The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) has appointed Chris Russell as Dieter Schwarz Associate Professor, AI, Government and Policy.

Dr Chris Russell’s work is at the intersection of computer vision and responsible AI. His career to date illustrates a commitment to exploring the use of AI for good, alongside responsible governance of algorithms.

Most recently his work on mapping for autonomous driving won the best paper award at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). He has a wide-ranging set of research interests, having worked with the British Antarctic Foundation to forecast arctic melt; as well as creating one of the first causal approaches to algorithmic fairness.

Dr Russell has been a research affiliate at OII since 2019 and is a founding member of the Governance of Emerging Technology (GET) programme, a research group that spans multiple disciplines and institutions looking at the socio-technical issues arising from new technology and proposing legal, ethical and technical remedies. GET research focuses on the governance and ethical design of algorithms, with an emphasis on accountability, transparency, and explainable AI.

Professor Vicki Nash, Director, Associate Professor and Senior Policy Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford said: “I’m delighted to appoint Chris as Associate Professor at OII. The expertise he brings with him will enhance our ground-breaking work on responsible AI and algorithmic governance. We look forward to him joining us in September.”

Professor Sir Rick Trainor, Rector (Head) of Exeter College, University of Oxford, commented: “Exeter College warmly welcomes Dr Russell’s appointment at OII – which carries with it an Exeter College Fellowship. His experience and expertise will add significantly, in a nicely complementary way, to the College’s substantial existing strengths relating to AI.”

Dr Russell said: “I can’t wait to join the Oxford Internet Institute. I believe that the OII is the place to be researching responsible and ethical AI, and I look forward to working with my new colleagues both there, and across the university.”

Joining us from Amazon Web Services, with previous positions at the Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing at the University of Surrey and the Alan Turing Institute. Dr Russell is also an ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems) fellow.

Dr Russell will take up his post on 1 September 2023. The post is supported by funding from the Dieter Schwarz Foundation.