Thesis x CISPA
Saarbrücken, St. Ingbert, Dortmund, Hannover, Hamburg; Germany
Are you passionate about cybersecurity, privacy, or trustworthy AI?
CISPA—the world’s leading cybersecurity research center—offers top-tier supervision for Bachelor’s and Master’s theses in collaboration with our partner universities.
Your thesis can contribute to solving major challenges in the digital age—whether through foundational research or real-world applications at the intersection of computer science and adjacent fields like medicine, law, or the social sciences.
Thesis x CISPA info sessions:
Join our regular Thesis x CISPA info sessions to learn more about the exciting opportunities available!
While attendance isn’t required for writing a thesis with CISPA, these sessions offer valuable insights into current thesis topics proposed by our Faculty. You’ll also get the chance to meet our researchers, ask questions, and explore how your interests could align with their work.
Info Session
The next “Thesis x CISPA” info session will take place on Friday, 6th February 2026 (from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m.) in Building E9 1 in the Lecture Hall (introduction) and Room 0.01 & 0.02 (poster session and networking):
- 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.: Introduction and poster session
- 12 p.m. – 1 p.m.: Finger food and networking
If you want to attend the info session please register here.
If you found a topic you're interested in please reach out to the respective faculty individually or find them at our info session.
Examples of recently completed theses with CISPA
- J. L. B. Flueren, “Fuzzing for Application-Layer Loop Vulnerabilities”, Bachelor’s Thesis, Department of Computer Science, Technische Universität Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany, 2024.
- T. Hornetz, "Execute-Only Memory as a Security Hardening Feature on x86-64", Master's thesis awarded with the G DATA Study2Protect Award 2024, Department of Computer Science, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2024.
- F. van Rissenbeck, “Side-Channel Resistant ML Classifiers via In-Memory Processing”, Bachelor’s Thesis, Department of Computer Science, Technische Universität Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany, 2024.
- R. Wiesen, “Selective Permissions for Android's SDK Runtime”, Bachelor's Thesis, Department of Computer Science, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2024.
- N. Langius, "Exploring Fuzzing Techniques for Bootloader Security", Master's Thesis, Department of Computer Science, Leibnitz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany,2024.
All theses were made available with permission by the respective students and their supervisors.
Frequently Asked Questions / FAQ
Students enrolled at one of our partner universities (Saarland University, Leibniz University Hannover, University of Hamburg, and TU Dortmund) can write a thesis with CISPA supervision.
Check out our research topics and find possible supervisors via our recommender system (above). Submit this short web form (link above) to let us know you’re interested in a thesis with CISPA supervision. We will then get back to you to discuss your thesis topic.
Once you have found a CISPA supervisor and a topic for your thesis, your thesis needs to be registered at your university. CISPA will provide you with more detailed information on this process.
There are many reasons why you should write your thesis with us:
Become a part of groundbreaking research: You'll dive into cutting-edge topics and work closely with world-class researchers who can pave your way into the international scientific community.
Make your work count: Your thesis could contribute to publications and be presented at top-tier conferences around the world.
Get recognized for excellence: Theses supervised by CISPA are eligible for the CISPA Best Thesis Award—as well as awards granted by other institutions.
Just send an email to thesis@cispa.de. We’re happy to answer your questions!
CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security is a German national Science Institution within the Helmholtz Association and provides a unique work environment that offers the advantage of a university department and a research laboratory alike. CISPA's mission is to rethink the digitized world of the future from the ground on up an make it safer through innovative cutting-edge research. CISPA is committed to the highest international academic standards. We offer a world-class research environment that grants extensive resources to a wide range of researchers and constitutes an attractive destination for the best talents and scientists from all countries. CISPA provides a highly international and diverse working environment, currently hosting researchers of over 40 nationalities.
CISPA headquarter is located in Saarbrücken, in the tri-border area of Germany, France and Luxembourg. The CISPA campus is located close to Saarland University, known for its excellence in Computer Science & Cybersecurity programs; the Max Planck Institute for Informatics and the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems; the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI); and more.
For more information about CISPA, see https://cispa.de/en
About CISPA
