We’re thrilled to announce that Paul Gerhart has received a prestigious 2025 Global Google PhD Fellowship!

The Google PhD Fellowships recognize outstanding graduate students who are conducting exceptional and innovative research in computer science and related fields, specifically focusing on candidates who seek to influence the future of technology. The program provides financial support for their PhD pursuits and connects each Fellow with a dedicated Google Research Mentor, reinforcing Google’s commitment to nurturing the academic community. Google PhD Fellows are an exceptional group of scholars recognized by Google researchers and their institutions as some of the most promising young academics in the world. These fellowships are awarded to students who embody the future of research in their respective fields — in Paul’s case, Privacy, Safety, and Security.

Congratulations, Paul, on this outstanding achievement!

About Paul

Paul Gerhart is a doctoral researcher at TU Wien Informatics, where he is supervised by Dominique Schröder, Professor and Head of the Research Unit Privacy Enhancing Technologies. His research focuses on the design and formal analysis of advanced cryptographic protocols that strengthen privacy and security in real-world systems. In particular, he works on threshold cryptography, password-based cryptography, and partially-oblivious pseudorandom functions (PoPRFs). His goal is to bridge the gap between cryptographic theory and practice by developing protocols that are both provably secure and deployable into existing infrastructures.

Before joining TU Wien, Paul completed his M.Sc. in Computer Science at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), where he specialized in cryptography and cybersecurity, and his B.Sc. in Mathematics at the University of Bonn, focusing on algebraic topology.

His work has been published at leading venues in cryptography, including CRYPTO, EUROCRYPT, ASIACRYPT, and PoPETS. To connect theoretical research with practical relevance, Paul develops open-source prototypes that demonstrate the deployability of cryptographic constructions and collaborates internationally through research internships with Prof. Thomas Ristenpart at Cornell Tech (New York), Prof. Anna Lysyanskaya at Brown University (Providence), and Prof. Jonathan Katz at the University of Maryland (College Park).

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