I am looking to work with students from all background (first generation students, and students from underrepresented and marginalized groups are encouraged to apply) and at all level (undergraduate students, master’s students, and PhD students). Please, visit the prospective applicant page on UBC website and on the CS website. You can also find information about: financial support, application fee waivers, minimum requirements for admission into graduate studies, and minimum English proficiency requirements. You may also look at this page which describes my expectations when working with graduate students. Finally, you should have a look at UBC cost calculator.

Note: The Master of Science in Computer Science at UBC is a research degree. Students are expected to conduct research, submit papers for publication, and eventually write a thesis. You can find more information on the university website. While applications are not reviewed with the same expectations as those of PhD applicants, you should clearly demonstrate you have an interest and the capacity to conduct research.

A few facts

• You must apply online.
• Do check the application deadline on UBC’s website.
• The department starts processing applications in January for the next academic year.
• Students are admitted by the department, not by individual faculty members.
• Master and PhD applications are reviewed by the same committee. The PhD track is ideal for candidates who ultimately want to do a PhD, but do not feel ready yet.
• Even if you are well fitted for my group, I cannot guarantee admission.

Before applying

• Have a look at my publications.
• Identify matching interests.
• Understand that I will not supervise students outside of my area of expertise.
• Find a set of papers which aligns with your interests.
• Read the abstracts.
• Read at least one paper in full.

What to address in your statement of intent?

• Check the guidelines on the department website
• An SoI must address the three following points: 1) show you know what is research, 2) describe the research you have done, and 3) discuss what research you would like to do.
• The SoI is not about your life story.
• The relationship between a student and their advisor is an extremely important one and it will hopefully last for years.
• The commonality of interest should be clear from your statement.
• Listing half a dozen potential advisors from very different areas is most probably detrimental to your application.
• On the other hand, co-supervision is common and can be very positive.
• Therefore, link clearly potential advisors to your experience and your aspirations.
• Everything else being equal, an applicant that understands and shows why they should be working with a specific advisor are more likely to be successful.
• This is my personal opinion and may not be universally true.

If you get an offer letter

• Do not hesistate to get in touch to discuss specific details.
• Funding amounts on the offer letter is a guaranteed minimum, do contact me to discuss the actual amount.
• Apply for graduate accomodation as early as possible. Check the information online.

Contacting me

Don’t hesitate to contact me via e-mail if you have any questions or need further precision/information. If you are planning to apply, please, do so through the UBC system, if you select me as a potential supervisor in the online form, I will review your application. I cannot process applications sent via e-mail and I will not review application packages sent by e-mail. I do not process applications before the closing deadline (December 15th). Further, note that Systopia receive several hundred applications every year, and it takes a non-trivial amount of time to review them carefully. We aim (but cannot guarantee) for all applicants to hear back from us by mid-April.

UBC

• CPSC 538P: Topic in Computer Systems: Systems Security 2022-2023 Winter 2 (January)
• CPSC 436A: Operating Systems Design and Implementation 2022-2023 Winter 1 (September)

Bristol:

• COMS20012: Computer Systems B (Operating Systems & Security) 2020-2021 TB2
• COMSM0050: Systems and Software Security 2020-2021 TB1
• COMSM1500: Systems Security 2019-2020 TB1
• COMSM1500: Systems Security 2018-2019 TB1

• Soo Yee Lim (PhD student, UBC)
• Monowar Anjum (PhD student, UBC)
• Mayank Tiwary (MSc student, UBC) co-supervised with Ivan Beschastnikh
• Sadaf Sadeghian (MSc student, UBC) co-supervised with Mathias Lécuyer
• Nichole Boufford (MSc student, UBC)
• Jinyuan Liang (MSc student, UBC)
• Xuechun Cao (MSc student, UBC)

Past students (position held after graduation)

• Bogdan Stelea (MEng, Bristol), 2021, Software Engineer, Amazon.
• Josh Turner (MEng, Bristol), 2021, Software Engineer, Amiosec.
• Chetankumar Mistry (MEng, Bristol), 2020, Software Engineer, ARM.
• Xiaoxiao Wu (MSc, Bristol), 2020, Consultant, Deloitte.
• Yangyang Teng (MSc, Bristol), 2019, Data Analyst, Bloomberg.
• Ziying Shao (BSc, Bristol), 2019, UG Researcher, Beijing Institute of Big Data Research.