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Dr. Hitesh Tewari

Assistant Professor (Computer Science)
LLOYD INSTITUTE
      
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Dr. Hitesh Tewari

Assistant Professor (Computer Science)
LLOYD INSTITUTE

 Hitesh.Tewari@tcd.ie

 3531896 2896


I lead the Applied Cryptography Research Lab (www.appliedcryptolab.com) at Trinity College Dublin from where I earned my BA (Mod), MSc and PhD degrees in Computer Science. Computer Networks, Security, Applied Cryptography Privacy and Decentralisation inform the key directions of my research, and I have published numerous conference and journal papers in these areas. During my PhD studies, I developed a strong interest in electronic payments and co-authored a book, "Electronic Payment Systems", which has become a reference text in this area with the two editions having sold over 7,000 copies to date. In 2013, when I came across the Bitcoin protocol, which utilises Blockchains to eliminate the central point of dependency, such as a bank, in a payment network that I began to grasp the emerging interplay of electronic payment systems and decentralised networks. Since then, my research has focussed on decentralised privacy-preserving systems and the holistic application of Blockchain protocols in several areas beyond cryptocurrencies, such as personal privacy, public health, and the environment. In 2023, I was invited to become part of the Ripple University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) professorial network. In 2025, we released a Privacy Preserving eVoting platform called zkBallot (www.zkballot.com) which resolves one of the core challenges in digital elections: ensuring both voter anonymity and public auditability.
  Computer Networks   Cryptography   Electronic Commerce   Local Area Networks   MOBILE COMMUNICATION   NETWORK SECURITY   Telecommunications Research
Project Title
 GOChain - A Blockchain-Enabled Guarantee of Origin Certificate Trading Platform
From
01/06/2024
To
30/11/2025
Summary
Today when a wind turbine produces 1MW of electricity, it can be bought by a large energy users such as data centres using an instrument called a "Guarantee of Origin Certificate", so that companies can achieve their net zero targets. The problem with the current system is that these certificates are usually generated up to a week after the electricity has been produced, and it can be up to a month before the certificates are bought by a company. So in practice there is no correlation between when the electricity was generated and when it was actually consumed. In fact, the company has no idea if the energy they consumed was produced from a renewable source or not. In this project our aim is to create a "real-time" system in which the certificates are consumed within minutes of the electricity being generated, such that there is a real correlation between the electricity that is produced for example by a wind turbine and subsequently consumed by a data centre. We do this by making use of a Distributed Ledger (commonly referred to as a Blockchain) that allows all participants in the system to quickly and securely share information, thereby allowing companies to have confidence that they are consuming electricity from renewable sources.
Funding Agency
ESB and SFI ADAPT
Programme
ADAPT
Project Type
Co-Fund
Person Months
18
Project Title
 A Decentralised Social Media Network
From
To
Summary
Social media networks have become a part of our everyday lives where we share ideas, thoughts, photos etc. with others in our network. However we are also sharing all of the above with the organizations that control the networks that we are using, and giving them carte blanche permission to use our personal data as they fit! Increasingly users are realizing the downside of such "free" services and looking to other networks where their right to anonymity and privacy is put before company profit. In this project we aim to develop a novel architecture for a blockchain based social media network. Specifically we wish to explore the use of "community shards" which hold pointers to the user data stored securely on third party servers or clouds such as IPFS. We envisage that our blockchain will consist of one main (vertical) chain, off which there will be many community (horizontal) shards. This will enable us to limit the length of the main chain and only users that are interested in a particular community will need to download the corresponding horizontal chain. The community will also have the ability to up or down vote posts thereby allowing the most popular posts to be widely circulated and for posts with "fake or false" news to be flagged and removed from the platform. There could even be an incentive mechanism to pay content creators for popular posts. Each community will be administered by a set of nodes and we will make use of smart contracts and proof-of-stake (PoS) protocols to elect their members. These nodes will be responsible for the policies of that particular community and will decide on who can or cannot join the community. In the event of a user violating the community policy the administrator nodes will have the ability to remove a user from their community. Such a decentralized network would give power back to the users that are the core contributors of the system, and eliminate large centralized organizations that control their data. We will build a prototype system modelled on a well-known social media network, and measure parameters such as how quickly the blockchain grows with an increasing number of communities and users, the latency on the network in fetching data from external servers etc. The learnings from this project will hopefully inform the development of the next generation of decentralized social media networks.
Funding Agency
Ripple UBRI and SFI ADAPT
Programme
ADAPT
Person Months
24
Project Title
 A Blockchain-enabled Trusted 5G Network Slicing (BTNS) Framework
From
19/08/2019
To
18/08/2020
Summary
This project looks at designing a 5G trusted ecosystem architecture and simulation model which enables 5G network slicing support for diverse services by deploying a distributed General Slicing Provision (GSP) solution. Each operator and network provider will be in charge of managing their own GSP instance. An innovative trusted scheme will enable the overall slice allocation and management for diverse service types. Although the proposed solution is general, the project will focus on assessing its benefit in a concrete use-case: vehicle platooning. The project aims to achieve the following outcomes: 1. Proposing the overall architecture 2. Designing a distributed solution incorporating aspects from the blockchain concept 3. Testing the proposed solution using a simulation environment in the context of a concrete use-case (i.e. platooning).
Funding Agency
SFI CONNECT
Programme
ENABLE/CONNECT
Project Type
Industry Funded
Person Months
12
Project Title
 BNYM Sponsored PhD in Next Generation Distributed Ledger Technology
From
01/09/2019
To
30/08/2023
Summary
PhD project to explore the role of Blockchains and Smart Contracts in Next-Gen Distributed Ledger Technologies
Funding Agency
SFI ADAPT
Programme
ADAPT
Project Type
Industry Funded
Person Months
48
Project Title
 Improved Blockchain Consensus Algorithms
From
To
Summary
Funding Agency
Lero SFI
Programme
Lero
Person Months
78720

Page 1 of 3
Details Date
Examination of MSc thesis by research at the Technological University of Shannon (TUS) 2024
External Reviewer of Senior Academic Promotion application in Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology (TIET) 2022
Member of the Independent Research and Development Expert Panel for the Revenue Commissioners, Ireland. As part of this role, I review R&D tax claims by companies in Ireland in the technology (payments, security, networking) space. 2021
Served as an expert member for Ireland on the DG CONNECT sponsored European Blockchain Partnership (EBP) technical group. Represented the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO), Ireland. My role was to report on the European Blockchain Partnership program that is being driven by the European Commission. 2018
External Examiner in Dublin City University (DCU) for the BSc in Computer Applications Program. 2017
Exam Paper Reviews for Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology (TIET) 2017
Language Skill Reading Skill Writing Skill Speaking
English Fluent Fluent Fluent
Hindi Medium Basic Fluent
Details Date From Date To
Inducted into the UBRI Professorial Network 2023 Present
Funded Investigator CONNECT - SFI Research Centre for Future Networks and Communications 2020 Present
Funded Investigator ADAPT - SFI Global Center of Excellence for Digital Content 2019 Present
Funded Investigator ADAPT - SFI Global Center of Excellence for Digital Content 2018 Present
S. Chen, V. Agarwal, A. Lele and H. Tewari, CarbonChainRL - A Blockchain Oracle-Based Reinforcement Learning System for Dynamic Carbon Trading Markets, 1st IEEE International Conference on Distributed Ledger Technologies (IEEE ICDLT), Pune, India, 2025, Conference Paper, ACCEPTED
H. Vardhan, P. Hiranayachatri, A. Lele and H. Tewari, A Blockchain-Native PKI: Secure X.509 Certificate Management on the XRP Ledger, 1st IEEE International Conference on Distributed Ledger Technologies (IEEE ICDLT), Pune, India, 5-7 November, 2025, Conference Paper, ACCEPTED
A. Lele, V. Agarwal and H. Tewari, From Theory to Implementation of Quantum-Safe Ledgers with XRPL as a Case Study, The 7th International Conference on Blockchain Computing and Applications (BCCA), Dubrovnik, Croatia, 14-17 October, 2025, Conference Paper, ACCEPTED
V. Agarwal, H. Vardhan, A. Kumar and H. Tewari, PoW++: An Energy Efficient Proof-of-Work Variant, The 7th International Conference on Blockchain Computing and Applications (BCCA), Dubrovnik, Croatia, 14-17 October, 2025, Conference Paper, ACCEPTED
S. Kumari and H. Tewari, Implementation of Privacy-Preserving Identifiers for the Secure Storage of Electronic Health Records on the Ethereum Blockchain, ACM Distributed Ledger Technologies, 2025, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Y. Yang, J. Li, G. Xie, X. Zhang, J. Xu, T. Gao and H Tewari, Shifting Decision Boundary Against Adversarial Semantic Attacks in Latent Diffusion Models, Information Fusion, 125, (103463), 2025, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
S. Kumari, V. Tulshyan and H. Tewari, Cyber Security on the Edge: Efficient Enabling of Machine Learning on IoT Devices, Information, 15, (126), 2024, p28 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI  URL
P. Bradish, S. Chaudhari, M. Clear and H. Tewari, CoviChain: A Blockchain Based COVID-19 Vaccination Passport, Future of Information and Communication Conference (FICC), San Francisco, USA, 2-3 March, 2023, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  DOI  URL
J. Rowland and H. Tewari, Optimized Communication in Sharded Blockchain Networks, Future of Information and Communication Conference (FICC), San Francisco, USA, 2-3 March, 2023, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  DOI  URL
R. Singh, S. Sturley and H. Tewari, Blockchain-Enabled Chebyshev Polynomial-Based Group Authentication for Secure Communication in an Internet of Things Network, Future Internet, 15, (3), 2023, p1-15 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI  URL
  

Page 1 of 6
H. Tewari (Elaine Burke Eds.), The question for DeFi in 2024 is whether you can bank on crypto, 2024, -, Miscellaneous, PUBLISHED
H. Tewari, Can crypto take off as the solution to in-flight fraud?, 2024, -, Miscellaneous, PUBLISHED
H. Tewari, `The Wild West of finance': CBDCs, crypto and privacy in a digital age, 2023, -, Miscellaneous, PUBLISHED
Hitesh Tewari, Trinity research proposes a way to decarbonise cryptocurrencies, 2022, -, Miscellaneous, PUBLISHED
H. Tewari, The future of blockchain: Why decentralisation is here to stay, 2022, -, Miscellaneous, PUBLISHED
Hitesh Tewari, Four ways blockchain could make the internet safer, fairer and more creative, 2019, -, Miscellaneous, PUBLISHED
Hitesh Tewari, Here's one way a blockchain could deliver a smarter city, 2019, -, Miscellaneous, PUBLISHED
Hitesh Tewari, Would you take your chances on a blockchain-backed lottery?, 2019, -, Miscellaneous, PUBLISHED
Hitesh Tewari, Seamless encryption key to Trinity spin out, 2014, -, Miscellaneous, PUBLISHED
Hitesh Tewari, CompSci boffins tout file encryption for Google Docs, 2012, -, Miscellaneous, PUBLISHED

  


Award Date
Fellow Trinity College Dublin (FTCD) 2022
Best Student Paper Award, Computing Conference UK'21 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RaSHstyqKXxAdvBaoQU8plX6A0HTZADA/view?usp=sharing) 2021
Best Paper Award - IEEE Conference on Applications, Information and Network Security, AINS 2020 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C6iYTye0p7DcNpcLSlTbtSxwcjyfiSKP/view?usp=sharing) 2020
Best Paper Award - International Conference Applied Computing, ICAC 2017 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/18XGRMFnXsGs8jTLppvzQ7o8n0cxMG21s/view?usp=sharing) 2017
Best Undergraduate Project in Ireland & Northern Ireland (Michael Clear) (https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/trinity-students-excel-at-2011-undergraduate-awards-of-ireland/) 2011
Computer Networks, Security and Applied Cryptography inform the key directions of my research. During my PhD, I developed a strong interest in electronic payments and co-authored a book, "Electronic Payment Systems", which has sold 7,000 copies to date. In 2013, when I came across the Bitcoin protocol, which utilises Blockchains, to eliminate the central point of dependency in a payment network, I began to grasp the emerging interplay of electronic payments and decentralised networks. Since then, my research has focussed on Decentralized Privacy-Preserving Systems and the transformative application of Blockchains as outlined below: Development of Next-Gen Cryptocurrencies - The huge environmental toll associated with mining cryptocurrencies is poorly understood with Bitcoin mining surpassing the energy requirements of a country like Argentina. I am investigating energy efficient and high transaction throughput protocols for the next-generation of cryptocurrencies by designing novel consensus mechanisms. Safe and Decentralised Social Media - Social media platforms are rife with fake news and users are commonly subjected to abuse. I have developed a framework for a global public-key infrastructure and decentralised Internet, which ensures safe use of social media by securely identifying users. e-Health and Internet of Things (IoT) - I have developed a healthcare management ecosystem that allows a patient"s medical records to be stored securely and anonymously. I am also investigating the use of privacy-preserving techniques for constrained IoT devices in e-Health environments. I have been invited to become a member of the Ripple University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) Professorial Network. I am investigating techniques to secure the Ripple Blockchain from quantum computing attacks, adding zero knowledge functionality, and making the Ripple Blockchain redactable to address GDPR issues. In partnership with the Electricity Supply Board (ESB), I am developing a real-time system for the trading of Guarantee of Origin Certificates (GOs), which identifies electricity coming from renewable sources. This project has enabled me to explore the related areas of Power Grids and Smart Cities. As highlighted above, all key aspects of my research are highly innovative, multi-disciplinary, cutting-edge, and address key societal and environmental challenges which are closely aligned with the College Strategic Plan 2020-25 (Priority 2: Research for Impact and Sustainability).