Serious Business

I am an assistant professor at the Department of Computer Science of Aalto University since July 2022.

Research

My research interests in cryptography include succinct zero-knowledge argument systems, decentralised anonymous systems such as anonymous cryptocurrencies, homomorphic secret sharing, and password-based cryptography. I also work on multichannel source coding, a young sub-area in information theory. A list of my publications can be found at dblp or Google Scholar or Aalto. Brief descriptions of selected results are available on this page. My doctoral dissertation is publicly available here.

In addition to the above, one of my main research directions is to bridge the gap between pairing-based and lattice-based cryptography. I am also looking for collaborators to work on (provable) steganography, covert communication, or other topics.

Teaching

I will be teaching a course in lattice-based cryptography in Spring 22/23.

I am looking for interns, master students, and PhD students. If you are interested, send me an email.

Academic Services

I am serving/served as a PC member in the following conferences:

• 2023: CT-RSA
• 2022: SCN

Academic Degrees

• Ph.D. in Computer Science, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, 2022
• MPhil. in Information Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2017
• B.Sc. in Mathematics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014
• B.Eng. in Information Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014

Not-So-Serious Business

If you find me in the wild but are not in the mood of research, I’d be happy to talk about anything below or other topics.

I am from Hong Kong. Cantonese is our mother tongue and we write in traditional Chinese. I speak fluent English, limited German, and minimal Finnish and Japanese.

I chose the name Russell myself, as is customary in Hong Kong. Although the alternative spelling “Russel” with only one “l” exists, I’d be happy to keep both of the l’s.

I was a Venture (Hong Kong) and Rover (Germany) Scout leader. I was awarded a Wood Badge (Venture Scout, Hong Kong) in 2017.

I am a practitioner of historical fencing, in particular (German) longsword and Iaido.

I practise an ancient musical instrument known as Guqin. If you know or can think of a good English name for the instrument, please enlighten me.

I am an amateur photographer and audiophile. I am one of the very few users of Sony A-mount, and am happy to take care of your equipment should you decide to abandon them like Sony did.

I like hiking, bouldering, and kayaking.

I view (video and other) games as an art form. Yes, professors game too.