Two Earth Scientists named among thirty-three Oxford academics as Turing Fellows

Tamsin Mather and Tarje Nissen-Meyer have both been named within this year’s cohort of Turing Fellows.

The 400 fellows announced by the Alan Turing Institute are drawn from across its 13 partner universities and are established scholars with proven research excellence in data science, artificial intelligence, or a related field. They contribute to new ideas, drive collaborative projects that deliver impact, and help to grow the institute’s research capacity and its diverse network of partner organisations. The University’s cohort of fellows comprises researchers from 14 departments spanning the Mathematical, Physical, and Life Sciences (MPLS), Social Sciences and Medical Sciences divisions.

Professor Sam Howison, Head of the MPLS Division, commented: ‘I am delighted to see the work of so many Oxford researchers recognised in this way. Their wide-ranging expertise illustrates not only the breadth of outstanding data science and AI research in Oxford, but also the critical importance of data science to so many aspects of the modern world.’

Tamsin Mather is professor of Earth Sciences and her main research interests centre on the science behind volcanoes and volcanic behaviour. Tamsin believes that data is at the heart of advances in volcanology and the geo- and planetary sciences more broadly. She comments that: ‘In the geosciences we often must rely on natural events. However, samples and measurements can be difficult or hazardous to obtain and this presents a wide range of challenges that the data sciences can help solve. These applications have importance from, for example, the perspective of hazards to human lives and livelihoods and in terms of extrapolating from the present-day environmental impacts of volcanoes to those over Earth’s geological past.’

Tarje Nissen-Meyer, Associate Professor of Geophysics, is primarily interested in seismology, geophysics, numerical modelling, HPC, data analysis, inference problems and conservation. These research areas increasingly rely and focus on data science and AI, as they deal with complex, large datasets and computationally intensive modelling. Connecting these fields and data structures to societal problems such as natural hazards, energy, biodiversity loss and the climate crisis promises great advances. Tarje believes the time is ideal to engage more deeply between diverse academic groups and data science institutions such as the Turing: the mutual knowledge transfer, collaborations and potential co-supervision are bound to trigger innovative progress to create and expand on societally relevant core fields.

The Oxford University announcement and a list of the other fellows from the university can be found here