international conferences, which I am particularly proud of. Additionally, I am involved in the AGSE Industry PhD program, where I currently serve on the student advisory board. I also act as the system administrator for the Information Security and Privacy (ISPri) Research group, managing five GPU servers with nearly 30 users.

Moreover, I highly value opportunities to share my research not only with the academic community but also with the public. I have delivered over 15 oral and poster presentations, winning a Best Poster Award and a 3MT People’s Choice award. Additionally, I was invited to give a talk at the Monash SSC seminar. Engaging with diverse audiences helps bridge the gap between academia and real-world applications, and I welcome further opportunities to collaborate. Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in exploring how my research could benefit your organisation or institute.

Prior to my PhD, I completed a master’s degree in Computer Science at RWTH Aachen with honours and an overall grade of 1.0 (the highest German grade). My master’s thesis, written at the Chair of Communication and Distributed Systems (COMSYS) at RWTH Aachen, focuses on the privacy-preserving exchange of process parameters, addressing a real-world use case from the injection moulding industry and was published at ACSAC’20. We closely collaborated with an industry partner to understand their specific needs and ensure our approach met practical challenges. Building on this work, we published a second paper examining the communication between researchers and engineers throughout the project and proposed a process cycle based on the lessons learnt. My master’s thesis was awarded the Vöcking Master Award and the FOLKS Award for the Best Master’s Thesis in 2020.

In 2017, I completed my bachelor’s degree with honours at RWTH Aachen, achieving an overall grade of 1.1 (German grading). My bachelor’s thesis, conducted as part of the myneData project, involved designing, implementing, and evaluating a platform for the privacy-preserving and user-controlled exchange of private information. Following my bachelor’s degree, I spent an exchange year at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

I was ranked in the top 5% of Computer Science students at RWTH Aachen, earning a place on the dean’s list from 2014 to 2020. During my studies, I was sponsored by the prestigious German Education Fund (Bildungsfonds) for a total of three years. In 2016, I received the Best Seminar Award from FOLKS for an outstanding seminar paper on Bloom Cookies.

Additionally, I worked as a teaching assistant for several subjects, including Computer Networks and Applications, Operating Systems & System Software, Computability & Complexity, and Introduction to Business Informatics. During my exchange year, I organised and ran a Python course for UTS housing, developing the course from the ground up. In 2019, I worked as a research assistant on a project focused on service bootstrapping via Bitcoin at COMSYS, RWTH Aachen, which resulted in the publication of the paper Utilizing Public Blockchains for the Sybil-Resistant Bootstrapping of Distributed Anonymity Services at ASIACCS ’20.

Outside of IT, my main interests are fitness and nutrition. I have been consistently training for over ten years, currently focusing on competitive CrossFit and marathon running. I completed my fastest marathon in 3:52:54 in Sydney and my best half-marathon in 1:44:46 at the Ruhr Region Marathon. Additionally, I enjoy dancing salsa, cooking, and exploring the world with my partner. You can find my personal blog (in German) at downunder.erikbuchholz.de.

Awards & Scholarships

Education

  • PhD Candidate at UNSW Sydney (expected completion 2024)
  • Master Computer Science at RWTH Aachenwith distinction
    • Final Grade: 1.0 (German Grading System)
    • Study Focus: IT Security, Cryptography, Internet Technology, Seminar on App Fingerprinting
    • Master’s Thesis: Privacy-Preserving Exchange of Process Parameters
    • Applied Course: Business Administration
  • Study Abroad at University of Technology Sydney for one year
    • Grade 1.0/HD with ≥95% in all subjects
  • Bachelor Computer Science at RWTH Aachenwith distinction
    • Final Grade: 1.1 (German Grading System)
    • Study Focus: Advanced & Mobile Internet Technology, Seminar on Privacy
    • Bachelor’s Thesis: A User-controlled Data Market for Privacy-preserving Data Analyses
    • Applied Course: Physics
  • German Abitur at Albert-Schweitzer-Gymnasium with overall degree 1.0
    • Focus Subjects: Physics, Maths, Chemistry.

(Academic) Service & Leadership

Qualifications & Courses

Languages

  • German: Native speaker
  • English: Fluent in speech and writing (both theses in English)
  • Spanish: CEFR Level B2

Personal Interests

Curriculum Vitae

Personal Blog