Departmental Seminar: "Trust in Open Systems: Security, Privacy, and Cryptography from Distributed Ledgers to Decentralized AI" by Dr. Zhipeng Wang
| Dates: | 17 June 2026 |
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| Times: | 13:00 - 14:00 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | Department of Computer Science |
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| How much: | Free |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, Current University students |
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| Speaker: | Dr Zhipeng Wang |
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Open and decentralized systems, such as blockchain and collaborative AI systems, are reshaping how we think about computation, coordination, and trust. By removing central authorities, these systems promise greater transparency and resilience, but they also expose new attack surfaces. For instance, participants may be self-interested, protocols may leak private information, and adversaries can exploit economic incentives in unexpected ways. How do we build systems that remain secure, private, and trustworthy when no single entity is in control?
In this talk, I will present my research journey that begins with measuring real-world attacks in decentralized finance, moves to designing cryptographic defenses in response to discovered vulnerabilities, and culminates in the emerging challenge of building trustworthy decentralized AI systems. Along the way, I will highlight a recurring theme: understanding how systems fail in practice is the prerequisite for principled defense, and the interplay of empirical analysis, cryptographic and consensus mechanism design, and incentive alignment is essential for trust in open systems. I will conclude with open problems and future directions, including the security and governance challenges posed by decentralized and autonomous AI agent economies.
Speaker
Dr Zhipeng Wang
Role: Lecturer in Cyber Security
Organisation: Department of Computer Science, The University of Manchester
Biography: Dr Zhipeng Wang is a Lecturer in Cyber Security in the Department of Computer Science at The University of Manchester. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Imperial College London, where he also completed his PhD in Computing. His research focuses on security, privacy, and trust in open and distributed computing systems. He investigates how to build secure, privacy-preserving, and trustworthy infrastructures in environments where participants may be decentralized, rational, or untrusted. His work spans distributed systems (e.g., blockchain), applied cryptography, and emerging AI systems. More information is available at https://zhipengwang.io/ [zhipengwang.io].
Travel and Contact Information
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Kilburn_TH 1.3
Kilburn Building
Manchester
