''你好'' from Chaoyun

Hello, my name is Chaoyun Li. I come from China. As you know, I am one of the 15 early stage researchers in ECRYPT-NET. Now I am a PhD student at COSIC, KU Leuven. I have received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in mathematics from Hubei University, Wuhan, China in 2012 and 2015, respectively. During my graduate research, I have been mainly working on FSR-based stream ciphers and focusing on the construction of maximum-length NFSRs.

I'd like to tell you my story with cryptography. In high school, I was fascinated by a novel written by the famous Chinese writer Mai Jia called Decoded, which is a moving story of a mathematical genius breaking enemy codes. The remarkable work of the genius also inspired me to major in mathematics. After completing a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics, the passion for cryptography led me to the research of cryptography. Now pursing a PhD in cryptography will serve as a foundation for my future career in the field of cryptography.

In the following three years, I will work on symmetric cryptanalysis under the supervision of Prof. Bart Preneel. I will develop new (mathematical and side-channel) attacks on symmetric-key algorithms. Hopefully, with our effort, we will have a better understanding of the analysis and design of symmetric-key algorithms.

I am looking forward to working with you. See you in Tenerife!