Simon Pohmann


Email	Simon.Pohmann.2022@live.rhul.ac.uk
Research Interests	Cryptography, Computational Mathematics
Current Affiliation	Royal Holloway, University of London
Links	ORCID · GitHub · DBLP

I'm Simon Pohmann, and I will be joining KU Leuven as a postdoctoral researcher in November. I have a background in Mathematics, and my current research is on both theoretical and implementation aspects of lattice-based cryptography, in particular Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE). I'm the author of the feanor-math and fheanor Rust libraries for computational mathematics and FHE, respectively. On the theoretical side, I am investigating efficient polynomial evaluation in the context of FHE, and in particular Doubly-Efficient Private Information Retrieval.

Publications

Authors are ordered alphabetically.


NPVW27 ia.cr/2026/1872	L. Nürnberger, S. Pohmann, M. Veroni, C. Weinert. “DNSPIR: Private Information Retrieval Optimized for Privacy-Preserving DNS Lookups”. In: Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PoPETS'27). 2027.
P26 royalholloway.ac.uk	S. Pohmann. “An Algebraic Perspective on the BGV and BFV Homomorphic Encryption Schemes”. Doctoral Thesis. Royal Holloway, University of London. 2026.
OPP25 ia.cr/2025/864	H. Okada, R. Player, and S. Pohmann. “Fheanor: a new, modular FHE library for designing and optimising schemes”. In: Cryptology ePrint Archive (2025).
OPPW25 ia.cr/2024/1307	H. Okada, R. Player, S. Pohmann, and C. Weinert. “On algebraic homomorphic encryption and its applications to doubly-efficient PIR”. In: Annual International Conference on the Theory and Applications of Cryptographic Techniques (EUROCRYPT'25). Springer. 2025, pp. 34-64.
OPPW24 ia.cr/2023/1510	H. Okada, R. Player, S. Pohmann, and C. Weinert. “Towards practical doubly-efficient private information retrieval”. In: International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security (FC'24). Springer. 2024, pp. 264-282.
OPP23 ia.cr/2023/1304	H. Okada, R. Player, and S. Pohmann. “Homomorphic polynomial evaluation using Galois structure and applications to BFV bootstrapping”. In: International Conference on the Theory and Application of Cryptology and Information Security (ASIACRYPT'23). Springer. 2023, pp. 69-100.
P22 ox.ac.uk	S. Pohmann. “Generating supersingular curves with modular polynomials”. MA thesis. Oxford University. 2022.
PSZ21 ia.cr/2021/430	S. Pohmann, M. Stevens, and J. Zumbrägel. “Lattice enumeration on gpus for fplll”. In: Cryptology ePrint Archive (2021).

Positions Held


2026 01/11 - now	FWO Junior Postdoctoral Fellow at COSIC, KU Leuven.
2026 23/02 - 31/10	Part-time cryptographic researcher at Fhenix.
2017 - 2019	Working student at msg systems, Passau, Germany.

Education


2022 - 2026	PhD in Cryptography as part of the Information Security Group at Royal Holloway, University of London. Supervised by Dr Rachel Player, and advised by Hiroki Okada and Dr Christian Weinert.
2021 - 2022	M.Sc. in Mathematics and Foundations of Computer Science at Oxford University, UK. Final Grade: Distinction.
2020 - 2021	M.Sc. in Computational Mathematics at University of Passau, Germany. Discontinued because of above offer from Oxford; Preliminary Grade 1.0.
2018 - 2020	B.Sc. in Mathematics at University of Passau, Germany. Final Grade: 1.0.
2017 - 2020	B.Sc. in Computer Science at University of Passau, Germany. Final Grade: 1.0.

Talks and Posters


08/03/2026 on github	“Fheanor: a new, modular FHE library for designing and optimising schemes”. Poster Presentation at FHE.org 2026.
12/08/2025 on youtu.be	“An introduction to the FHE library Fheanor”. COSIC Seminar at KU Leuven.
25/03/2025 on github	“On algebraic homomorphic encryption and its applications to doubly-efficient PIR”. Poster Presentation at FHE.org 2025.
06/03/2024 on youtu.be	“Towards practical doubly-efficient private information retrieval”. Conference Presentation at Financial Cryptography 2024.
06/12/2023	“Homomorphic polynomial evaluation using Galois structure and applications to BFV bootstrapping”. Conference Presentation at ASIACRYPT 2023.
05/10/2023 on fhe.org	“Homomorphic polynomial evaluation using Galois structure and applications to BFV bootstrapping”. FHE.org meetup.

Other Experience


2025 28/07 - 01/08	Research visit to the COSIC group at KU Leuven. The primary contact was Frederik Vercauteren.
2025 01/04 - 28/06	Invited Researcher hosted by KDDI Research, supported by the International Exchange Program of the National Institute of Information and Communications (NICT). The primary contact was Hiroki Okada.
2023 - 2025	Teaching Assistant for Applications of Cryptography. This includes marking coursework, supervising the Lab sessions and holding a guest lecture.