The Department of Statistics is eager to support applications to the Royal Society Faraday Discovery Fellowships scheme from both internal and external candidates. Faraday Discovery Fellowships will provide the most talented mid-career researchers with the time and freedom to focus on their research, providing long-term, stable funding to allow them to tackle difficult and intractable problems. To further support these objectives and demonstrate our dedication to attracting outstanding talent, the Department is willing to consider sponsorship for this award, and expects to confirm for selected applicants a permanent senior faculty post upon successful award of the Fellowship.
To identify the strongest candidates for sponsorship we will conduct an internal selection process. We invite interested applicants to submit an expression of interest (specifically a CV and drafts of the one-page personal statement and the two-page research vision) to grants@stats.ox.ac.uk by 21st August 2024. The Department is particularly keen to support applications from women and black and minority ethnic candidates, who are currently under-represented in positions of this type at Oxford. The Department is also keen to attract outstanding applicants to the UK.
Please direct queries about the scheme or process to the Head of Department Christl.donnelly@stats.ox.ac.uk or Research Facilitator grants@stats.ox.ac.uk.
Finding a needle in the genomic haystack: Targeting rare genes using statistical outliers
In statistical modelling, extreme outliers are often written off as 'noise'. But a new study by researchers from Oxford's Department of Statistics and Big Data Institute published this week in The American Journal of Human Genetics reverses that principle, using these outliers as the basis of a targeting system for locating rare, high-impact genetic mutations.
Professor Ben Lambert wins MPLS Research Supervision Award
Professor Ben Lambert has won a 2025/26 Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences (MPLS) Award for Outstanding Research Supervision, recognised for his exceptional dedication to supporting researchers at every stage of their development.
Brian Ripley recognised in $1 million Rousseeuw Prize for contributions to the R Project
Professor Brian Ripley, Emeritus Professor of Applied Statistics and former Head of the Department of Statistics at the University of Oxford, has been named as one of five laureates of the 2026 Rousseeuw Prize for Statistics.