Job Description

NOTE: Students must be approved for the 2025-26 Work-Study program in order to be hired for this position. The Work-Study Student Application form is available online here:
Please include confirmation of your approval to participate in the Work Study Program with your resume.
Research Assistants are normally students, in a University of Winnipeg undergraduate program, employed to assist with tasks related to research. Work is performed within defined guidelines and under supervision of a more senior researcher or faculty member.
Position Overview:
The student will work as an assistant on a research project developing approaches for forensic examination of digital documents, e.g., PDF files. While the are physical methods for determining the authenticity of physical documents, the use of the underlying internal structure of digital documents for this purpose is under-explored, particularly in PDF documents, which have prevalent uses. The goal of this work is to explore the internal representation of PDF documents, which can be expressed as a tree structure. Specifically, this project will explore the identification of tampered documents through the tree structure to develop a difference algorithm and a simple tool to determine tampered documents. This work will involve the development of an algorithm for analyzing tree structures in PDF and an exploration of the impact of common changes on the tree structure. We will also examine the identification of digital signatures and explore ways to represent changes based on the internal tree structure.
The assistant will be required to provide support in achieving the objective of this work. This will range from conducting a literature review to the implementation and testing of simple algorithms, and providing support in the production of research materials and outputs.
Duties:

• The selected candidate will be required to conduct a literature review to understand the current progress in the area of research. They will implement certain algorithms in an applicable programming language (e.g., Java, Python, C, or C++), depending on their experience. The student may be required to learn to use some open-source forensics tools and apply them in the analysis of sample data. They may be required to create synthetic data or obtain research data from different digital forensics research data corpora. The student will be involved in writing up results from the study and preparing them for publication.

Qualifications

• The assistant must have a good understanding of computer security and be willing to learn to use analysis tools for security and forensic purposes. Completion of a computer security course, preferably at the University of Winnipeg, online, or at another institution, is an asset.
• They must have strong technical skills as well as oral and written communication skills.
• The assistant is expected to possess strong organizational skills, with the ability to manage time effectively and meet set goals.
• They must be capable of working independently and exploring new ideas.
• Previous experiences in preparing and giving presentations, preparing manuscripts, and coding would be an asset.

Condition(s) of Employment:

• Must be legally entitled to work in Canada.
• Students must be approved for the 2025-26 Work-Study program. Students may be eligible for the Work-Study Program if they meet all of the following criteria:

• Currently an undergraduate or graduate* student (PACE students are currently ineligible);
• Enrolled full-time for the current Fall/Winter session (i.e., at least 18 credit hours or 12 credit hours if registered with Accessibility Services);
• Completed at least 24 credit hours at an undergraduate level at the University (or equivalent);
• Have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.0;
• Have demonstrated financial need (shortage between your expenses and resources)**; and
• A Canadian citizen, permanent resident, protected person or an international student with a valid study permit.

*Graduate students in a joint program may only be eligible if currently registered at UW or whose thesis advisor is a UW Faculty member.
**Zero on all resources fields is deemed an incomplete application. As a full-time student, you are expected to have some form of funding source.
The period of work will be from ASAP - March 31, 2026 and the estimated total hours of work will be 41 hours.
Note: This position is represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada - Research Capacity Unit.
The University of Winnipeg is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and recognizes that a diverse staff and faculty benefits and enriches the work, learning and research environments, and is essential to academic and institutional excellence. We welcome applications from all qualified individuals and encourage women, racialized persons, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, and 2SLGBTQ+ persons to confidentially self-identify at time of application.
The University of Winnipeg is committed to ensuring employment opportunities are accessible for all applicants. If you require accommodation supports during the recruitment process, please contact human_resources@uwinnipeg.ca.
The personal information of applicants is collected under the authority of the University of Winnipeg Act and 36(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. All personal information collected via the recruitment process is used to assess the applicant's suitability, eligibility, and qualifications for employment, and to otherwise support recruitment activities. This information will be provided to participating members of the recruitment process. Questions regarding the collection of your personal information may be directed to the Director, HR Services, 515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, R3B 2E9 or human_resources@uwinnipeg.ca.

Skills Required