PhD Affiliate research spotlight | November

Each term members of the Data Science Institute’s PhD Affiliate Network are invited to share their research at our Research Spotlight events. Our speakers this month are Edward Plumb and Aristeidis Grivokostopoulos.

Emperical Mixnet Design

Edward Plumb, Department of Mathematics

Mixing networks (mixnets) are cryptographic protocols that enhance online privacy and anonymity but remain vulnerable to attacks compromising mixing nodes. We propose an empirical mechanism design framework to identify mixnet configurations that meet a designer’s objectives. Two models are introduced: heterogeneous mixnets, offering expressiveness but limited scalability, and homogeneous layer-wise mixnets, enabling practical large-scale analysis. By modelling attacker–defender interactions as a game, our framework informs mechanism designers how to balance cost and performance when deploying secure and efficient mixnets.

AI-powered coding tools used for writing a literature review – how?

Aristeidis Grivokostopoulos, Department of Economic History

What if you can use the tools available to software engineers, to be able to consume entire books? My demonstration will aim to show you how this is possible, applying the latest in semantic search, found in two leading IDEs. What can we learn from these approaches to search, that can be reproduced in an academic context? Is there scope for formalisation of this approach, in mechanically producing literature reviews? This demonstration also aims to update peers on the state of affairs of what is currently possible with LLMs, and to assess if agents can currently automate work in social sciences.

About the DSI PhD Affiliate Network

We invite doctoral researchers, from all departments across LSE, who have an interest in data science and artificial intelligence to join the DSI PhD Affiliate Network; whether you are interested in applications for your research, are studying the social scientific implications of AI and data or are working on fundamental methodologies, please sign up.

LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of the London School of Economics and Political Science.