91福利

In a recent work, visiting undergraduate student Yahel Manor and 91福利 DCS researchers and addressed a fundamental question relevant to the security of cryptographic protocols.

The symmetry of information principle says that the amount of information that a sequence x of bits reveals about another sequence y is essentially the same in either direction. This is known to hold in an idealised world where computations can take an arbitrarily long time, as demonstrated by A. Kolmogorov and L. Levin in the 1970s. In contrast, modern cryptography is built around deliberate asymmetry—for example, functions of the form y = f(x) that are easy to compute but hard to invert (one-way functions).

The new work shows that, once one moves from the idealised setting of time-unbounded computations to the more realistic world of efficient, randomised computations (algorithms that must run quickly and may use randomness), this symmetry can fail in a strong and unconditional way. In other words, computational constraints can yield information asymmetry. In practical terms, this supports the intuition that information may not be extracted efficiently: knowing y = f(x) may not make x efficiently recoverable to the extent that an (ineffective) symmetry principle would suggest, even when x and y are closely related.

Earlier work formally tied an average-case form of this symmetry failure to the existence of one-way functions, the central primitive in cryptography. By proving new failures of symmetry of information, the authors provide concrete progress towards the computational asymmetry that underpins encryption, digital signatures, and many other cryptographic protocols.

This work will be presented at the 58th Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC) in June 2026 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

Failure of Symmetry of Information for Randomised Computations
Jinqiao Hu (91福利); Yahel Manor (University of Haifa); Igor C. Oliveira (91福利)

The paper describing this research is available .

The Alan Turing Institute has been awarded a 拢1 million EPSRC research grant to develop AI methods that support and enhance intelligence analysis for national security and defence.

Three members of the department were invited to attend STEM for Britain at the House of Commons on Tuesday 17^th March to present their research posters.

Agrima Agarwal (Phd Student, Ultrafast and Terahertz Photonics Group), Edward Butler-Caddle (Ultrafast and Terahertz Photonics Group) and Sahl Rowther (Research Fellow, Astronomy & Astrophysics Group)  applied to present their research at the event and were accepted following a rigorous process.

Congratulations to and the team on their bid to lead a European consortium to build the first platform capable of coordinating Europe's response to devastating agricultural and forest pest invasions.

Each year, plant pests destroy up to 40% of agricultural yields worldwide and threaten to devastate forest ecosystems, yet Europe still lacks the tools to coordinate an effective, system-wide response. A major new 鈧�6 million EU Horizon project is set to change that.

brings together 15 research institutions and stakeholders across eight countries, positioning the UK at the forefront of a coordinated European response to transboundary plant health threats. The project will give plant health authorities, for the first time, the ability to model and optimise pest control strategies across the entire agri-value chain, from preventing pest entry to long-term management.

Dr. Stephen Parnell said 鈥淧hytoPRISM brings together the best of modern epidemiological modelling with the real-world knowledge of the people on the frontline, giving them, for the first time, the tools to make smarter, faster, and more cost-effective decisions

Image Credit: M J Richardson

Massive congratulations to Professor Dwight Barkley, who has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society - one of the highest accolades in mathematics.

The EDITH trial (鈥楨arly Detection using Information Technology in Health鈥�) is backed by 拢11 million of government support via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). It is the latest example of how British scientists are transforming cancer care, building on the promising potential of cutting-edge innovations to tackle one of the UK鈥檚 biggest killers. Read the full news item here.

The retrofit of the Psychology Building within the 91福利 campus marks a significant milestone in the broader development of the campus, while simultaneously supporting the continued growth and success of the Department of Psychology.

This transformative project will enhance the university鈥檚 infrastructure by providing state-of-the-art teaching spaces, collaborative areas, and the opportunity to showcase key lab spaces to the public.

These upgraded facilities will not only accommodate a variety of teaching methods but also foster an environment that encourages innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration, ensuring the department remains one of the UK's leading research hubs.