IEEE UK&I SPS, Early-Career Webinar: From Research to Funding Success: Secure UAV Communications and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship Experiences

#ECR #MSCA

Abstract

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA PF) is one of Europe's most prestigious and competitive funding schemes for early-career researchers. With the 2026 application deadline approaching in early September, this seminar includes a dedicated session on practical experiences of preparing a successful fellowship proposal, offering insights that will be valuable to prospective applicants.

Part I: Covert and Secure UAV Communications

Uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) have emerged as a flexible platform for supporting a wide range of low-altitude economy applications. However, due to the broadcast nature of wireless transmissions, UAV communications are inherently vulnerable to malicious detection, eavesdropping, and spoofing attacks. This part of the talk introduces recent advances in covert and secure UAV communications, including covert communication techniques, physical layer security, and physical layer authentication approaches for enhancing the security and resilience of UAV-enabled wireless networks.

Part II: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship Funding Experiences

Drawing on first-hand experience as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, this session will provide practical guidance on preparing a competitive MSCA PF proposal. Topics include developing a compelling research vision, structuring the proposal, demonstrating excellence, impact and implementation, common pitfalls, and practical tips for applicants. The session is intended for postdoctoral researchers, final-year PhD students, and early-career academics who are considering applying for MSCA PF or other competitive research fellowships.

Biography

Dr. Yi Zhou received the Ph.D. degree from The University of Sydney, Australia. She is currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow in the Dept of Computer Science at Brunel University of London, UK. Her research interests include integrated sensing and communication (ISAC), UAV communications, covert communications, and physical layer security. She serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE Wireless Communications Letters and received the Best Paper Award at the IEEE PIMRC 2023 conference.