My name is Ziya Wessels and I’m currently completing a BSc Honours in Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town. My research interests lie in cryptography, discrete mathematics, and computational complexity, particularly the development of secure and privacy-preserving systems.

My honours research explores non-collusion in cryptographic password hardening schemes, building on the CryptNyx protocol to investigate the use of probabilistic data structures – including Bloom filters and Count-Min Sketches – to enhance security while preserving the protocol’s underlying security guarantees. I’m particularly drawn to applying mathematical theory to problems with real-world impact.

Beyond cryptography, I tutor first-year mathematics at UCT and hope to pursue postgraduate research in computational neuroscience, combining my love of mathematics with a longstanding fascination with the brain and intelligent systems.

Outside of academia, I’m a trail and marathon runner, a qualified yoga instructor, and I enjoy hiking, the ocean, and videography.

Co-supervised by Professor Jonathan Shock (University of Cape Town) and Dr Wouter Lueks (CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, Germany).