Benjamin Rubinstein

Prof. Ben Rubinstein actively research topics in machine learning, security & privacy, databases such as adversarial learning, differential privacy and record linkage. Prior to joining the University of Melbourne in 2013, he enjoyed four years in the research divisions of Microsoft, Google, Intel and Yahoo!

(all in the United States), followed by a short stint at IBM Research Australia. As a full-time Researcher at Microsoft Research, Silicon Valley, he shipped production systems for entity resolution in Bing and the Xbox360; his research has helped identify and plug side-channel attacks against the popular Firefox browser, and deanonymise Victorian myki transport data and an unprecedented Australian Medicare data release, prompting introduction of the Re-identification Offence Bill 2016. Since joining Melbourne in 2013, he has been awarded $4.26m in competitive funding ($2.18m as lead). His work has been recognised through an Australian Research Council DECRA award, and a Young Tall Poppy Science award. Prof. Rubinstein co-leads the AI group in the School of Computing and Information Systems, and is the 2020-21 Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.

Education

• PhD University of California, Berkeley (2004 — 2010)
• Master of Computer Science University of Melbourne (2003 — 2004)
• BSc University of Melbourne (1999 — 2002)
• Bachelor of Engineering (First Class Hons) University of Melbourne (1999 — 2002)
• Visiting Scholar Stanford University (2000 — 2000)

Companies

• Professor University of Melbourne (2021)
• Associate Dean (Research) University of Melbourne (2020)
• Fellow, Centre for Business Analytics Melbourne Business School (2015)
• Associate Investigator ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical & Statistical Frontiers (2015)
• Associate Professor University of Melbourne (2018 — 2021)
• Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow University of Melbourne (2016 — 2018)
• Senior Lecturer University of Melbourne (2013 — 2017)
• Research Staff Member IBM (2013 — 2013)
• Researcher Microsoft (2010 — 2013)