I studied Mathematics (MMath) at the University of Warwick and Financial Mathematics (MSc) at Heriot-Watt University and the University of Edinburgh. After obtaining my PhD from the School of Mathematical Sciences of the University of Nottingham under the supervision of Sergey Utev and Huiling Le, I moved to the Department of Mathematics of the University of Leicester as a Teaching Assistant/Fellow. In 2012 I moved to the Department of Statistics of the University of Oxford as Departmental Lecturer. I stayed in Oxford until September 2016 when I moved to the Department of Mathematics of King’s College London as Lecturer in Statistics. I moved back to the University of Oxford in December 2017 as Associate Professor of Statistics. I was promoted to Professor of Statistics in August 2024. 

I work in the intersection of probability and statistics to analyse random processes and objects, especially those arising from algorithms used in computational statistics and machine learning. I have worked extensively on the theory and methodology of sampling methods, especially Markov Chain Monte Carlo. I have also worked on random walks on lattices and groups.
At the moment I am particularly interested in the interplay between sampling, optimization and machine learning.

I was educated in France where I graduated jointly from ENSAE (National School for Statistics and Economic Administration) and Université Paris VI in 2000. After my PhD in Paris VI (2003) in Probability, I was Maitre de Conférences in Marseille for three years and then in Paris until 2014 when I joined the Department of Statistics and Magdalen College in Oxford.

During this time I have also twice been visiting professor at NYU-Abu Dhabi as well as a long term visitor at the University of Bath.

• Branching processes
• Branching random walks
• Coalescence
• Fragmentation
• Population genetics
• Reaction-diffusion equations
• Front propigation
• Random trees

My research is in probability theory and focuses essentially on models and situations which involve tree-like structures and branching phenomena. Examples include coalescent processes, branching processes, continuous random trees, branching random walks… These models are not only endowed with a remarkably rich mathematical structure that connects them to many area of mathematics, but they also occur naturally in physical sciences, in population genetics and in biology. Questions that arise in these fields are a major motivation of my work.

I lead the Oxford Protein Informatics Group (OPIG), a research group of over 20 people working on diverse problems across immunoinformatics, protein structure and small molecule drug discovery; using statistics, AI and computation to generate biological and medical insight.

In January 2024, I became Executive Chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

I am also co-director of the Systems Approaches to Biomedical Research Centre for Doctoral Training which I founded in 2009.

Between 2022 - 2023, I was Chief Scientist of Biologics AI at Exscientia, a biotech company where I led its computational scientific development. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I served on SAGE, the UK Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and acted as UK Research and Innovation’s COVID-19 Response Director.

I have  held numerous senior roles at the University of Oxford, including Head of the Department of Statistics and Deputy Head of the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences (MPLS) division.

In the 2022 Birthday Honours, I was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to COVID-19 research.

My research covers several areas in protein structure prediction and protein interaction networks, combining both theoretical work and empirical analyses. We work on developing novel methodologies to understand and predict protein evolution, interaction, structure and function. Our work is focussed in the four main areas listed below:

• Protein structure
• Immunoinformatics
• Biological Networks
• Small molecules

In OPIG, we develop novel algorithms, tools and databases that are openly available to the community. These tools are widely used web resources and are also part of several Pharma drug discovery pipelines.

For more information about the research and members of the Oxford Protein Informatics Group, see our group web pages. A list of all software developed in my group can also be found here.

• Professor, Department of Statistics, University of Oxford (2008 - present)
• Executive Chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (2024 - present)
• Chief Scientist of Biologics AI at Exscientia (2021 - 2023)
• Deputy Executive Chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (2019 - 2021)
• Scientific Expert, Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) (2021)
• COVID Response Director, UK Research and Innovation (2020 – December 2021)
• Head of Department of Statistics (2015 - 2019)
• Deputy Head of the Mathematical Physical and Life Sciences (MPLS) Division (2018 - 2020)
• Associate Head (Research) of MPLS Division (2014 - 2019)
• Associate Head (Impact and Innovation) of MPLS Division (2013 – 2014)
• Director - Systems Approaches to Biomedical Research Centre for Doctoral Training (2009 - present)
• Director - Systems Biology Doctoral Training Centre (2007 – 2009)
• University Lecturer, Department of Statistics, University of Oxford (2002 - 2008)
• Welcome Trust Research Fellow, University of California Los Angeles (2000 - 2002)

• Video: Digital Futures - Royal Society of Chemistry
• Video: Oxford University Scientific Society (Lecture: The Protein Structure Universe: from Creation to Medicine)
• Podcast: Tech Tent on the BBC World Service (Interview on the role of AI in drug discovery)
• Podcast: Why aren't we dead? (Oxford Sparks)
• Video: Structurally mapping next generation sequencing repertoires of antibodies to aid in-silico therapeutic design (ELRIG Drug Discovery 2018)
• Video: Predicting Loop Conformational Ensembles (ISMB 2018)
• Video: The developability issues affecting the efficacy of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies ('LabTube meets' series)
• Video: The structural antibody database and its importance ('LabTube meets' series)
• Video: Exciting Scientists - interview with Winton Capital

2022 – 2025 - Head of Department, Department of Statistics, University of Oxford

2018 – present - Professor of Applied Statistics, University of Oxford

2002 – present - Professor of Statistical Epidemiology, Imperial College London

2000 – 2002 - Reader in Epidemiological Statistics, Imperial College London

1995 – 2000 - Head of Statistics Unit (Reader in Statistical Epidemiology in 2000), Wellcome Trust Centre for the Epidemiology of Infectious Disease, University of Oxford

1998 – 2000 - Lecturer in Biology, St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford

1992 – 1995 - Lecturer in Statistics, University of Edinburgh

• Infectious disease epidemiology and control
• Real-time outbreak analysis and response
• Disease transmission dynamics
• Science-policy interface