Paul Francis

DPhil in Statistics student

About Me

I am a DPhil in Statistics at the University of Oxford, supervised by Prof. Mark van der Wilk and Prof. Yee Whye Teh. Previously I completed the MSc in Mathematical Sciences at Oxford where I focused on machine learning and statistics courses in the Maths, Stats and CS departments. I completed my BSc in Mathematics from the University of Warwick during which my summer research was supervised by Prof. Theo Damoulas and Dr. Harita Dellaporta. I have also had the pleasure to spend a year as a visiting student at Tsinghua University under the invitation of Fields medallist Prof. Shing-Tung Yau.

Research Interests

I am interested in generative modelling, diffusion models and the theoretical foundations of machine learning.

Contact Details

Website: https://paulfrancis7.github.io/

Research Groups

Computational Statistics and Machine Learning

Supervisor

Mark van der Wilk

Yee Whye Teh

Tian Xie

DPhil in Statistics student

About Me

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Hew Phipps

DPhil in Statistics student

About Me

My DPhil research explores generative Flow models for protein folding making use of Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations as training data. I studied Biochemistry at the University of Sheffield receiving an integrated Masters (MSci) in 2021 before moving to industry where I led the development of machine learning models for sequence-based protein directed evolution in Cambridge.

Research Interests

  • Flow matching and other generative models for proteins
  • Molecular dynamics simulations of protein folding
  • Statistical sequence-based models such as the Potts model

Contact Details

Email: hew.phipps@stats.ox.ac.uk

Office: 2.17

Pronouns: he/him

Research Groups

Oxford Protein Informatics Group (OPIG)

Biggin group (biochemistry department)

Ayub Kharel

DPhil in Statistics student

About Me

Before coming to Oxford, I completed a BSc in mathematics where I focused on probability and stochastic processes. I did my MSc in mathematical sciences here at Oxford, where I studied stochastic analysis and machine learning, and wrote my dissertation on the theory of diffusion models.

Research Interests

  • Deep learning theory
  • Causal inference
  • Structured reasoning and security in foundation models

Contact Details

Email: ayub.kharel@stats.ox.ac.uk

Office: 1.07

Pronouns: he/him

Research Groups

Computational Statistics and Machine Learning

Supervisor

https://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~rebeschi/

https://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/people/robin-evans

Sian Dennett

Healthcare Data Science CDT student

About Me

I am a second year DPhil student on the Healthcare Data Science CDT. My research is currently focused on understanding and modelling the complex influences of climate, demographic and environmental factors on the recent dengue epidemics in Brazil. I enrolled in the EPSRC-funded Healthcare Data Science CDT in 2024 after completing my undergraduate Master's in Mathematics and Statistics at Balliol College and joined the department in October 2025 to start my DPhil research. In my spare time I love to play sports, get outdoors, and enjoy spending time with my friends.

Research Interests

  • Infectious disease epidemiology
  • Mosquito-borne diseases
  • Mathematical and statistical modelling

Contact Details

Email: sian.dennett@keble.ox.ac.uk

Office: 2.11

Pronouns: she/her

Lorenzo Tarricone

DPhil in Statistics student

About Me

I completed my undergraduate degree in Milan, studying Mathematical and Computing Sciences for Artificial Intelligence at Bocconi University. I then earned an MSc in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at ETH Zürich.

 

I now work with the Oxford Protein Informatics Group (OPIG) and EIT Oxford to develop protein-design tools for self-assembling protein nanoparticle (PNP) vaccines. These platforms have shown promising results for multi-year influenza protection and in candidates against HIV. By leveraging the flexibility and speed of in silico design, our aim is to deliver more effective vaccines and therapeutics to patients, faster.

Research Interests

  • Protein Design
  • BioML
  • Generative Models
  • Computational Biophysics

Contact Details

Email: lorenzo.tarricone [at] ox.ac.uk

Office: 2.17 - 9

Pronouns: He/Him

Shona Brophy

DPhil in Statistics student

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Leoni Wirth

Postdoctoral Research Associate

About Me

I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the group of Gesine Reinert. I recently completed my PhD at the University of Göttingen under the supervision of Dominic Schuhmacher and Gesine Reinert. My research focusses on the study of spatial random graphs using Stein’s method, kernelized Stein discrepancies and tools from spatial stochastics. I am furthermore interested in differential privacy. 

For additional information, please visit my personal website.

Research Interests

  • Spatial random graphs
  • Stein’s method
  • Goodness-of-fit testing
  • Differential privacy 

Contact Details

Email: leoni.wirth@stats.ox.ac.uk

Office: 1.02

Pronouns: She/Her

Research Groups

Dr Eugenio Clerico

Florence Nightingale Bicentenary Fellow

About Me

I'm currently a Florence Nightingale Bicentenary Fellow at the Department of Statistics in Oxford. Until the end of October 2025, I was a post-doctoral researcher in the AI&ML group at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, advised by Gergely Neu. Before that, I completed my PhD in Statistics at the University of Oxford, supervised by Arnaud Doucet and George Deligiannidis. You can find my thesis here.

Research

My research lies at the intersection of statistics and probability, with a focus on hypothesis testing, statistical learning theory, and online learning. In particular, I have been working on sequential testing via e-values, the generalisation and expressiveness of over-parameterised models, and mean and parameter estimation. Check here for more details and here for an updated list of my publications.

Contact Details

Email: eugenio.clerico@gmail.com

Office: 2.02

Personal website: eugenioclerico.me

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