PhD student in AI Security
Back to available jobsWe are looking for a highly talented and motivated Ph.D. candidate to join our research team in the cutting-edge area of AI security, on the topic of “Memory Poisoning in LLM Agents: Foundations, Attacks, and Defenses”.
Your work assignments
Large language model (LLM) agents represent the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, integrating LLMs with external tools and memory components to execute complex reasoning and decision-making tasks. These agents are increasingly deployed in domains such as healthcare, finance, cybersecurity, and autonomous vehicles, where they interact dynamically with external knowledge sources, retain memory across sessions, and autonomously generate responses and actions. While their adoption brings transformative benefits, it also exposes them to new and critical security risks that remain poorly understood. Among these risks, memory poisoning attacks pose a severe and immediate threat to the reliability and security of LLM agents. These attacks exploit the agent’s ability to store, retrieve, and adapt knowledge over time, leading to biased decisions, manipulation of real-time behavior, security breaches, and system-wide failures. The goal of this project is to develop a theoretical foundation for understanding and mitigating memory poisoning in LLM agents.
This position, funded by the Swedish Research Council (VR), offers an exciting opportunity to work at the forefront of AI security, tackling some of the most pressing challenges in the field.
As a PhD student, you devote most of your time to doctoral studies and the research projects of which you are part. Your work may also include teaching or other departmental duties, up to a maximum of 20 percent of full-time.
Your qualifications
You have have graduated at Master’s level in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or Applied Mathematics with a minimum of 240 credits, at least 60 of which must be in advanced courses in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or Applied Mathematics. Alternatively, you have gained essentially corresponding knowledge in another way. The requirement for a degree must be met no later than the time the employment decision is finalized, which occurs when the employment contract is signed.
Applicants must demonstrate strong mathematical maturity and programming skills, and have an excellent ability to communicate in English, both orally and in writing. Furthermore, you should be able to work independently, be goal-oriented, and have strong problem-solving skills. You should also be clear in your communication and able to collaborate effectively with others.
Your workplace
You will be based in the Division for Communication Systems (KS), Department of Electrical Engineering (ISY), Linköping University. The Division for Communication Systems carries out research, undergraduate and postgraduate education in communications engineering, statistical signal processing, network science, and decentralized machine learning. Welcome to read more about us at: https://liu.se/en/organisation/liu/isy/ks.
For more information about working at ISY, please visit: https://liu.se/en/article/open-positions-at-isy.
You will become a key member of a dynamic and ambitious research team across Linköping University (Asst. Prof. Khac-Hoang Ngo), Chalmers University of Technology (Prof. Alexandre Graell i Amat), and Recorded Future (Dr. Johan Östman). Our team currently consists of 5 PhD students and 2 postdocs. Research visits to Chalmers and Recorded Future will be organized throughout the Ph.D.
Linköping University is ranked 43rd globally in AI research, 12th in Europe, and recognized as leading in Sweden in the field, according to Vinnova’s report about strategic technologies for Sweden. In addition, Linköping has been awarded “Student City of the Year” in Sweden three times.
The employment
When taking up the post, you will be admitted to the program for doctoral studies. More information about the doctoral studies at each faculty is available at Doctoral studies at Linköping University.
The employment has a duration of normally four years’ full-time equivalent. Extension of employment up to five years is based on the degree of teaching and institutional assignment. Further extensions may be granted in exceptional circumstances. You will initially be employed for one year, after which your employment will be renewed for a maximum of two years at a time, depending on your progress through the study plan.
Starting date by agreement, but no earlier than February 1, 2026.
Background screening may come to be carried out before any decision on employment is made.
If you have questions about being a Ph.D. student at ISY, please contact isyphdcouncil@groups.liu.se or ask us. We would be happy to put you in contact with one of our current Ph.D. students.
Salary and employment benefits
The salary of PhD students is determined according to a locally negotiated salary progression. Your starting salary will be at least 36,400 SEK/month.
You will enjoy all employee benefits, including a pension. More information about employment benefits at Linköping University is available here.
Union representatives
Information about union representatives, see Help for applicants.
Application procedure
Apply for the position by clicking the “Apply” button below. Your application must reach Linköping University no later than January 12, 2026.
Applications and documents received after the date above will not be considered.
We look forward to receiving your application!
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