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General Research Topics for PhD Applicants | General Information | How to write a good research proposal | Information on Tuition Fees | English Requirements for Full-Time Students | Visiting Students

General

Shujun is actively seeking PhD students who are interested in various topics in cyber security, privacy, cybercrime, human factors, and social media analytics. Click here to see a list of topics Shujun is currently offering to prospective PhD students.

Shujun is also actively seeking (visiting) UG/master's/PhD students who are interested in conducting short-term research projects under his supervision. This can be done either at the University of Kent physically or remotely via the Internet. In the past he has been working with many UG/master's students from different countries (UK, Germany, China mainland, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Australia, Malaysia) on various projects many of which led to great publications (e.g., his ACSAC 2010 paper with two Pakistani UG students, his SOUPS 2011 paper with two Pakistani master's students and his hPIN/hTAN paper at FC 2011 with a German Diploma student). Click here to see his recent publications for example topics of his current research interests.

Read below for more detailed information for both full-time PhD students and visiting students.

Full-time PhD Students

Funding Opportunities

Open PhD Studentships:

In your online application form, name "Shujun Li" as the supervisor to ensure your application will come to him for consideration.

• 1 University of Kent funded PhD studentship for all academics of the School of Computing at the University of Kent including Shujun
  • Full funding for a home (UK) or international student
  • GTAs (Graduate Teaching Assistants) have the following duties as part of the scholarship: work for 200 hours per annum in years 1 to 3, including teaching (maximum 96 contact hours per year) or demonstrating (maximum 130 contact hours per year) and related duties such as marking, preparation and examination.
  • Application deadline: Wednesday 15th February 2025 23:59 GMT.
  • More details about how to apply can be found here.

Note that some PhD studentships that are less connected to Shujun's research are also listed on other websites of the University of Kent. You may still apply for some of them and propose to work with Shujun as the supervisor.

• PhD studentships listed on the website of the School of Computing, University of Kent
• PhD studentships listed on the central website of the University of Kent: please filter the studentships by selecting "Postgraduate Research" and "School of Computing"

In addition to the studentships listed on this web page and the above web pages of the University of Kent, there are also other funding opportunities you may explore:

• European jointly supervised PhDs (Cotutelle) Scholarship: For EU nationals who want to stay at both the University of Kent and a university in another EU member state or accession country for a double degree (cotutelle).
• Commonwealth PhD Scholarships (for low and middle income countries): For nationals from a Commonwealth member state to pursue a PhD study in the UK. They have a deadline every year.
• PhD studentships funded by overseas governments, institutes and companies: Many organisations in overseas countries have funding schemes for PhD studies. If the country is not a EU member state, covering the tuition fees difference between overseas and home (UK/EU) rates will be sufficient for you to apply for our normal PhD studentships for UK/EU students (see above).
  • IBM PhD Fellowship Award program

General Information

If you are interested in discussing any Cyber Security related topics listed on this page for a PhD study with Shujun, please contact him with your CV, degree certificates and all transcripts, a research proposal on a topic you would like to work on, and desirably two reference letters (ideally all from your former academic supervisors) to discuss the next steps.

To be eligible for our PhD study, you need to hold a good first or master's degree. As a rule of thumb, a good first degree is an equivalent of 2:1 of the UK system, and a good master's degree is an equivalent to "with Merit" of the UK system (both the average mark and the dissertation mark).

To submit a formal application, please go to this web page and then click the "Apply Now" link at the top right corner. Name "Prof Shujun Li" as the supervisor you are interested in working with, and state which PhD studentship(s) you are applying for and if any external funding is available.

PhD students at the University of Kent's School of Computing normally start in September each year, and you should normally plan your application at least 6 months earlier. Note that calls for some studentships have a set deadline so you should check this web page regularly. In exceptional cases (e.g., when required by a funder), students can also start in January and October each year.

How to write a good research proposal?

It is common that you will be asked to write a research proposal independently to demonstrate your literature review and writing skills and general understanding of the subjects. The topic of your research proposal can be given by the academic you are applying to, or be proposed by yourself. Many supervisors prefer you propose your own topic and write a research proposal all by yourself as a starting point.

A research proposal should normally include the following components (unless there are specific guidelines for a call explaining how a research proposal should be written):

• Title
• Your full name and contact details: Please make sure your full name match the one on your formal application form and your signature in your emails to avoid confusion. It will also be good to include your application number so your application can be uniquely identified. For your email address, please make it a clickable so the supervisor can just click it to write an email to you. If you have a personal website or ResearchGate/LinkedIn/Google Scholar Citation profiles, please consider include them.
• Date: This should be the date of the last update. You may also want to include the date of the first version and a version number if you have sent multiple versions to potential supervisors.
• Abstract: This is optional but can highly recommended so your potential supervisors can quickly get an idea of what your want to do.
• Introduction: This is for you to explain the background/context of the topic and your personal motivation to study it.
• Related Work: This is a section for you to review related work, to demonstrate your understanding of what have been done by other researchers on different aspects of the selected PhD topic.
• Research Methodology: This is a section for you to explain how you currently plan to study the topic technically. You are expected to include some good technical details, in the context of related work in the Related Work section.
• Work Plan: This is a section for you to explain a timeline of your proposed PhD study, fitting into a period of 3-4 years depending on your personal circumstances (e.g., if your funding lasts for 3 years, make a 3-year plan; and if you have funding for 4 years, do a 4-year plan). In no case you should plan to finish in longer than 4 years because there is a expectation that by the end of the 4th year you should have submitted your PhD thesis for examination.
• References: This is a section for you to include all key references you used in your research proposal. Each reference should be cited at least once in the proposal. Pay attention to the format of references and ensure the full, correct and consistent citation information for each reference. When possible, include a URL so each reference can be checked by a single click.

Some useful guidelindes on how to write a good research proposals are listed below:

• Guidance from the Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge: https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk/admissions/phd/research-proposal
• Guidance from the University of Edinburgh: https://www.ed.ac.uk/files/imports/fileManager/HowToWriteProposal090415.pdf

Information about Tuition Fee

UK universities normally charges a tuition fee for all PhD students. The fee normally increases on a yearly basis and the more precise figure can be found at the University of Kent's fee information web page. To search for the relevant one for your study, please select the right year (the first year of your expected PhD study), click "Postgraduate" and then search for "Computer Science" and then look for the row marked with "PhD".

There are two different rates of the tuition fee:

• a lower home fee (£4,596 for the 2022/23 academic year): for students who meet the "home fee" status (roughly speaking, UK nationals or permanent residents in the UK, but some other people may also be entitled to pay home fees)
• a higher overseas fee (currently £21,200 for the 2022/23 academic year): for all the other students who do not meet the "home fee" status

Most PhD studentships provided by the University of Kent cover the "home fee" only, but many are open for non-home fee applicants as well. However, non-home fee applicants will have to bring external funding or self fund the fee difference (currently £16,000 for the 2021/22 academic year) to be able to have sufficient funding to do a PhD study.

From time to time, there will be some PhD studentships that can reduce the fee of non-home fee students to the home fee or waive the fee in full. This page will include information of such PhD studentships when they become available.

English Requirements

The English requirements for international students who need a visa to study the University of Kent's PhD in Computer Science can be found here. For most applicants, the following approved English tests apply:

• IELTS: 6.5 overall (with a minimum of 6.0 in each component)
• TOEFL iBT: 90 overall (with a minimum of 22 in R&S; 21 in W; 20 in L)
• PTE Academic: 62 overall with 60 in each subtest
• CAE/CAE/CPE: 176 overall (with a minimum of 169 in each component)

You do not need to have passed the above English requirements at the time of your application, but will need to pass it for converting your offer to an unconditional one and to apply for your visa. All UK universities have similar requirements on English, so we recommend you arrange an English test asap once you decide to start applying for doing a PhD study in the UK.

For students who do not need a visa to study in the UK (e.g., EU students), the English language requirement is here.

Visiting Research Students and Interns

Shujun also welcomes visiting research students and interns to work with him, particularly those who can visit for at least 6 months at the University of Kent. There are normally no funding from the UK for visiting students/interns, but many overseas governments and universities have funding schemes to encourage such visits to UK universities. If you can get such funding and are interested in doing a visiting study with Shujun, please contact him with the same material (CV, degree certificates and all transcripts, a research proposal, and desirably two reference letters) for discussing the next steps.

The University of Kent normally charges a tuition fee proportional to the period of your visit or a bench fee depending on your reason of visit. Such fees can however can be waived if we consider your case strong enough and strategically important for the University. Contact him if you have questions on this.

The English requirements for visiting students are defined in Article 6.3 of the University of Kent's Visiting Students Policy: "Divisions may use their discretion on the level of English language required of a Visiting Student; however, at a minimum all students must meet IELTS Level 5.5 (CEFR B2) in all four components (speaking, listening, reading and writing) as well as overall, unless a student is exempt from English language requirements as defined by UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI). Evidence of English language will be required for all Visiting Students requiring a Student visa unless the Visiting Student is from a UKVI majority English speaking country." Note that for visiting interns, different rules apply, so please contact Shujun for more details.