Supervisors

Browse the supervisors related to our CDT in Machine Learning Systems here. Click their names to navigate to their personal websites.

The supervisors are grouped into six research areas:

The below list is not exhaustive. Supervisors can also be nominated in other University of Edinburgh schools such as Engineering and Mathematics as long as the research topic fits within the CDT remit. In that case, a co-supervisor in Informatics will need identified at offer stage.

Computer Systems and Hardware for ML

Name TitleResearch
Luo Mai
Luo Mai Photo
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Data Centric Systemsintersection of computer systems, machine learning, and data management
Michael O’Boyle
Michael O'Boyle Photo
Professor and Personal Chair in Computer Scienceheterogeneous code discovery and Optimisation, neural machine translation and neural synthesis, deep neural network system stack, software defined hardware, auto-parallelising compilers, GPGPU multi-core platforms, machine learning based optimisation, compiler/architecure co-design space exploration, very high level programming languages
Ajitha Rajan
Ajitha Rajan Photo
Professor and Personal Chair of Software Testing and Verificationautomated software testing techniques, biomedical artificial intelligence
Paul Patras
Paul Patras Photo
Professor and Personal Chair of Mobile Intelligencemobile intelligence, network traffic analytics, performance optimisation, security and privacy, explainability, bridging fundamental mathematical models and real-world applications of networked systems
Mahesh Marina
Mahesh K. Marina Photo
Professor and Personal Chair of Networked Systemsnetworked systems (wireless networks, mobile/edge systems), loud service assurance, edge computing, sustainable computing and networking, machine learning systems and quantum systems
Bjoern Franke
Björn Franke Photo
Professor and Personal Chair of Software Transformationsoftware transformation, dynamic program analysis and transformation, just-in-Time Compilation, code generation and optimisation, instruction set simulation, hardware/software design space exploration
Amir Shaikha
Amir Shaikhha Photo
Reader (Associate Professor)design and implementation of data-analytics systems
Antonio Barbalace
Antonio Barbalace Photo
Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Operating Systemssystem software, specifically, operating systems, virtualisation environments, run-times/compilers/linkers for parallel, heterogeneous and distributed computer architectures from embedded to data-center scale
Michio Honda
Michio Honda Photo
Reader (Associate Professor)identifying TCP extensibility against middlebox interference and building the first TCP/IP network stack for persistent memory, (currently) network stack designs
Nigel Topham
Nigel Topham Photo
Professor and Chair of Computer Systemscomputer architecture, development of next-generation microarchitectures for high-performance embedded systems, (currently) automated synthesis of processors, interactions between the synthesis of architecture, microarchitecture, and physical design.
Murray Cole
Murray Cole Photo
Professor and Personal Chair of Patterned Parallel Computingparallel programming models, emphasising approaches which exploit skeletons to package and optimize well known patterns of computation and interaction as parallel programming abstractions
Jianyi Cheng
Jianyi Cheng Photo
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Computer Architecturehigh-level synthesis, formal methods, deep learning systems, hardware security
Jackson Woodruff
Jackson Woodruff Photo
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Compiling Techniquescompilers for hardware accelerators 

ML Methods, Architectures and Deployment

Name titleresearch
Amos Storkey
Amos Storkey
Professor and Personal Chair of Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligencemachine learning methods, generative models and generative AI, machine learning and deep learning methodology, model understanding and efficiency
Antonio Vergari Reader (Associate Professor)efficient inference with guarantees, complex probabilistic queries, automating probabilistic Machine Learning
Henry Gouk
Henry Gouk Photo
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Machine Learningartificial intelligence engineering
Michael Gutmann
Michael U. Gutmann Photo
Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Machine Learningmethods for (Bayesian) inference and design
Antonio Attili
Antonio Attili Photo
Lecturer in Computational Reactive FlowsTurbulence and combustion, soot formation in flames, aerosols, combustion instabilities, rocket propulsion, numerical methods, and massively parallel computing. Big-data analysis and applying machine learning and generative AI to fluid mechanics
Hakan Bilen
Hakan Bilen Photo
Reader (Associate Professor)computer vision
Oisin Mac Aodha
Oisin Mac Aodha Photo
Reader (Associate Professor) in Machine Learning(currently) computer vision and machine learning, with an specific emphasis on 3D understanding, human-in-the-loop methods, and AI for conservation and biodiversity monitoring
Laura Sevilla
Laura Sevilla
Reader (Associate Professor)visual world in motion
Elliot Crowley
Elliot J. Crowley Photo
Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Electronics and Electrical Engineeringsimplifying machine learning, AutoML (neural architecture search), efficient network training, low-resource deep learning, engineering applications of machine learning
Timothy Hospedales
Timothy Hospedales Photo
Professor in Artificial Intelligenceefficient and robust AI, meta-learning, lifelong transfer-learning in both probabilistic and deep learning contexts
Nikolay Malkin
Nikolay Malkin Photo
Chancellor's Fellow in AI and Data Sciencedeep-learning-based reasoning (Machine learning for generative models, NLP and reasoning in language, computer vision)
Changjian Li
Changjian Li
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Graphics, Simulation and Visual Computing3D Shape Creation and Analysis, applications in sketch-based modeling, shape reconstruction and analysis from point clouds, and medical image processing and modeling
Viacheslav Boroditsky
Viacheslav Boroditsky Photo
Incoming Lecturer (Tenured Assistant Professor) in Machine Learninggeometric learning, uncertainty quantification, harmonic analysis
Amir Vaxman
Amir Vaxman Photo
Reader in Graphics, Simulation and Visual Computinggeometry processing, discrete differential geometry, focusing on directional-field design, unconventional meshes, constrained shape spaces, architectural geometry, and medical applications
Fengxiang He
Fengxiang He Photo
Lecturer in AI Driven Business Informatics and Financial Comtrustworthy AI, deep learning theory and explainability, theory of decentralised learning, privacy in machine learning, symmetry in machine learning, learning theory in game-theoretical problems, and their applications in economics
He Sun
He Sun Photo
Readeralgorithmic spectral graph theory, unsupervised learning, computational geometry, and randomised algorithms
Wenda Li
Wenda Li Photo
Lecturer in Hybrid AIneuro-symbolic reasoning, AI for math, machine learning for theorem proving, mechanised mathematics
Steven McDonagh
Steven McDonagh Photo
Senior Lecturer in AI and Computer Vision for Healthcomputer vision, machine learning and medical image analysis. multi-modal, multi-task learning and medical imaging applications

Programming Languages and Database for ML

Name TitleResearch
Gordon Plotkin
Gordon Plotkin Photo
Professor (Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science)structural operational semantics  (SOS), denotational semantics, theoretical computer science
Jane Hillston
Jane Hillston Photo
Professor and Personal Chair in Quantitative Modellingquantitative modelling, stochastic process algebras
Phil Wadler
Phil Wadler Photo
Professor and Chair of Theoretical Computer Scienceconcurrency, programming language design, type theory, logic and programming, Agda, blame, XML, Java, functional languages 
Rob Van Glabbeek
Rob Van Glabbeek Photo
Royal Society Wolfson Fellow and Personal Chair in Computer Sciencecomparative concurrency semantics. Mathematical models and formal languages for the representation of distributed systems and the verification of statements about them
Ohad Kammar
Ohad Kammar Photo
Royal Society University Senior Research Fellowapplied mathematics, programming language theory, computational effects, domain theory, probabilistic programming, concurrency, access control, staging and metaprogramming, conceptual biology
James Cheney
James Cheney Photo
Professor and Personal Chair of Programming Languages and Systemsdatabases and data provenance, programming languages and compilers, generic programming, logic and automated theorem proving,compression and information theory,XML and related technologies
Elizabeth Polgreen
Elizabeth Polgreen Photo
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Programming Languages for Trustworthy Systemsformal program synthesis techniques and the use of synthesis to increase the scalability of verification
Leonid Libkin
Leonid Libkin Photo
Professor and Chair of Foundations of Data Managementdatabases, logic in computer science, logic in finite model theory, logic in automata theory
Yang Cao
Yang Cao Photo
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Database SystemsIn-database model explanation, transactional caching, transaction scheduling, graph transactionsquery optimisation under constraints, bounded evaluation, approximate query processing, graph computing frameworks, graph pattern matching,data quality
Wenfei Fan
Wenfei Fan Photo
Professor and Personal Chair in Web Data Managementdatabase theory and systems
Milos Nikolic
Milos Nikolic Photo
Lecturer in Database Systemsdatabases, large-scale data management systems, in-database learning, stream processing, incremental computation, query compilation

Trustworthiness, Ethics, Safety, Security and Privacy

Name TitleResearch
Ram Ramamoorthy
Ram Ramamoorthy Photo
Professor and Personal Chair of Robot Learning and Autonomyrobotics and machine learning. learning, adaptation and control mechanisms to enable autonomous robots to cope with the uncertain and the unknown, and for them to be effective in human-AI teams
Adriana Sejfia
Adriana Sejfia Photo
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Software Engineeringsoftware engineering, programme analysis and machine learning for security
Jingjie Li
Jingjie Li Photo
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Systems Securityuser-centric security and privacy control, measuring human behavior and digital risks, efficient human-machine interface
Aggelos Kiayias
Aggelos Kiayias Photo
Professor and Chair in Cyber Security and Privacycomputer security, information security, applied cryptography, foundations of cryptography, blockchain technologies, distributed systems, e-voting, secure multiparty protocols, privacy and identity management
Markulf Kohlweiss
Markulf Kohlweiss Photo
Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Security and Privacyformal verification, foundations of cryptography and applied cryptography, privacy-enhancing protocols, blockchains, crypto-currencies, formal verification of protocol implementations
Susan Lechelt
Susan Lechelt Photo
Lecturer in Design Informaticshuman-computer interaction, interaction design. Themes of data literacy, creativity, playfulness, sustainability, and responsible innovation 
Chris Heunen
Chris Heunen Photo
Professor and Chair of Quantum Programmingquantum theory, quantum machine learning, quantum programming and semantics
David Aspinall
David Aspinall Photo
Professor and Personal Chair in Software Safety and Securitysoftware security, user authentication, theorem proving, programming and specification languages
Tiejun Ma
Tiejun Ma
Professor and Personal Chair of Financial Computing (Risk Modelling)financial computing, risk modelling
Tariq Elahi
Tariq Elahi Photo
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Security and the Internet of ThingsPrivacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs), anonymous communication networks, data-driven privacy systems engineering
Marc Juarez Miro
Marc Juarez Photo
Lecturer in Cyber Security and Privacycyber security and privacy, ML-based traffic analysis, security and privacy of ML, algorithmic bias
Daniel Woods
Daniel Woods Photo
Lecturer in Cyber Securitycyber security, cyber insurance, digital risk management, cyber risk quantification, incident response, how the legal system impacts cybersecurity, privacy preference signals, 0-Day exploit brokers and prices
Jacques Fleuriot
Jacques Fleuriot Photo
Professor and Personal Chair of Artificial IntelligenceAI Modelling, interactive theorem proving, formal verification, process modelling, and AI/machine learning applied to health/care, medicine and other complex domains
Rik Sarkar
Rik Sarkar Photo
ReaderML and optimisation algorithms.Privacy, fairness, and Explainability.GenAI and artificial data. topological data analysis, topology in ML, Network Analysis and graph machine learning, AI for Biomedical Engineering (diagnostics, interpretability, molecule design)
Craig Innes Chancellor's Fellowsafety, trustworthiness, and risk for cyber-physical systems
Michele Ciampi
Michele Ciampi Photo
Chancellor's Fellowtheory of cryptography, zero-Knowledge proofs, multi-party computation protocols and Blockchain
Nadin Kokciyan
Nadin Kokciyan photo
Lecturer in Artificial IntelligenceMultiagent Systems, Agreement Technologies (Argumentation and Negotiation), Privacy in Social Software, AI Ethics, Explainable AI, Responsible AI

Natural Language Processing and Speech Systems

Name TitleResearch
Mirella Lapata
Mirella Lapata Photo
Professor and Personal Chair in Natural Language Processingprobabilistic learning techniques for natural language understanding and generation, extracting semantic information from large volumes of text
Ivan Titov
Ivan Titov Photo
Professor and Personal Chair of Natural Language Processingnatural language understanding (question answering, information extraction, and semantic parsing), improving generalization across tasks and data distributions, interpretability and controllability of deep learning models
Simon King
Simon King Photo
Professor and Personal Chair of Speech Processingbasic building blocks of speech: speech recognition (new acoustic models, multilingual systems), speech synthesis (unit selection methods, HMM-based speech synthesis, multilingual systems)
Peter Bell
Peter Bell Photo
Professor and Personal Chair of Speech Technologyautomatic speech recognition and understanding (cross-domain and cross-lingual adaptation, efficient alignment, search and decoding on audio data, training methods for ASR, end-to-end and raw-waveform methods, ASR systems for minority or under-resourced languages, speech representation learning, audio-visual speech recognition and enhancement)
Mark Steedman
Mark Steedman Photo
Professor in Cognitive Sciencecomputational cognitive and social science, natural language and speech processing, Artificial Intelligence
Edoardo M. Ponti
Edoardo M. Ponti Photo
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Natural Language Processingmodular deep learning, efficient architectures of language models, computational typology of language
Pasquale Minervini
Pasquale Minervini Photo
Lecturer in Natural Language ProcessingNLP and ML. relational learning and learning from graph-structured data, solving knowledge-intensive tasks, hybrid neuro-symbolic models, compositional generalisation,  designing data-efficient and robust deep learning models
Frank Keller
Frank Keller Photo
Professor and Personal Chair in Computational Cognitive ScienceNLP and cognitive science. language and vision tasks, such as image description, visual grounding, video summarization, visual story telling, computational narrative
Hao Tang Lecturer in Speech Technologyspeech representations in NLP, data structures that speech systems use to solve tasks, 
Korin Richmond
Korin Richmond Photo
Reader in Speech Technologyhuman language and machine learning. articulatory modelling, speech synthesis and recognition, pronunciation modelling, machine learning in tracking shapes in ultrasound videos

Autonomous and Multi-Agent ML Systems

Name TitleResearch
Michael Rovatsos
Michael Rovatsos Photo
Professor and Personal Chair of Artificial Intelligenceethical AI: In a multiagent systems context, this mostly means creating mechanisms to elicit users' and stakeholders' views and translate them into concrete constraints and optimisation criteria for algorithms and design principles for algorithms.
Barbara Webb
Barbara Webb Photo
Professor and Personal Chair in Bioroboticsperceptual systems for the control of behaviour, through building computational and physical (robot) models of the hypothesised mechanisms. insect behaviours. 
Sethu Vijayakumar
Sethu Vijayakumar Photo
Professor and Personal Chair in Roboticsbasic research in the fields of robotics, statistical machine learning, motor control, planning and optimization in autonomous systems and computational neuroscience, Valkyrie humanoid robot, science public outreach.
Kobi Gal
Professor Kobi Gal's portrait
Reader in Artificial Intelligence and Human-Machine IntelligenceHuman-in-the-loop Machine Learning, Human-Computer Decision-Making, Artificial Intelligence in Education and in Participatory Democracy, Ethical implications of the Human-in-the-Loop.