My group’s research interests focus on the area of population genetics, specifically the use of stochastic models to understand patterns of variation in samples drawn from a population. Work is also ongoing on methods to map disease genes in admixed populations, and methods for fine-mapping association signals. I spend part of my time in the Department of Statistics, and part of my time at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics (WTCHG).

For a number of years I have worked on studying patterns of recombination in different species, currently including humans, chimpanzees and mice, and this continues to be a strong theme of the group. I developed methods to detect such hotspots from genetic data, based on using the coalescent with recombination as a model for the population genealogy. The key achievements of this work have been in demonstrating that recombination occurs very unevenly throughout the human genome, with most recombination occurring in narrow hotspots in both sexes, and that most hotspots have a short lifespan and are not shared with chimpanzee. In the last three years, this work has further led directly on to the identification of the first sequence motifs that are associated with hotspot activity in humans, evidence that these same motifs mark sites of recurrent disease-causing genomic rearrangements in humans, and the identification of a gene, PRDM9, binding one of these motifs. Currently, my group is actively continuing this research, using both population genetics based and experimental approaches.

I am also working, in collaboration with researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard as well as Oxford, on developing methods for association mapping of disease genes and for fine-mapping casual variants in ethnically diverse disease cohorts and in admixed populations. I am a member of the analysis groups of the Wellcome Trust Case-Control consortium (WTCCC+) and the 1000 genomes project. Finally, I am interested in developing and applying approaches to identify and characterise ancient admixture in populations of humans and other species, using modern genome-wide genetic variation data.

Professor Morris read Chemistry as an undergraduate and graduate at Oxford, completing his Part II (1987-88) and DPhil (1988-91) with Prof. W. Graham Richards in molecular modelling and graphical protein sequence analysis. In 1991 he moved to The Scripps Research Institute, California, developing the widely-cited protein-ligand docking software, AutoDock. He helped launch the first biomedical screensaver computing project, FightAIDS@Home, spawning other biomedical projects on IBM’s World Community Grid. He returned to the UK in 2008 to join the Oxford spinout InhibOx (now Oxford Drug Design), doing ‘real-world’ drug discovery and developing novel virtual screening methods, as well as spearheading the use of cloud computing in drug discovery. He moved on to become Head of Computational Chemistry at another Oxford spinout, Crysalin, developing novel protein engineering techniques for reliable protein crystallization.

Prof. Morris has co-organized the Royal Society of Chemistry’s "AI in Chemistry” Conference since 2022, and the MGMS-CSAT Joint Sheffield Cheminformatics Conference since 2019. He also founded Comp Chem Kitchen, hosting events highlighting best-practices in computational chemistry, cheminformatics and related fields.

Prof. Morris works closely with Prof. Deane in the Department of Statistics in the Oxford Protein Informatics Group (OPIG). He is also Programme Co-Director of the SABS R³ (Sustainable Approaches to Biomedical Science: Responsible and Reproducible Research) Centre for Doctoral Training. In September 2019, he became Deputy Director of Graduate Studies. He is a Research Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford.

Former students have gone on to work in academia (Universities of Auckland; Malta; Oxford; and Stanford); pharma (AstraZeneca, Astex, Bayer, Chemify, and Isomorphic Labs); patent law (Carpmaels & Ransford); research software engineering (University of Oxford and Swiss National Supercomputing Centre); research funding (UKRO/UKRI); and venture capital (Redalpine).

My research is focused on the development of novel methods in computer-aided drug discovery, docking, virtual screening, cheminfomatics and bioinformatics. I am particularly interested in the intersection of physics, chemistry, and machine learning, including active learning, deep learning, Bayesian optimization, explainable AI, and generative AI.

I am responsible for the administration of the MSc in Statistical Science, both on-course and admissions (for admissions queries, please e-mail graduate.admissions@stats.ox.ac.uk). I also assist with administration of the undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics course, and in particular organise the timetable and intercollegiate classes. I run the Statistics Library (for queries, please e-mail lib@stats.ox.ac.uk). I am a Local Canvas Co-ordinator (the Virtual Learning Environment) and run the Department SharePoint sites. I am also a harassment advisor, first aider and DSE assessor.

Contact me for:

Hardware support & monitoring (desktop, laptop, server, mobile devices)
Software support & licensing (Linux, MacOS, Windows Operating Systems)
Printing support
Anti-virus & security
Networking, wireless & telephony
Audio-visual support
 

Contact me for:

• Building access 
• General administration including building & facilities related issues/enquiries
• Ad hoc enquiries
• Mental Health First Aid
• First Aid
   

I have worked in the Department of Statistics since July 2008. I enjoy getting to meet and talk to lots of lovely people, so do feel free to pop by and say hello! 

I am responsible for the overall administration and co-ordination of the department’s academic programmes. This involves working with the Director of Graduate Studies and Director of Studies to make sure that academic processes are completed to set timescales.

For PGR students this includes

• admissions
• induction
• progression
• training and teaching.

For undergraduates this involves

• scheduling lectures
• project allocation
• examination preparation and marking.

I also support the Graduate Research Committee and Teaching Committee.

I am the Executive Assistant to the Head of Department, Frank Windmeijer.

I also provide comprehensive secretarial support and personal assistance to senior academic staff:

• Charlotte Deane
• Christl Donnelly
• Alison Etheridge

In my role as Governance Officer, I manage the Department's governance structure and coordinate the Department's committee meetings, ensuring a streamlined timetable that facilitates the progress of business and key decision-making processes.

As a trained Mental Health First Aider, I am keen to promote a supportive and nurturing environment within the Department.

I am also a Co-Lead of the University's EA and PA Community of Practice, where I enjoy collaborating and fostering knowledge exchange for over 400 assistants across the collegiate university.

Please feel free to reach out to me with any queries, I’m happy to help.