My PhD Pursuit - E01 - Surveypaper
This article is the first one after a long break without any content, and the first one in a new series.
As part of a series, I want to describe my experiences with my PhD project.
The other articles will be found under the tag PhD.
The start of my doctoral project and my doctoral position #
In February (2024), I started my PhD position at Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation GmbH.
The doctoral position is organised as part of an industrial doctorate with the University of Leipzig.
The last few months I have been focussing on this new challenge (which is why I have not published any new content here).
As part of my PhD project, I am working on the topic ‘Formal verification of security properties of complex software architectures during the development process’.
I am therefore working in the field of formal verification and formal methods in the context of IT security for the automotive sector.
Context analysis and Surveypaper #
A doctorate is not a sprint; in contrast to a manageable piece of work within a relatively limited framework such as a master's thesis, a doctorate as a project is difficult to define right from the start. Basically, a doctorate is more of a marathon. As specified by my doctoral supervisor and the doctoral regulations of Leipzig University, I need to write a monolithic dissertation at the end of the doctoral project and do not publish cumulatively. Nevertheless, it is very useful to already have publications during the doctorate in order to receive feedback from the scientific community in the context of peer reviews and to enter into dialogue.
Also in contrast to my previous scientific theses, the topic of this doctorate was not initially finalised and clearly defined, (which is generally also not the case). Particularly due to the scope of a PhD pursuit and the circumstances of the industrial doctorate, the initial topic was kept quite open. I have therefore used the last few months to specify the topic of my doctorate. At the same time, as recommended by my doctoral supervisor and as is standard procedure, I have already started to analyse the environment of the subject area in order to identify (relevant) existing scientific work. The main goal is to identify relevant topics for my own research and publications.
I set myself the goal of creating a survey paper in order to proceed in a structured manner. I realised this project together with a co-author from Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation. This survey paper on the application of formal verification in the field of automotive diagnostic security analyses relevant publications and identifies areas that have already been researched. In addition to further research questions, blind spots in research were identified in particular.
As part of the Datamod workshop (12th International Symposium, Datamod 2024, From Data to Models and Back), I was able to present the survey paper as a presentation report to the scientific community after a peer review and receive feedback on it. At the same time, I was able to attend my first scientific conference, which gave me a lot of relevant input. The paper is available for download on the workshop website.
Further research and follow-up papers #
What happens now?
The Surveypaper provided me with the necessary input and direction to start working on my own contribution.
With the presentation of the Surveypaper, I was already preparing and working on the next publication.
The aim is to be able to submit the next paper to a conference in Q1/25.