The Blavatnik School of Government is seeking to engage a casual Research Associate for its newly launched Oxford Programme for Cyber and Technology Policy (OxCTP).
The role
The casual Research Associate will have responsibility for:
- Reporting to the Co-Directors of OxCTP and assisting with substantive research tasks, including data collection and analysis.
- Conducting desk research for a project on securing advanced AI systems from cyber theft.
- Liaising with partners and stakeholders as part of project convenings and events.
This casual engagement will be for 12 weeks, with the possibility of renewal. We are looking for the successful candidate to start as soon as possible.
We estimate about 10 hours work per week, however hours may vary from week to week depending on project requirements.
Payment will be at Grade 6: between £18.80 and £21.35 per hour, depending on experience, plus hourly holiday pay (12.07%).
The role can be carried out remotely with optional visits to the Blavatnik School of Government. You must be based and have the right to work in the UK. Please contact recruit@bsg.ox.ac.uk should you have any queries.
Selection criteria
You will be judged against your ability to demonstrate the following:
Essential criteria:
- Ability to conduct postgraduate-level research in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Information Security, Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or a related field.
- Experience with securing AI systems, ML model training, and model deployment.
- Demonstrated record of advising non-technical stakeholders on technical topics.
- Ability to distil technical concepts into academic and/or policy writing.
Desirable criteria:
- Technical experience in security engineering, software engineering, firmware engineering, hardware engineering, or related fields.
- Understanding of advanced persistent threat (APT) tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and experience with defending against them.
- Familiarity with the AI/ML hardware and software stack.
- Familiarity with US and/or UK cybersecurity agencies, authorities, and policy development processes.
- Strong relationships and credibility in the AI security and/or cybersecurity fields.
How to apply
In you are interested in this opportunity, please email your application to recruit@bsg.ox.ac.uk with the subject “Application for casual RA (OxCTP)”.
Please include:
- your CV (no more than 2 pages);
- a brief cover letter/email addressing the selection criteria. Also include any constraints around availability (e.g. term dates, thesis deadlines, future commitments, etc.);
- an example of your written work on AI security or cybersecurity.
The closing date for applications is 12 noon (UK time) on Friday 19 September. Interviews are likely to be held remotely (via Ms Teams) during week commencing 29 September.