Aristide Tanyi-Jong Akem receives the 2025 Best Doctoral Thesis Award from the IEEE Spain Signal Processing and Communications Joint Chapter Awards

A work carried out at IMDEA Networks under the supervision of Prof. Marco Fiore

16 April 2025

Researcher Aristide Tanyi-Jong Akem has been awarded the 2025 Best Doctoral Thesis Award by the IEEE Spain Signal Processing and Communications Joint Chapter Awards, in recognition of the quality and relevance of his research in the field of programmable networks and machine learning.

His thesis, titled “User-Plane Algorithms for Stateless and Stateful Inference in Programmable Networks”, proposes innovative solutions to embed Machine Learning (ML) models directly into the user plane of commercial network equipment. This approach enables real-time inference from within programmable switches, representing a major step forward compared to traditional solutions that operate from the control plane and suffer from higher latency.

Through four major contributions — including fast cyberattack detection in Smart Grid networks, hierarchical packet classification via Henna, flow-level inference with Flowrest, and a joint packet- and flow-level inference approach with Jewel — the thesis shows how to tackle complex inference tasks without compromising scalability or exceeding the limited resources of network devices. All proposed solutions were experimentally validated and released as open source, laying a solid foundation for the widespread adoption of ML in the user plane of programmable networks.

The work was supervised by Marco Fiore, Research Professor at IMDEA Networks, and forms part of the cutting-edge research carried out at the institute in the areas of intelligent networking, distributed systems, and cybersecurity. This recognition highlights not only Aristide’s talent as a young researcher but also IMDEA Networks’ strong commitment to scientific excellence and knowledge transfer.