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

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
   

I am a Professor of Statistics at the University of Oxford and a Tutorial Fellow of Keble College.

• Statistical machine learning
• Computational statistics
• Bayesian statistics
• Bayesian nonparametrics
• Network analysis

I am interested in the development of statistical models and computational procedures for the analysis of structured data. I have a particular interest in Bayesian nonparametrics and Monte Carlo methods.