Decentralized Systems Group

Alexei Zamyatin

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• Phone: +43 (1) 505 36 88
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Research Interest

His research focuses on the security, sustainability and scalability of proof-of-work blockchains, as well as on cross-blockchain information and asset exchange. Recent work also includes empirical analysis of blockchain data, evaluation of fairness in mining pools and modeling of miner behavior.

Short Bio

Alexei received a master’s degree in Software Engineering and Internet Computing and a bachelor’s degree in Software and Information Engineering at the Vienna University of Technology. He is currently working towards his Ph.D. degree on the analysis, modeling and extension of proof-of-work blockchain protocols at the Imperial College London.

Aljosha Judmayer

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• Phone: +43 (1) 505 36 88
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Research Interest

His research focuses on cryptocurrencies and their underlying technologies and consensus mechanisms.

Short Bio

Aljosha Judmayer is security analyst and researcher at SBA Research. His research focuses on cryptocurrencies and their underlying technologies and consensus mechanisms. He received an M.Sc. in Software Engineering and Internet Computing from TU Wien. Currently he is working towards his Ph.D. degree on foundations and applications of distributed ledger technologies (i.e., blockchains). His research interests include network security, resilience aspects of distributed systems, and systems security.

Nicholas Stifter

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• Phone: +43 (1) 505 36 88
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Research Interest

His research focuses on the security and sustainability as well as fundamental principles of block chain technologies and smart contracts.

Short Bio

Nicholas Stifter received a master’s degree in Computer Science Management with distinction and a bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering from Vienna University of Technology. He is currently working towards a Ph.D. on security and maintainability aspects of block chain technologies and smart contracts and his research interests include Nakamoto consensus, distributed agreement protocols and computing education for distributed systems topics.

Philipp Schindler

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• Phone: +43 (1) 505 36 88
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Research Interest

His current research focuses on the area of blockchain technologies and their underlying principles. He has a particular interest on the topics of scalability, privacy and consensus algorithms.

Short Bio

Philipp Schindler received his master’s degree in Software Engineering & Internet Computing from the Vienna University of Technology with distinction. Along side his studies he gathered 2 years of experience working as informatics teacher and IT system administrator. In 2015/2016 he was accepted for the university’s high potential program TUtheTOP. In his studies and during the work on his master thesis he focuses on the areas of software engineering, IT security and blockchain technologies.

Andreas Kern

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• Phone: +43 (1) 505 36 88
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Research Interest

His current research focuses on the area of blockchain technologies and their underlying principles. He has a particular interest on the topics of Payment Channels and Simulation of Bitcoin networks.

Short Bio

Andreas Kern is working on his bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering & Internet Computing from the Vienna University of Technology. Along side his studies he gathered several years of experience working in StartUps with functional and non-functional languages. Since 2011 he is also a member of Bitcoin Austria, a non-profit organization with the purpose of informing the public about Bitcoin and act as a point of contact for news outlets and government agencies.

Simin Ghesmati

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• Phone: +43 (1) 505 36 88

Research Interest

Simin’s research interest focuses on Blockchain privacy.

Short Bio

Currently, Simin is working on Blockchain privacy techniques and their usability as her PhD thesis at TU Wien. Previously, Simin worked as a standard expert, developing standards in the field of IT security. She also worked as a project manager in Tarbiat Modares University. Simin received her master’s degree in IT Engineering from Tarbiat Modares University.

Georg Merzdovnik

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• Phone: +43 (1) 505 36 88
• PGP ID: 0x2788B752
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Research Interest

His research interests focus on software protection techniques as well as hardware and mobile security.

Short Bio

He received a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and a master’s degree in Software Engineering and Internet Computing from the TU Wien with a special emphasis on IT security. He is currently teaching graduate and undergraduate courses on computer security at the TU Wien and the University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten.

Edgar Weippl

• E-Mail
• Phone: +43 (1) 505 36 88

Research Interest

His research focuses on applied concepts of IT-security and e-learning.

Short Bio

After graduating with a Ph.D. from the TU Wien, Edgar worked in a research startup for two years. He then spent one year teaching as an Assistant Professor at Beloit College, WI. From 2002 to 2004, while with the software vendor ISIS Papyrus, he worked as a consultant in New York, NY and Albany, NY, and in Frankfurt, Germany. In 2004 he joined the TU Wien and founded the research center SBA Research together with A Min Tjoa and Markus Klemen. Edgar R. Weippl (CISSP, CISA, CISM, CRISC, CSSLP, CMC) is member of the editorial board of Computers & Security (COSE), organizes the ARES conference and is General Chair of SACMAT 2015, PC Chair of Esorics 2015, General Chair of ACM CCS 2016, and PC Chair of ACM SACMAT 2017.

Walid Fdhila

• E-Mail
• Phone: +43 (1) 505 36 88

Research Interest

Walid’s interests include fundamental and applied research on Blockchain, service computing, business process management and modeling, process compliance, change management and distributed computing.

Short Bio

Walid received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Nancy, France (now University of Lorraine). He was a member of SCORE research group at the LORIA -INRIA research center (now COAST research group). He was also a teaching assistant at one of the leading French engineering Grandes Écoles – Mines Nancy – and at Polytech Nancy. Walid received his master’s degree with distinction in distributed systems and communication networks from the University of Lorraine, France.

Yvonne Poul

• E-Mail
• Phone: +43 (1) 505 36 88

Short Bio

She is currently working towards an MBA in Entrepreneurship & Innovation from the WU and TU Vienna. She received a bachelor’s degree in Tourism Management from the University of Applied Sciences Zittau / Görlitz in 2013.