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Research:
Supervision
Providing guidance to Honours, MSc, MIT and PhD students
After obtaining my PhD Computer
Science degree in 2003, I started my research career in supervising postgraduate
Honours, Masters and Doctoral Students. Two of my colleagues (Prof
Martin Olivier and Prof Jan Eloff)
and I founded the Information and Computer Security
Architectures (ICSA) Research Group in 2003 at the
University of Pretoria. Prof Eloff has left
the University and I am now heading ICSA. I am supervisor to
many of our students. Currently, a
number of students already completed their studies successfully under my
supervision. However, some
current MSc and PhD students are finalising their dissertations adn theses.
If you read this page in an interest
to study under my supervision, you are welcome to contact
me. However, you should familiarise yourself with the following minimum
requirements before doing so:
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You should have good writing
skills in English and, even if you do have good writing skills, be willing
to have your work scrutinised by a professional English language editor. I can
point you to people whom I know to assist you in this regard.
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You should have passion for
research and be highly motivated.
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You should be interested in
my research areas or research area closely
related to that. If, however, you have a general interest in security and
you are not exactly sure which particular area to focus on, you are still
welcome to come and speak with me. We have quite a number of research
questions readily available in the ICSA Research Group.
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I also require that you
present me with a one-page research proposal clearly indicating your problem
statement. Email this to me before
you make an appointment with me.
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If you plan to commence
full-time studies, we will provide you with a workstation in our ICSA
postgraduate computer lab where you can work full time on your studies in a
secure environment. However, we also would require you to attend weekly
research meetings when we (the supervisors) and all the other student
members from the ICSA Research Group meet. These meetings proved to be a
valuable source of information to successfully complete your studies at
ICSA, and is therefore compulsory for full-time students and should be
frequently attended by part-time students.
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I also require that, during your
entire period of study, you should publish at least one conference paper and
one journal paper when pursuing MSc studies. This requirement is double for PhD study.
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The following are requirements
as stipulated by our Faculty:
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For MSc study, you should
have obtained an Honours degree (or an equivalent 4-year degree) with an
average of at least 65% for all your subjects at any university in South
Africa.
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For a PhD degree, you should
have obtained an MSc degree with an average of at least 75% at any
South African university.
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Should you be a foreign
student with a qualification outside of South Africa, we will also
require a SAQA certificate. Please go to
http://www.saqa.org.za/ and click
on the link
Evaluation of Foreign Degrees. Note that there are fees involved,
but it is a requirement.
There are also good opportunities for
bursaries. The University of Pretoria offers merit bursaries to the value of
approximately R20 000 (for full-time or part-time studies) should you, for
example, have an average of around 75% for your previous degree. The value of
this bursary is directly proportional to your average and distinctions in your
previous degree. ICSA also provide bursaries from a research grant funded by the
South African National Research Foundation (NRF).
Please enquire for more details
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