Associate Professor in Computer Science specialising in Cybersecurity

We are now looking for an Associate Professor who will strengthen and complement the department's cybersecurity research environment through internationally visible and technically rigorous research. The research may cover foundational or applied aspects of cybersecurity. The successful candidate is expected to contribute to the long-term development of a leading international cybersecurity research environment.

The Department of Information Technology holds a leading position in both research and education at all levels. We are currently Uppsala University's third largest department, have around 350 employees, including 100 teachers and 130 PhD students. Approximately 5,000 undergraduate students take one or more courses at the department each year. You can find more information about us on the Department of Information Technology website.

Cybersecurity is the department’s newest research programme, established as part of strategic initiatives. The department conducts internationally recognized research across a broad range of cybersecurity areas, with particularly established strengths in software and web security and hardware security, as well as research activities in secure systems, network and information security, programming language security, trustworthy AI, federated learning, and cyber-physical security.

The new Associate Professor will have the opportunity to establish their own research group in cybersecurity, strengthening growing research activities or initiating new directions complementary to well-established strengths in cybersecurity. The position has a generous starting package with additional research time during a limited period and funding for one PhD student.

Subject area

Cybersecurity is a broad area of computer science, with connections to several adjacent disciplines. It concerns the protection of information systems, and the data, services, and operations they support, against unauthorized access, manipulation, disclosure, and disruption.

The subject encompasses research on the security of different layers and components of information and computing systems. Relevant research areas include, but are not limited to, systems and network security, malware and threat detection, software and application security, cryptography, hardware security, data security and privacy, and secure data processing and storage. Cybersecurity research also addresses security challenges and opportunities associated with evolving technologies and computing paradigms, including AI for cybersecurity, security and privacy of AI systems, cyber-physical systems, and IoT security. Human-centered aspects of cybersecurity are also within the subject area.

Duties:

You will work with:

• research. You will conduct foundational and technically rigorous cybersecurity research and contribute to the continued development of a leading international cybersecurity environment. The position offers the opportunity to help shape and strengthen a growing research team with active collaborations across computer science and related disciplines. Duties include publishing in leading international venues, supervising students and junior researchers, and actively applying for and obtain external research grants.
• teaching. Teaching includes responsibility for courses, course administration, and supervision of doctoral students. The position offers the opportunity to create new courses and participate in teacher teams involved in cybersecurity.
• administration. Participate in the general academic duties of the Department of Information Technology. This includes serving on committees, taking on responsibilities beyond your own research and teaching assignments, contributing to the evaluation and development of teaching and research activities, working collaboratively with colleagues, and providing support and constructive feedback to colleagues.
• keeping up to date in your subject area and following developments in society that are relevant to your work at Uppsala University.

In choosing between eligible candidates, emphasis will primarily be given to both research and teaching expertise, which will be accorded equal weight. In addition, attention will be given to administrative, management and collaboration expertise.

Qualifications required

You must have:

• a PhD (within computer science or a similar field).
• research expertise in cybersecurity, demonstrated through an internationally visible research profile of excellent scientific quality. In addition to academic qualifications, research qualifications from other activities may also be taken into account, such as development of technology and capacity for innovation.
• teaching expertise, according particular weight to experience with computer science courses. In addition to academic qualifications, educational and instructional qualifications from other activities may also be taken into account, such as supervision, internal training or mentoring programmes.
• completed at least ten weeks of teacher training for higher education of relevance to the organisation and its activities, or be considered to have acquired the equivalent knowledge. The required training for teachers in higher education may be completed during the first two years of employment if there are special reasons.
• a documented ability to teach in Swedish or English.
• an ability to work with other people and otherwise meet the demands of suitability required to perform the duties well.
• an ability to link research to teaching, based on the subject concerned, subject didactics and teaching and learning in higher education, and to interact on issues of teaching and learning in higher education with actors within and outside the University.
• a documented ability to obtain external grants in competition.
• demonstrated scientific impact.
• research and teaching expertise or other professional expertise. The teaching expertise, research expertise and professional expertise must be relevant to the subject area and the duties that the position involves.

Other desirable/valuable qualifications

It is valuable if the applicant has:

• research expertise in areas of cybersecurity that complement existing strengths and contribute to growing or new research directions with internationally visible research. Particular emphasis is placed on scientific quality and research contributions published in leading international venues in cybersecurity, such as ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security, IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, USENIX Security Symposium, Network and Distributed System Security Symposium, or equivalent.
• teaching expertise, according particular weight to experience in cybersecurity courses.
• leadership roles within the international cybersecurity research community, including conference organization, program committee service, or editorial responsibilities.
• administrative experience in developing courses and curricula and running educational programmes.
• documented management expertise. Developing, coordinating and leading operations and staff.
• documented collaboration expertise. Interacting with the wider community, disseminating and exchanging information and translating research and development results into practical benefits.

For more information on assessment and assessment criteria, see the Appointment Regulations for Uppsala University and the Faculty of Science and Technology’s Guidelines for the Appointement and Promotion of Teachers.

All qualifications must be documented in a manner that makes it possible to assess both their quality and their scope.

In this recruitment, the University will give primary consideration to the candidate who, following a qualitative overall assessment of their competence and expertise, is judged to have the best potential to perform and develop the relevant duties and to contribute to the positive development of the department/equivalent.

Application

Parental leave, part-time work due to childcare, trade union responsibilities, military service or similar activities are treated as work experience and should be listed in the CV.

Instructions for applications for employment

About the position: 
This is an open-ended appointment (a probationary period may apply). The position is full-time. Starting date 15 August 2027 or as agreed. Place of work: Uppsala

Further information about the position is available from: Christian Rohner, +46 70-167 93 61, christian.rohner@it.uu.se and André Teixeira, +46 18 471 54 14, andre.teixeira@it.uu.se
We look forward to receiving your application by 4 December 2026, UFV-PA 2026/2794.

In the event of any disagreement between the English and the Swedish versions of this announcement, the Swedish version takes precedence.

We offer you

Sweden offers good working conditions, including comprehensive social benefits such as generous family-focused policies that make healthcare, childcare, and children’s education available and highly affordable. At Uppsala University, we offer the opportunity for new international staff to learn Swedish through our language courses. If you have family, they will get new contacts and support through the Uppsala International Citizen hub.

If you are an international candidate, you will find a lot of information about working and living in Sweden at http://www.uu.se/joinus.