François-Xavier Briol

François-Xavier Briol

Associate Professor

Research Group

I co-lead the Fundamentals of Statistical Machine Learning research group within UCL Statistical Science.

Alumni

  • Oscar Key - PhD on “Scalable deep learning and data assimilation” (2020-2025). Now research scientist at Prior Labs.
  • Kaiyu Li - PhD on “Multilevel methods for Monte Carlo integration, with applications to tsunami modelling” (2019-2024). Now research scientist at Comac.
  • Zhuo Sun - PhD on “Transfer learning in Monte Carlo and beyond” (2019-2023). Now assistant professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and previously research scientist at Huawei.

Current Members

I have the privilege of working with the following great team of researchers:

Harita Dellaporta

Harita is a postdoctoral researcher at UCL. Her research interests focus on Bayesian methodology and robustness. She started her postdoc in Jan 2025 and was previously a PhD student at the University of Warwick.
email: <h.dellaporta@ucl.ac.uk>
website: https://haritadell.github.io

    Masha Naslidnyk

    Masha is a PhD student on the Foundational AI CDT at UCL, and her research focuses on Gaussian processes, kernel methods and robustness. She started her PhD in Autumn 2021 and her second supervisor is Dr. Carlo Ciliberto.
    email: <masha.naslidnyk.21@ucl.ac.uk>
    website: https://mashanaslidnyk.github.io

      Ilina Yozova

      Ilina is a PhD student in Statistical Science at UCL, and her research focuses on Bayesian nonparametric methods for causal inference. She started her PhD in Autumn 2021. Her first supervisor is Prof. Ioanna Manolopoulou, and I am her second supervisor.
      email: <ilina.yozova.18@ucl.ac.uk>

        Zonghao (Hudson) Chen

        Hudson is a PhD Student on the Foundational AI CDT at UCL, and his research focuses on kernel methods, probabilistic numerics and gradient flows. He started his PhD in Autumn 2022. Hudson is jointly supervised by myself and Prof. Arthur Gretton.
        email: <zonghao.chen.22@ucl.ac.uk>
        website: https://hudsonchen.github.io

          Matias Altamirano Montero

          Matias is a PhD Student in Statistical Science at UCL, and his research focuses on conjugacy in generalised Bayesian inference. He started his PhD in Autumn 2022. Matias is jointly supervised by myself and Dr. Jeremias Knoblauch.
          email: <matias.altamirano.22@ucl.ac.uk>
          website: https://maltamiranomontero.github.io

            Iman Simo Dzumgang

            Iman is a PhD Student in Statistical Science at UCL, and her research focuses on robust Bayesian inference. She started her PhD in Autumn 2023. Iman is jointly supervised by myself and Dr. Jeremias Knoblauch.
            email: <i.dzumgang@ucl.ac.uk>
            website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iman-simo-dzumgang-96365a254/

              William Laplante

              William is a PhD Student on the Data-Intensive Science CDT at UCL, and his research focuses on robust Bayesian filtering. He started his PhD in Autumn 2024.
              email: <william.laplante.24@ucl.ac.uk>
              website: https://williamlaplante.github.io/

                Arina Odnoblyudova

                Arina is a PhD Student in Statistical Science at UCL, and her research focuses on sensitivity of Bayesian inference. She started her PhD in March 2025.
                email: <arina.odnoblyudova.24@ucl.ac.uk>
                website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arina-odnoblyudova-79ab99158/

                  Yuga Hikida

                  Yuga is a PhD Student at Aalto University in Helsinki, and his research focuses on simulation-based inference. He started his PhD in Jan 2025 and is supervised by Dr Ayush Bharti, though I am acting as external supervisor.
                  email: <yuga.hikida@aalto.fi>
                  website: https://yugahikida.github.io/