Nalini Joshi

This postdoctoral fellowship at Monash University is part of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Mathematics for Quantum Era Security & Trust (MathQuEST), a collaborative research centre focused on mathematics for quantum-era security. The role is based at Monash’s Clayton campus in Melbourne and sits within a research-intensive environment that brings together investigators across multiple Australian universities and international partners. The project centers on post-quantum cryptography, with a particular emphasis on designing privacy-preserving cryptographic protocols using lattice-based cryptography. The fellow will work on frontier problems in applied cryptography, contributing to the development of advanced protocols and privacy tools intended for high-value real-world applications such as blockchain and secure messaging systems. The position is supervised by Professor Ron Steinfeld and connected to the broader MathQuEST Centre led by Professor Nalini Joshi. The advert highlights a collegiate, inclusive, and collaborative research culture, with opportunities to engage with chief investigators across the Centre, develop communication skills, participate in outreach, and receive mentoring and training. The wider centre environment is interdisciplinary, international, and strongly oriented toward research impact, publication, and translation of mathematical ideas into secure technologies. The role includes independent and collaborative research, implementation and analysis of lattice-based cryptographic methods, publication in leading cryptography and security venues, and presentation of findings at academic and industry forums. It also offers occasional interaction with postgraduate students in the field.

This Research Fellow position is based in the School of Mathematics in Monash University’s Faculty of Science and is part of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Mathematics for Quantum Era Security & Trust (MathQuEST). The project sits at the intersection of dynamical systems, computational mathematics, and quantum computing, with a focus on whether variational quantum circuits can act as useful surrogate models for nonlinear dynamical systems. The successful researcher will investigate low-dimensional benchmark systems first, starting with systems of ordinary differential equations, and then extending the work to related nonlinear oscillators and chaotic attractors. A key part of the project is to compare two modelling strategies: directly learning the one-step evolution map, and learning the underlying vector field before numerical integration. The broader aim is to understand when hybrid quantum-classical models can provide useful representational or algorithmic advantages for scientific machine learning in nonlinear dynamics. The role is embedded in MathQuEST, an Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence led by Professor Nalini Joshi, with guidance from Warwick Tucker and collaboration with Chief Investigators across the Centre. The position is based at Monash University’s Clayton campus and includes regular contact with MathQuEST researchers at other universities. The Centre is framed around collaborative, interdisciplinary mathematics for the quantum era, with a strong emphasis on inclusive research culture, outreach, mentoring, and training.