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I am a PhD candidate in the Information Security & Privacy (ISPri) Research Group at the School of Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney. My current research focuses on applying privacy to graphs. More broadly, my research interests involve applications of algorithms, heuristics, and machine learning for addressing ethical concerns such as privacy, security, fairness and safety. Additionally, I hold a strong interest in education.

Education

  • Doctor of Philosophy, in Computer Science & Engineering | The University of New South Wales, 2025–2029 (Expected).
    • Candidature confirmed.
    • Topic: Applications of Differential Privacy to graphs
    • Competitive, merit-based scholarships funded by the Commonwealth of Australia and CSIRO’s Data61 (see Awards).
    • Participant in the Australian Graduate School of Engineering Industry PhD Program.
    • Supervised by Prof Salil Kanhere (UNSW Sydney) and Dr Surya Nepal (CSIRO’s Data61 & UNSW Sydney).
  • Master of Information Technology, in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science & Engineering, with Excellence | The University of New South Wales, 2022–2024.
    • High Distinction Weighted Average Mark (WAM) (≈ 4.0/4.0 GPA).
    • Double specialisation, with a focus on topics from algorithms, machine learning, data science, and data engineering.

Publications

  • Nicholas D’Silva, Surya Nepal, Salil S. Kanhere, “SoK: Practical Aspects of Releasing Differentially Private Graphs,” to appear in ASIA CCS ‘26. Paper, Code.
  • Nicholas D’Silva, Toran Shahi, Øyvind Timian Dokk Husveg, Adith Sanjeeve, Erik Buchholz, and Salil S. Kanhere, “Demystifying Trajectory Recovery from Ash: An Open-Source Evaluation and Enhancement,” in 2024 17th International Conference on Security of Information and Networks (SIN), 2024, pp. 1–8. DOI, Paper, Code.

Teaching

  • COMP3444: Privacy Engineering | UNSW Sydney.
    • Involved in course development, particularly designing and developing tutorials/laboratory exercises and assessments.
    • Undergraduate – covers: threats and attacks; privacy-by-design; privacy-enhancing technologies; AI; usable privacy; etc.
  • COMP3121/9101: Algorithm Design & Analysis | UNSW Sydney.
    • Held a laboratory demonstrator role, providing one-on-one feedback to assist students, and marking assignments.
    • Undergraduate and postgraduate – covers: algorithmic paradigms; design methods; correctness; complexity.
    • Taught in 2026 Trimester 1, 2, 2025 Trimesters 1, 2, 3, and 2024 Trimesters 1, 2, 3.
  • COMP9020: Foundations of Computer Science | UNSW Sydney.
    • Held a tutor role, preparing teaching materials, delivering tutorials, and marking assignments.
    • Postgraduate – covers: discrete mathematics for computer science.
    • Taught in 2025 Trimester 1.

Awards

  • UNSW Development Research and Training Grant (2026)
  • CSIRO’s Data61 David Irvine Postgraduate Scholarship (PhD, top-up) (2026)
  • Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship (PhD, fully funded) (2025)

Presentations

  • Paper presentation of “Demystifying Trajectory Recovery From Ash: An Open-Source Evaluation and Enhancement” at the 17th International Conference on Security of Information and Networks, 2024 (SIN ‘24).
  • Poster presentation of “Demystifying Trajectory Recovery From Ash: An Open-Source Evaluation and Enhancement” at the 21st Annual International Conference on Privacy, Security, and Trust, 2024 Industry Day (PST ‘24).

Selected Professional Development

  • Flexible Network Design Workshop: Trends in Approximation and Online Algorithms | FOCS ‘25 Satellite Event, University of Sydney (2025)
  • Australian Summer School on Privacy | UNSW Sydney (2025)
  • Deep Learning Specialisation | DeepLearning.AI (Verified 2025)
  • Advanced Data Analytics Professional Certificate | Google (Verified 2025)
  • Social and Economic Networks: Models and Analysis Course | Stanford University via Coursera (Verified 2025)
  • Australasian Summer School: Recent Trends in Algorithms | University of Sydney (Attended 2024)
  • Discrete Optimization Course | the University of Melbourne via Coursera (Verified 2023)
  • Cybersecurity Professional Certificate | Google (Verified 2023)
  • Mathematics for Machine Learning Specialisation | Imperial College London via Coursera (Verified 2022)
  • Computer Science for Artificial Intelligence Professional Certificate | HarvardX (Verified 2022)

A complete list of all professional development activities, including those not directly relevant to this page, is available here.