CV

Cryptography researcher and group leader at KIT. My work spans functional encryption, anamorphic cryptography, verifiable computation, and privacy-enhancing technologies. Download the full CV using the link above.

Contact Information

Name Tapas Pal
Professional Title Group Leader, Secure Computation & Communication, KASTEL SRL, KIT
Email tapas.pal@kit.edu
Location Am Fasanengarten 5, Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg 76131

Professional Summary

Cryptographer working on the foundations and real-world deployment of advanced public-key encryption. I design provably secure functional, attribute-based, and registered encryption schemes that decentralize trust, make computation on encrypted data verifiable, and bring strong privacy guarantees to cloud platforms, digital infrastructure, and AI systems. Author of 20+ peer-reviewed papers at leading venues including Crypto, Eurocrypt, Asiacrypt, PKC, and the Journal of Cryptology.

Experience

  • 2024 - present

    Karlsruhe, Germany

    Group Leader, Secure Computation & Communication
    KASTEL Security Research Labs, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
    Lead a research group on privacy-enhancing technologies; research strategy, proposal coordination, and mentoring of early-career researchers.
  • 2022 - 2023

    Tokyo, Japan

    Postdoctoral Fellow
    Social Informatics Laboratories, NTT Corporation
    Computing on encrypted data and advanced functional-encryption primitives (host: Dr. Ryo Nishimaki).
  • 2023 - 2023

    St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Visiting Researcher
    Cyber Security Group, University of St. Gallen
    Supervised the project on multi-client attribute-based unbounded inner-product functional encryption.
  • 2021 - 2021

    Kolkata, India

    Visiting Scientist
    R. C. Bose Centre for Cryptology & Security, ISI Kolkata
    Functional encryption and its applications (host: Prof. Mridul Nandi).
  • 2021 - 2021

    Sunnyvale, USA

    Research Intern
    Cryptography & Information Security (CIS) Lab, NTT Research, Inc.
    Functional encryption (with Dr. Pratish Datta).
  • 2016 - 2021

    Kharagpur, India

    Junior & Senior Research Fellow
    Department of Mathematics, IIT Kharagpur
    Doctoral research in cryptography.
  • 2025 - 2025

    Germany

    Cryptography Consultant (pro bono)
    D11Z.Ventures GmbH & Co. KG
    Technical due-diligence on a password-less access-control platform (MyCena); startup evaluation and advisory.
  • 2025 - 2025

    Germany

    Cryptography Consultant (pro bono)
    D11Z.Ventures GmbH & Co. KG
    Technical due-diligence on cryptographic image-authenticity technology (TrustNXT); startup evaluation and advisory.

Education

  • 2016 - 2021

    Kharagpur, India

    Ph.D.
    Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
    Cryptography
    • Advisor: Prof. Ratna Dutta.
    • Thesis: Designing Provably Secure Advanced Cryptographic Primitives — Witness Encryption, Fully Homomorphic Encryption, and Functional Encryption.
    • Defended 6 October 2021.
  • 2014 - 2016

    Kharagpur, India

    M.Sc.
    Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
    Mathematics
  • 2011 - 2014

    Kolkata, India

    B.Sc.
    Scottish Church College, University of Calcutta
    Mathematics (Honours)

Awards

  • 2023
    Competing Position Offers
    University of St. Gallen & University of Klagenfurt

    Senior Researcher, Cyber Security Group, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland; and Senior Scientist / Lecturer, Cyber Security Research Group, University of Klagenfurt, Austria.

  • 2021
    ERCIM Postdoctoral Fellowship
    European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics, NTNU, Norway
  • 2016
    Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), Mathematical Sciences
    University Grants Commission (UGC), India
  • 2014
    Joint Admission Test for M.Sc. (JAM), Mathematics
    IITs / IISc
  • 2014
    Seven merit medals & prizes for excellence in Mathematics
    Scottish Church College, Kolkata

    2013–2014. Including the Krishnalal De Medal (best performance in Mathematics), Pravat Kr. Ghosh Medal, Prof. Alexander Thomson Prize, and Dr. Alexander Duff Memorial Prize.

Skills

Programming: C, C++
Scientific Computing: MATLAB, Mathematica
Tools & Typesetting: LaTeX, Linux

Languages

Bengali : Native
Hindi : Fluent
English : Full professional working proficiency

Interests

Research Interests: Functional & attribute-based encryption, Registered & multi-authority encryption, Verifiable computation on encrypted data, Privacy-enhancing technologies, Lattice- & pairing-based cryptography, Witness encryption & obfuscation, Threshold & post-quantum cryptography

Projects

  • SNSF Grant — Multi-Client Unbounded Attribute-Based Inner Product Functional Encryption

    Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) grant at the University of St. Gallen, with PI Prof. Katerina Mitrokotsa. Completed.

    • Completed with publications at JoC, IEEE EuroS&P, and PKC.