Secure Provenance for AI Agents
Securing Provenance in Distributed AI Agent Systems
Published on the 08 October 2026 by UNSW Scientia PhD Project
This project is part of the UNSW Scientia PhD Scholarship Scheme
Successful applicants will receive an annual stipend and a one-off Global Mobility Grant to conduct international engagement activities.
AI agents increasingly use tools, delegate tasks and collaborate across digital platforms. But when something goes wrong, how can we establish what happened, which agents were involved and whether their records can be trusted?
This project will develop secure provenance mechanisms to trace and verify actions and information flows in distributed AI agent systems. The research will investigate how to represent agent activities, protect records against manipulation and false attribution, and verify evidence efficiently across different platforms and trust boundaries. Proposed methods will be evaluated in realistic workflows under operational constraints and adversarial conditions.
The successful candidate will work with researchers at UNSW and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, combining expertise in trustworthy AI, cybersecurity and distributed systems. A planned research placement at HKUST will support international collaboration and systems development. The project aims to enable more accountable, secure and reliable AI automation for industry and society.
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- Residency: Domestic applicants only.
- Degree program: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).
You must meet the minimum requirements below to apply:
- An appropriate Bachelor degree with first or upper second class Honours from UNSW: OR
- A completed Master by Research, with a substantial research component and demonstrated capacity for timely completion of a high-quality research thesis; OR
- a qualification from another tertiary institution at a level considered equivalent by the Faculty Higher Degree Committee (HDC)
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Eligible applicants must contact the Primary Supervisor, Jiaojiao Jiang - z3531783@ad.unsw.edu.au. If she agrees to supervise you, you will be invited to submit a formal application to UNSW.
Your email should include:
- CV
- Official academic transcripts
- A brief introduction about you and why you are qualified for this project.
- What interests you about this project and the supervisor(s) expertise.
Research project overview
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Scholarship value
$39,991 per annum (2027 rate) stipend for 3.5 years
$25,000 Global Mobility Grant (one-off) -
Supervisory team
Dr Jiaojiao Jiang (UNSW, Primary Supervisor)
Dr Hammond Pearce (UNSW, Co-Supervisor)
Professor Kai Chen (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Co-Supervisor)
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Global research partner
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Candidate residency
Domestic
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Degree program
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
UNSW School | Research area
Faculty of Engineering | School of Computer Science and Engineering
Impact focus area
Pillar 7: Advance economic & social prosperity
Learn more
Supervisors
Do you have questions?
The UNSW Graduate Research School manages all postgraduate research applications and scholarships. Get in touch with our team to discuss your research interests and the next steps.