Varun Kanade awarded prestigious Turing Fellowship

Associate Professor Varun Kanade has been awarded a prestigious Turing Fellowship by The Alan Turing Institute. He joins two other Oxford academics in a cohort of 51 new Fellows from UK universities and research institutes, representing some of the foremost research talent in the world. 

The Turing Fellowship Scheme aims to grow the data science and AI ecosystem in the UK by supporting, retaining and developing the careers of the next generation of world-leading researchers. Turing Fellows have proven research excellence in data science, artificial intelligence, or related fields, and research interests aligned to the Institute’s science and innovation priorities.  

Associate Professor Kanade's research is in the foundations of machine learning, with a focus on optimisation algorithms for learning, as well as statistical and computational learning theory. His recent work has included deep learning with a focus on adversarial examples (malicious inputs designed to cause a machine learning model to make errors), as well as foundation models and their algorithmic properties. Associate Professor Kanade is also interested in research that uses computer science as a lens to study the natural sciences, particularly relating to biological evolution and neuroscience.

The Turing fellowship will allow me to focus on the theoretical questions at the heart of foundation models, as well as collaborate with researchers in the Turing networks regarding algorithmic questions that arise from the focus on privacy, interpretability, fairness and truthfulness of these models. Associate Professor Varun Kanade

Associate Professor Kanade is one of three Turing Fellows from Oxford University in this year’s contingent, joining Xiaowen Dong and Noa Zilberman, Associate Professors in the Department of Engineering Science. The 51 Fellows, drawn from higher education and research across the UK, have research interests that span evolutionary studies and human genetics to the future of cities and biodiversity loss. As well as contributing to the Institute’s interdisciplinary and collaborative research community, and helping to grow its research capacity, the Fellows will also support work in the areas of skills and public engagement. 

I’m delighted to welcome a new cohort of Turing Fellows, brought to us from across our University Network in recognition of their status as the next generation of world leading researchers in the data sciences, AI and related fields. I’m very much looking forward to seeing the immense value they will add to our diverse and vibrant science and innovation community, including playing a critical role in the delivery the Turing’s strategy as we strive to change the world for the better through data science and AI. Professor Mark Girolami, Chief Scientist at The Alan Turing Institute

Turing Fellows are appointed through an annual, open UK-wide call. You can find out more at https://www.turing.ac.uk/people/fellows/turing-fellows