Department of Computer Science & Engineering

Dr. Awaneesh Kumar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, India. His research focuses on cybersecurity, applied cryptography, post-quantum cryptography (PQC), quantum key distribution (QKD), authentication protocols, AI security, large language model (LLM) security, 5G/6G security, Open RAN security, network slicing security, federated learning security, and privacy-preserving communication systems.

His research aims to develop provably secure, lightweight, and quantum-resilient security solutions for next-generation communication networks and intelligent systems. He has made significant contributions to the design, formal security analysis, and cryptanalysis of authentication and key agreement protocols for wireless networks, 5G/6G communications, network slicing, IoT systems, metaverse environments, federated learning, and cloud-edge infrastructures. More recently, his work has focused on integrating Post-Quantum Cryptography, Quantum Key Distribution, Zero-Knowledge Proofs, and Artificial Intelligence to build secure architectures for future communication networks.

Dr. Kumar has published extensively in leading journals and conferences, including IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Computing, IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, Computer Networks, and IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society. His research has also been presented at premier international conferences such as IEEE ICC, IEEE Globecom, IEEE CCNC, IEEE TrustCom, IEEE CNS, IEEE MASS, IEEE MetaCom, and IEEE NoF. His publication record includes contributions in classical cryptography, post-quantum cryptography, network slicing security, privacy-preserving federated learning, secure metaverse communication, blockchain-based authentication, and quantum-safe migration strategies.

He is currently leading research projects on quantum-safe authentication for 5G/6G network slicing, AI-powered security frameworks integrating Post-Quantum Cryptography and Quantum Key Distribution, and automated cybersecurity assessment systems. His research has been supported through competitive grants from ANRF, SPARC, MeitY, and other funding agencies.

Dr. Kumar actively collaborates with researchers from leading institutions worldwide, including University College Dublin (Ireland), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium), University of Surrey (United Kingdom), University of Oulu (Finland), Florida Institute of Technology (USA), Inria (France), CTTC (Spain), and Asia University (Taiwan). His long-term research vision is to advance secure, privacy-preserving, AI-enabled, and quantum-resilient communication technologies for future digital ecosystems.

Peer-reviewed Journals

1.  Awaneesh Kumar Yadav,  Ravi Kumar, An Braeken, Madhusanka Liyanage, “A Provably Secure Multifactor Authentication and Key Exchange Protocol with Anonymity for Next-Generation IoT,” In IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, (DOI: 10.1109/TNSM.2026.3696671) [H-INDEX-119, Q1, Impact Factor: 5.7].
2. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, An Braeken, Madhusanka Liyanage, "A Provably Secure Lightweight Three-Factor 5G-AKA Authentication Protocol Relying on an Extendable Output Function," in IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, vol. 23, pp. 2396-2414, 2026, doi: 10.1109/TNSM.2026.3656167, [H-INDEX-119, Q1, Impact Factor: 5.7].
3. Awaneesh  Kumar Yadav, Madhusanka. Liyanage and An Braeken, "An Improved and Provably Secure EDHOC Protocol Supporting the Extended Canetti–Krawczyk (eCK) Security Model," in IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, vol. 23, pp. 4724-4736, 2026, doi: 10.1109/TNSM.2026.3690530, [H-INDEX-119, Q1, Impact Factor: 5.7].
4.  An Braeken, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Jorge Munilla "A Practical Transition to Post-Quantum Security in 5G-AKA," In IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics & Security, [H-INDEX-182, Q1, Impact Factor: 8.7], (DOI: 10.1109/TIFS.2025.3632234).
5. An Braeken, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, "Cryptanalysis of post-quantum key exchange schemes based on the hardness of the Inhomogeneous Small integer solution (ISIS) problem," In IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, [H-INDEX-116, Q1, Impact Factor: 10.9] (DOI: 10.1109/TCE.2025.3633324)
6.  Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, An Braeken “Efficient Privacy-Preserving 5G Authentication and Key Agreement for Applications (5G-AKMA) in Multi-access Edge Computing”In IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management [H-INDEX-119, Q1, Impact Factor: 5.7] ( DOI: 10.1109/TNSM.2025.3635876)
7. Eshika. Choudhary, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Ravi Kumar and Madhusanka Liyanage, "A Practical Approach to Transitioning 5G-AKA Toward Fully and Hybrid Post-Quantum Security for 5G and Beyond Communication," in IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, vol. 7, pp. 2980-2999, 2026, doi: 10.1109/OJCOMS.2026.3677962, [H-INDEX-67, Q1, Impact Factor: 6.1].
8. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Shalitha Wijethilaka, Madhusanka Liyanage, “Blockchain-based Cross-Operator Network Slice Authentication Protocol for 5G Communication” In IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, Volume: 22, Issue: 4, Page(s): 3106 - 3119, 2025, DOI: 10.1109/TNSM.2025.3562874, [H-INDEX-85, Q1, Impact Factor: 5.4]
9. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, “SKAP-NS: A Symmetric Key-Based Authentication Protocol for 5G Network Slicing”, In IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, Volume: 20, Issue: 11, Page(s): 13363 - 13372, 2024, DOI: 10.1109/TII.2024.3435535 [H-INDEX-214, Q1, Impact Factor: 11.7]
10. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Mohammed Shojofar, An Braeken, “iVFAS: An Improved Vehicle-to-Fog Authentication System for Secure and Efficient Fog-based Road Condition Monitoring,” In IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Volume: 73, Issue: 9, Page(s): 12570 - 12584, 2024, doi: 10.1109/TVT.2024.3390607, [H-INDEX-236, Q1, Impact Factor: 7.1]
11. Shalitha Wijethilaka, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, An Braeken, Madhusanka Liyanage, “Blockchain-Based Secure Authentication and Authorization Framework for Robust 5G Network Slicing” In IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, Volume: 21, Issue: 4, Page(s): 3988 - 4005, 2024, DOI: 10.1109/TNSM.2024.3416418, [H-INDEX-
    85, Q1, Impact Factor: 5.4]
12. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Manoj Misra, Pradumn Kumar Pandey, Pasika Ranaweera, Madhusanka Liyange, Neeraj Kumar “A Secure Authentication Protocol for IoT-WLAN using EAP framework,” IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, Volume: 22, Issue: 1, Page(s): 49 - 65, 2024, doi: 10.1109/TDSC.2024.3388467, [H-INDEX-107, Q1, Impact Factor: 7.5]
13. Shubham Kumar, Kanhaiya Kumar, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Abhishek Anand, An Braeken, Manoj Misra “iZKP-AKA: A Secure and Improved ZKP-AKA Protocol for Sustainable Healthcare,” In Computers and Electrical Engineering, Volume-122, Pages- 109886, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compeleceng.2024.109886, [H-INDEX-106, Q1, Impact Factor: 4.9]
14.  Engin Zeydan, Luis Blanco, Josep Mangues-Bafalluy, Suayb S. Arslan, Yekta Turk, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, and Madhusanka Liyanage “Blockchain-based Self-Sovereign Identity: Taking Control of Identity in Federated Learning,” In IEEE open journal of the communications society, Volume: 5, Page(s): 5764 - 5781, 2024, DOI: 10.1109/OJ-
    COMS.2024.3449692 , DOI: 10.1109/OJCOMS.2024.3449692 [H-INDEX-53, Q1,Impact Factor: 6.1]
15. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Shalitha Wijethilaka, An Braeken, Manoj Misra, Madhusanka Liyanage “An Enhanced Cross Network-Slice Authentication Protocol for 5G,” IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Computing, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 555-573, Oct.-Dec. 2023, doi: 10.1109/TSUSC.2023.3283615. [H-INDEX-37, Q1, Impact Factor: 3.908]
16. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, An Braeken, Manoj Misra, "Symmetric Key Based Authentication and Key Agreement Scheme Resistant Against Semi-trusted Third Party for Fog and Dew Computing," In Journal of Supercomputing, Volume 79, pages 11261–11299,2023, [H-INDEX-120, Q2, Impact Factor: 3.557]
17. Pasika Ranaweera, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Anca Delia Jurcut, Madhusanka Liyange “A Novel Authentication Protocol for 5G gNodeBs in Service Migration Scenarios ofMEC,” In IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, Volume: 21, Issue: 4,Page(s): 2930 - 2948,2023, 2023, doi: 10.1109/TDSC.2023.3320647. [H-INDEX-107,Q1, Impact Factor: 7.5]
18. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Manoj Misra, Pradumn Kumar Pandey and MadhusankaLiyanage "An EAP-Based Mutual Authentication Protocol for WLAN connected IoT devices,"IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 19(2), pp.1343-1355, 2022. [H-INDEX- 214, Q1, Impact Factor: 11.7]
19. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Manoj Misra, Pradumn Kumar Pandey, An Braeken, Madhusanka Liyanage, “An improved and provably secure symmetric-key based 5G-AKA Protocol” In Computer Networks, 218, p.109400, 2022. [H-INDEX-166, Q1, Impact Factor : 5.6]

                                                                         Conferences

1. Yash Pasrich, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Manoj Misra, Mohammad Shojafar, “A Provably Secure Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol for 5G and Beyond Network Slices Supporting Cross-Slice Authentication,” IEEE Conference on Standards for Communications and Networking (CSCN 2026), London, United Kingdom, 2026. (Camera Ready Submitted).
2. Ritam Dutta, Rudra Pratap Singh, Sushant Wayal, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Onkar Garg, Manoj Misra, “Practical Evaluation of ML-KEM and FrodoKEM for Post-Quantum Secure Cross-Network Slice Authentication in 5G Network Slicing,” IEEE Conference on Standards for Communications and Networking (CSCN 2026), London, United Kingdom, 2026. (Camera Ready Submitted).
3. Vishal Kumar, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Pradumn Kumar Pandey, Manoj Misra, Madhusanka Liyanage, An Braeken, “Zero-Touch Mobility Data Governance with Differential Privacy in ZSM-Based Vehicular Edge Services,” 21st ACM ASIA Conference on Computer and Communications Security (ACM ASIACCS 2026), 2026. (Poster; CORE A*).
4. Abdullah Aydeger, Engin Zeydan, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Madhusanka Liyanage, “Security Evaluations of Post-Quantum Cryptographic Primitives Against Quantum and AI-Based Attacks,” IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC 2026), Glasgow, Scotland, UK, 24–28 May 2026. 
5. Abdullah Aydeger, Engin Zeydan, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Madhusanka Liyanage, “Post-Quantum Public Key Infrastructures: Hybrid Certificates, Cryptographic Combiners, and Migration Strategies,” IEEE Consumer Communications & Networking Conference (CCNC 2026), Las Vegas, NV, USA, 2026. 
6. Onkar Garg, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Ravi Kumar, Atul Anand, Sugata Gangopadhyay, “Post-Quantum Resistant Key Exchange Protocol for SSH Transport Layer Using SplitKEM,” IEEE Cyber Security in Networking Conference (CSNet), Abu Dhabi, UAE. 
7. Shivam Patel, Ravi Kumar, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Manoj Misra, “A Secure D2D 5G-AKA Protocol with Anonymity Resistance and Perfect Forward Secrecy,” 22nd IEEE International Conference on Mobile Ad-Hoc and Smart Systems (MASS 2025), Chicago, USA, 2025. (CORE: B).
8. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Eshika Choudhary, Onkar Garg, Madhusanka Liyanage, “Post-Quantum Secure Lattice-Based 5G-AKA Protocol Resistant to Malicious Serving Networks with Perfect Forward Secrecy,” IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security (IEEE CNS), Avignon, France. (Accepted; Security Tier-2 Conference).
9. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, “A Post-Quantum Secured Authentication Protocol for the Metaverse,” IEEE International Conference on Communications (IEEE ICC 2025), Montreal, Canada, 8–12 June 2025. (Core Rank: Qualis A2).
10. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Mohammad Shojafar, An Braeken, “A Provably Secure Post-Quantum Based EDHOC Protocol,” IEEE Consumer Communications & Networking Conference (CCNC 2025), Las Vegas, NV, USA, 2025. DOI: 10.1109/CCNC54725.2025.10976053. (CORE B).
11. Engin Zeydan, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Pasika Ranaweera, Madhusanka Liyanage, “Securing IoT with Resilient Cloud-Edge Continuum,” International Conference on Intelligent Computing, Communication, Networking and Services (ICCNS 2024), Dubrovnik, Croatia, 2024. DOI: 10.1109/ICCNS62192.2024.10776405.
12. Shalitha Wijethilaka, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, An Braeken, Madhusanka Liyanage, “Privacy-Preserving Federated Learning Framework for Open Radio Access Networks (O-RAN),” IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM 2024), Cape Town, South Africa, 2024. DOI: 10.1109/GLOBECOM52923.2024.10901104. (Qualis A1).
13. Shree Chand Khichar, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Manoj Misra, Brij B. Gupta, “An Enhanced Authentication Protocol for IoT-AmI Environment,” International Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing (IWCMC 2024), Ayia Napa, Cyprus, 2024. DOI: 10.1109/IWCMC61514.2024.10592483. (CORE B).
14. Abdullah Aydeger, Engin Zeydan, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Kasun T. Hemachandra, Madhusanka Liyanage, “Towards a Quantum-Resilient Future: Strategies for Transitioning to Post-Quantum Cryptography,” 15th International Conference on Network of the Future (NoF 2024), Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain, 2024. DOI: 10.1109/NoF62948.2024.10741441.
15. Madhusanka Liyanage, Pawani Porambage, Engin Zeydan, Thulitha Senevirathna, Yushan Siriwardhana, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Bartlomiej Siniarski, “Advancing Security for 6G Smart Networks and Services,” Joint European Conference on Networks and Communications & 6G Summit (EuCNC/6G Summit 2024), Antwerp, Belgium, 2024. DOI: 10.1109/EuCNC/6GSummit60053.2024.10597131.
16. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Pradumn Kumar Pandey, Kuljeet Kaur, Satinder Singh, Abbas Bradai, “PSLP-5G: A Provably Secure and Lightweight Protocol for 5G Communication,” IEEE International Conference on Communications (IEEE ICC 2023), Rome, Italy, 28 May–1 June 2023. DOI: 10.1109/ICC45041.2023.10279330. (Qualis A2).
17. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, An Braeken, Manoj Misra, Madhusanka Liyanage, “A Provably Secure and Efficient 5G-AKA Authentication Protocol Using Blockchain,” 20th IEEE Consumer Communications & Networking Conference (CCNC 2023), pp. 1110–1115, Las Vegas, NV, USA, 2023. DOI: 10.1109/CCNC51644.2023.10059918. (Qualis B1).
18. Shalitha Wijethilaka, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, An Braeken, Madhusanka Liyanage, “Blockchain-Based Decentralized Multi-Party Certificate Management Framework,” 22nd IEEE International Conference on Trust, Security and Privacy in Computing and Communications (TrustCom 2023), Exeter, UK, 2023. DOI: 10.1109/TrustCom60117.2023.00186. (CORE B).
19. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, An Braeken, Manoj Misra, Madhusanka Liyanage, “A Secure Blockchain-Based Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol for 5G Roaming,” 22nd IEEE International Conference on Trust, Security and Privacy in Computing and Communications (TrustCom 2023), Exeter, UK, 2023. DOI: 10.1109/TrustCom60117.2023.00181. (CORE B).
20. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, An Braeken, Mika Ylianttila, Madhusanka Liyanage, “A Blockchain-Based Authentication Protocol for Metaverse Environments Using a Zero-Knowledge Proof,” IEEE International Conference on Metaverse Computing, Networking and Applications (MetaCom 2023), Kyoto, Japan, 2023. DOI: 10.1109/MetaCom57706.2023.00053.
21. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Manoj Misra, Pradumn Kumar Pandey, Kuljit Kaur, Sahil Garg, Madhusanka Liyanage, “LEMAP: A Lightweight EAP-Based Mutual Authentication Protocol for IEEE 802.11 WLAN,” IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC 2022), pp. 692–697, Seoul, South Korea, 2022. DOI: 10.1109/ICC45855.2022.9839094. (Qualis A2).
22. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Manoj Misra, Pradumn Kumar Pandey, Kuljit Kaur, Sahil Garg, Xi Chen, “A Provably Secure ECC-Based Multi-Factor 5G-AKA Authentication Protocol,” IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM 2022), pp. 516–521, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2022. DOI: 10.1109/GLOBECOM48099.2022.10001345. (Qualis A1).
23. Pasika Ranaweera, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Madhusanka Liyanage, Anca Delia Jurcut, “Service Migration Authentication Protocol for MEC,” IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM 2022), pp. 5493–5498, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2022. (Qualis A1).
24. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Manoj Misra, Madhusanka Liyanage, Gaurav Varshney, “Secure and User Efficient EAP-Based Authentication Protocol for IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN,” 17th IEEE International Conference on Mobile Ad Hoc and Sensor Systems (MASS 2020), pp. 576–584, IIT Roorkee, Delhi, India, 2020. (Qualis B1).
25. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Byomakesh Mahapatra, Shailesh Kumar, Ashok Kumar Turuk, “Multi-Layer Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol for Secured Data Transmission in C-RAN Protocols,” 15th IEEE India Council International Conference (INDICON 2018), pp. 1–6, IIT Madras, India, 2018.
26. Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Byomakesh Mahapatra, Ashok Kumar Turuk, “Secure Key Management and Authentication Protocol for Virtual-BBU in C-RAN,” International Conference on Vision Towards Emerging Trends in Communication and Networking (ViTECoN 2019), pp. 1–5, 2019.
27. Byomakesh Mahapatra, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Shailesh Kumar, Ashok Kumar Turuk, “Privacy Preservation and Authentication Protocol for BBU-Pool in C-RAN Architecture,” in Safety, Security, and Reliability of Robotic Systems, CRC Press, pp. 181–193, 2020.
28. Byomakesh Mahapatra, Ashok Kumar Turuk, Niranjan Ray, Awaneesh Kumar Yadav, Shailesh Kumar, “H-RAN: An Approach Toward Cloud-RAN Load Balancing,” International Conference on Information Technology (ICIT 2018), pp. 216–220, 2018.

1. AI-Powered Zero-Knowledge Proof-Based Security Framework Integrating PQC and QKD for Next-Generation 5G/6G Networks
   Funding Agency: Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC)
   Sanctioned Amount: ₹1,02,24,000
   Role: Main Principal Investigator (PI)
   Status: Ongoing
2. Quantum-Safe Authentication Solutions for Network Slicing in 5G and Beyond Communications
   Funding Agency: Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) – Early Career Research Grant (ECRG)
   Sanctioned Amount: ₹39,22,080
   Role: Principal Investigator (PI)
   Status: Ongoing
3. Automated System for Cybersecurity Policies, Assessments, Audits, Ranking and Incident Response (IR)
   Funding Agency: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India
   Total Project Amount: ₹6.90 Crore
   IIT Mandi Share: ≈ ₹10 Lakh
   Role: Joint Investigator (PI from IIT Mandi)
   Status: Awarded during tenure at IIT Mandi
4. Post-Quantum Secure Zero-Knowledge-Based Authentication Mechanism for Accessing 6G Network Slicing Services
   Funding Scheme: SEED Grant, IIT Mandi
   Sanctioned Amount: ₹15,00,000
   Duration: February 2025 – February 2027
   Role: Principal Investigator (PI)
   Status: Awarded during tenure at IIT Mandi

                               Academic Experience

Assistant Professor

Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, India
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
May 2026 – Present

Assistant Professor

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Punjab, India
School of Artificial Intelligence and Data Engineering (sAIDE)
December 2025 – May 2026

Assistant Professor

Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, India
School of Computing and Electrical Engineering (SCEE)
November 2024 – December 2025
Affiliate Faculty, Centre for Quantum Science and Technologies (CQST)

Postdoctoral Researcher

University College Dublin (UCD), Dublin, Ireland
School of Computer Science
April 2024 – October 2024
ROBUST-6G Project · Funded by the European Union (EU)

                             Academic & Research Offers

Postdoctoral Research Position — Offered

National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore
Under the supervision of Prof. Biplab Sikdar

Visiting Researcher — Offered

Asia University, Taiwan
International Center for AI and Cyber Security Research and Innovations (CCRI)
January 2024 – February 2027

                                         Education

Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India
July 2019 – April 2024
Supervisors: Prof. Manoj Misra and Prof. Pradumn Kumar Pandey

M.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering

National Institute of Technology Rourkela, India
Specialization: Information Security
2017 – 2019

B.Tech. in Information Technology

Dr. Ambedkar Institute of Technology for Handicapped, Kanpur, India
2012 – 2016

Honors & Academic Service

1. PMRF Performance Evaluation Reviewer — Invited to review the performance of Ph.D. scholars from IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras, and IIT Patna, December 2025.
2. Member of Conference Organiser Committee, CVIP 2025 — Served as an organiser for the 10th International Conference on Computer Vision & Image Processing (CVIP 2025), IIT Ropar, 10–13 December 2025.
3. Technical Program Chair, SecureNet 2025 — Invited to serve as Technical Program Chair for the SecureNet 2025 Hackathon under the Computer and Network Security theme of ISEA Project Phase III (MeitY), IIT Roorkee, August 2025.
4. PMRF Performance Evaluation Reviewer — Invited to review the performance of a Ph.D. scholar at IIT Ropar, June 2025.
5. Event Organizer, SECURENET — Served as an organizer for the 2nd Summit on Security and Privacy in Future Mobile Networks (SECURENET), University College Dublin, Ireland, 21 May 2024.

Invited Talks

1. ZHAW, Switzerland — Invited research talk during a faculty research visit, hosted by Prof. Gürkan Gür and Prof. Christian Badertscher, July 2026.
2. Inria, France — Invited research talk during a faculty research visit, hosted by Dr. Valeria Loscri, July 2026.
3. VUB, Belgium — Invited research talk during a faculty research visit, hosted by Prof. An Braeken, July 2026.
4. IIT Roorkee — Invited lecture on “Practical Implementation of Post-Quantum Cryptography with Quantum Key Distribution,” August 2025.
5. IIT Roorkee — Invited lecture on “Post-Quantum Cryptography,” June 2025.
6. IET Lucknow — Invited talk, June 2025.
7. IIT Tirupati — Invited talk on “Building Tomorrow: Security in the Age of AI, Quantum and 6G,” April 2025.
8. AITH Kanpur — Invited talk, December 2024.
9. Trinity College Dublin, Ireland — Invited research talk in the laboratory of Prof. Hitesh Tiwari, December 2024.
10. IIT Roorkee — Invited talk on “Securing the Future: AI, Privacy and Zero-Touch Networks,” August 2024.
11. VUB, Belgium — Invited talk on “6G Security,” September 2023.

Courses Taught

1. CSO 101: Computer Programming — IIT (BHU), Varanasi, 2026.
2. CSE 202: Digital Logic Design and Microprocessors — IIT (BHU), Varanasi, 2026.
3. AI502: MLOps Lab — IIT Ropar, Spring 2026. Jointly taught with other faculty members.
4. CS523: Applied Cryptography — IIT Ropar, Spring 2026.
5. CS521: Introduction to Post-Quantum Security — IIT Mandi, Autumn 2025.
6. CS515: CS Practicum — IIT Mandi, Autumn 2025. Course Coordinator.
7. Minor in Computer Science and Engineering — IIT Mandi, Autumn 2025.
8. DS404: Information Security and Privacy — IIT Mandi, Spring 2025.

Course Proposed

CS521: Introduction to Post-Quantum Security — Proposed and developed at IIT Mandi; offered in Autumn 2025.

IIT (BHU), Varanasi

1. Convener, Department Faculty Meeting — Department of Computer Science and Engineering, 2026–Present.
2. Member, Department Undergraduate Committee (DUGC) — Department of Computer Science and Engineering, 2026–Present.
3. Member, Department Finance/Budget Committee (DFBC) — Department of Computer Science and Engineering, 2026–Present.
4. Member, Department Seminar/Conference Committee (DSCC) — Department of Computer Science and Engineering, 2026–Present.
5. Member, Department Web Committee (DWC) — Department of Computer Science and Engineering, 2026–Present. 

IIT Ropar

6. Member, B.Tech. AI & Data Engineering Academic Committee — Contributed to the development and finalization of the academic questionnaire through committee consensus, 2026.

IIT Mandi

7. Faculty Advisor for UG and PG Students — Including students admitted to the B.Tech. CSE programme in AY 2025.
8. Member, Advisory Committee on AI Tool Utilization Policy.
9. M.Tech. CSE Laboratory Coordinator — School of Computing and Electrical Engineering (SCEE).

Ph.D. Scholars

M.S./M.Tech. (Research) Scholars

M.Tech. Students

B.Tech. Project Supervision

Three B.Tech. Project (BTP) Groups — Supervised undergraduate research/project groups at IIT Mandi.

External Ph.D. Committee

Ravi Kumar — External Committee Member representing Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium, for a Ph.D. scholar jointly affiliated with IIT Roorkee and VUB, Brussels.

International Collaborations

1. Prof. Suayb S. Arslan — Boğaziçi University / Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA — Since July 2024
2. Prof. Abdullah Aydeger — Florida Institute of Technology, USA — Since July 2024
3. Dr. Valeria Loscri — Inria, France — Since July 2024
4. Prof. Mohand Yazid Saidi — Institut Galilée, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, France — Since September 2024
5. Prof. Mohammad Shojafar — University of Surrey, United Kingdom — Since January 2023
6. Prof. Madhusanka Liyanage — University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland — Since January 2020
7. Prof. An Braeken — Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium — Since July 2021
8. Prof. B. B. Gupta — International Center for AI and Cyber Security Research and Innovations, Asia University, Taiwan — Since July 2019
9. Prof. Kuljeet Kaur — École de Technologie Supérieure (ÉTS), Montreal, Canada — Since July 2022
10. Dr. Pawani Porambage — VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland — Since July 2023
11. Prof. Pasika Ranaweera — University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland — Since January 2021
12. Dr. Engin Zeydan — Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC), Spain — Since July 2023
13. Prof. Mika Ylianttila — University of Oulu, Finland — Since July 2022
14. Prof. Gürkan Gür — Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Switzerland — Since July 2026
15. Prof. Christian Badertscher — Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Switzerland — Since July 2026

Email: awaneesh.cse@iitbhu.ac.in
Email is the preferred mode of communication. Please use phone calls only for urgent matters.

I am looking for highly motivated Ph.D. students and research/project staff interested in working in the broad areas of:

• Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) and Quantum-Safe Security
• Authentication and Key Agreement Protocols
• 5G/6G and Network Slicing Security
• Drone / Internet of Drones (IoD) Security
• Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and Hybrid PQC-QKD Security
• Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP)
• AI/ML for Cybersecurity and Network Security

Ph.D. Opportunities

Motivated students interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in cybersecurity, post-quantum security, and future network security are encouraged to contact me. Students with a strong background or interest in cryptography, network security, programming, AI/ML, or communication networks are particularly welcome.

Project Positions

Applications are also invited for research/project positions under my ANRF-sponsored research project on quantum-safe security for 5G and beyond networks.

Interested candidates may send their CV, academic background, research interests, and a brief description of their motivation by email.

Email: awaneesh.cse@iitbhu.ac.in

Email is the preferred mode of communication. Please call only for urgent matters.