Stephen Drape

My main area of research interest is Software Security for the protection of intellectual property. I am particularly interested in applying formal methods such as Refinement, Software Specification, Abstract Data-Types and Functional Programming to Obfuscation and Watermarking. Recently I have looked at creating obfuscations that are designed to withstand slicing attacks.

I'm also the Access and Schools Liaison Officer so I often run sessions for school students to introduce them to Computer Science and Oxford. I am particularly interested in bridging the gap between school mathematics and computer science.

• 1991-1994BA in Mathematics at St John's College, University of Oxford.
• 1994-1995PGCE in Mathematics at The University of Hull.
• 1995-2000 Secondary School Teacher at Cottingham High School, East Yorkshire. Taught GCSE Maths and IT and A-Level Maths, Further Maths and Computing. Assistant Head of Year for 2 years and a form tutor for 5 years.
• 2000-2001MSc in Computer Science at St John's College, University of Oxford. Dissertation: "Functional Cryptography". Supervised by Prof Richard Brent.
• 2001-2004DPhil in Computer Science at St John's College, University of Oxford. Thesis: "Obfuscation of Abstract Data-Types". Supervised by Dr Jeff Sanders.
• 2005 Research Assistant in e-learning at the University of Hull. Worked on a European project dealing with Intercultural Education in schools.
• 2006-2007 Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Auckland working with Professor Clark Thomborson as a member of the Secure Systems Group.