The Google PhD Fellowships recognize outstanding graduate students conducting exceptional and innovative research in computer science and related fields. Philipp is among 148 new PhD fellows across 38 countries selected this year through $13 million in funding from Google.org. Beyond direct financial support for doctoral studies, which gives researchers the freedom to pursue high-risk, high-reward foundational questions, every fellow is welcomed into a lifelong global peer network.

In his research Philipp focuses on security and privacy issues that arise in mobile and Web ecosystems, with a particular interest in mobile applications, browsers and in-app browsing, and the security of mobile user interfaces.

“We use our smartphones every day for banking, communicating with loved ones, working, and also accessing sensitive information. Security flaws can therefore affect millions of people and also give attackers a way to access our personal information or do things without our knowledge. What I’m trying to do is to find these problems before they can be abused, and then understand how our phones can be designed to prevent them,” explained Philipp. “This fellowship means the freedom to focus on the research I’m passionate about and it also shows that the research that happens here at TU Wien is recognized internationally at a top level,” he added.

“Every major leap in technology starts with a researcher asking a bold question long before the world sees the answer,” said Leslie Yeh, Director of Scientific Progress, Google.org. “The 2026 Google PhD Fellows are asking those questions today. With funding and a global community behind them, exceptional early-career scientists like Philipp at TU Wien have the freedom to pursue ambitious ideas and help build a stronger, more representative scientific landscape for everyone.”

Since 2009, the Google PhD Fellowship Program has supported more than 1,100 graduate students worldwide. Over the past 17 years, alumni of the program have gone on to become tenured professors, startup founders, open-source pioneers, and research leaders helping shape the future of technology.

Congratulations, Philipp, on this outstanding achievement!

Video Philipp Beer

About Philipp

Philipp Beer is a doctoral researcher at TU Wien Informatics in the Research Unit for Security and Privacy, where he is supervised by Marco Squarcina. His research focuses on investigating security and privacy issues that arise in mobile and Web ecosystems, with a particular interest in mobile applications, browsers and in-app browsing, and the security of mobile user interfaces. Before starting his PhD, he completed his MSc in Software Engineering and Internet Computing and his BSc in Software and Information Engineering at TU Wien.

A central theme of his work is taking a holistic view of the interaction between web content and mobile apps, rather than studying either in isolation. His research spans the discovery of new attack techniques, their systematic evaluation at scale, and the study of their practical impact on users. To this end, he combines vulnerability discovery and systems analysis with large-scale empirical measurements and human-centered studies.

His work has been published at leading computer security venues, including the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy and the USENIX Security Symposium, and has led to several CVEs as well as changes to widely deployed systems such as Android, Chrome, and Firefox.

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