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Bell Labs internship on Cryptography-Friendly Media Processing Using ML Techniques (PhD)

Nokia

Nokia

Marketing & Communications, Software Engineering, Data Science
Belgium
Posted on Dec 12, 2025

As trust is increasingly a critical concern in distributed systems, cryptographic techniques like Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP), and Multi-Party Computation (MPC) provide mechanisms to ensure trustworthy computation. However, their computational cost typically scales with the volume of data processed, which poses major challenges when processing media content like audio or video.

In this project, you will investigate methods to operate directly on compressed media formats within cryptographic frameworks. You will explore the design of novel media formats that are amenable to cryptographic deployment, using machine‑learning techniques to automatically find optimized media representations.

This project is at the intersection of research in Machine Learning, media codecs, and applied cryptography. We especially welcome applicants with a background in ML. Ideally, this internship can become an application case of your research and can become an integral part of your PhD, as well as result in a paper.


Advancing connectivity to secure a brighter world.

Nokia is a global leader in connectivity for the AI era. With expertise across fixed, mobile and transport networks, powered by the innovation of Nokia Bell Labs, we’re advancing connectivity to secure a brighter world.



About the Business Group

The Strategy and Technology organization drives Nokia’s future innovation by identifying value-creation opportunities, setting a unified company vision, and developing coherent business, technology, and architecture strategies. It establishes a research foundation for new products and solutions while providing critical infrastructure to support secure and effective execution across all Nokia business units.

Nokia Bell Labs, the world-renowned industrial research arm of Nokia has pioneered breakthrough foundational technologies over the past 100 years like the transistor, laser, Unix, and solar cell - shaping modern communications, computing and connectivity. Today, it drives innovation in AI, quantum computing, 6G, and space communications, bridging groundbreaking research to real-world applications with meaningful impact on society. With ten Nobel Prizes and five Turing Awards, Nokia Bell Labs continues to define the future of technology.


Our recruitment process

We act inclusively and respect the uniqueness of people. Our employment decisions are made regardless of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by law. We are committed to a culture of inclusion built upon our core value of respect.

If you’re interested in this role but don’t meet every listed requirement, we still encourage you to apply. Unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences enrich our teams, and you may be just the right candidate for this or another opportunity.

The length of the recruitment process may vary depending on the specific role's requirements. We strive to ensure a smooth and inclusive experience for all candidates. Discover more about the recruitment process at Nokia.

Some of our benefits:
  • Flexible and hybrid working schemes
  • Well-being programs to support your mental and physical health
  • Opportunities to join and receive support from Nokia Employee Resource Groups (NERGs)
  • Employee Growth Solutions to support your personalized career & skills development
  • Diverse pool of Coaches & Mentors to whom you have easy access
  • A learning environment which promotes personal growth and professional development - for your role and beyond


Acquire direct experience at the intersection of machine‑learning systems and cryptographic research by contributing to the development of methodologies tailored to the secure and efficient processing of audio and visual media using advanced primitives such as fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), zero‑knowledge proofs (ZKPs), and secure multiparty computations (MPC). #machine-learning #fully-homomorphic-encryption #zero-knowledge-proof #cryptography
  • Student enrolled in Ph.D. Computer Science/Engineering.

  • Proficient experience with contemporary machine‑learning methodologies and training pipelines.

  • A basic knowledge of FHE, ZKP, or MPC is advantageous.

  • A basic knowledge of media codecs is a plus.

  • Good programming skills in Rust, C, or C++ and in Python or Golang.

  • Language skills: English

  • You must relocate to Belgium for the duration of the internship.

  • This is a paid internship.


  • Acquire comprehensive familiarity with diverse audio and visual media codecs.
  • Conduct a critical evaluation of the computational overhead incurred when processing these formats using cryptographic protocols.
  • Employ machine‑learning–driven approaches to define novel media representations possessing characteristics conducive to secure cryptographic processing.
  • Consolidate your research in a scientific publication.