François-Xavier Briol

François-Xavier Briol

Professor of Statistics and Machine Learning

Research Group

I co-lead the Fundamentals of Statistical Machine Learning research group within UCL Statistical Science. In particular, I have the privilege of working and supervising the following team of researchers:

Postdoctoral 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 postdoctoral researcher at UCL, where she works on the EPSRC-funded project 'Probabilistic AI for spatiotemporal mapping of tumour evolution'. She started her postdoc in October 2025 and was previously a PhD student at the UCL AI Centre.
    email: <masha.naslidnyk.21@ucl.ac.uk>
    website: https://mashanaslidnyk.github.io

      Zikai (Steve) Shen

      Steve is a research assistant at UCL. His research interests include kernel methods, causal inference and hypothesis testing. He started his position in Oct 2026.
      email: <zikai.shen.22@ucl.ac.uk>
      website: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=z1MLOpoAAAAJ&hl=en

        PhD Students

        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 and his subsidiary supervisor is Dr. Jeremias Knoblauch.
        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 and is her subsidiary supervisors are Dr. Harita Dellaporta and Dr. Jeremias Knoblauch.
          email: <arina.odnoblyudova.24@ucl.ac.uk>
          website: https://jularina.github.io/arina-odv-web/

            Zixiao Hu

            Zixiao is a PhD student Data-Intensive Science at UCL, and his research focuses on Bayesian computation and simulation-based inference with applications in cosmology. He started his PhD in October 2024. I am his subsidiary supervisor and his primary supervisor is Prof. Jason McEwen.
            email: <zixiao.hu.24@ucl.ac.uk>
            website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zixiaohu/

              Ahab Isaac

              Ahab is a PhD student in Statistical Science at UCL, and his research focuses on explainable AI. He started his PhD in Autumn 2025. I am his subsidiary supervisor, and Dr. Alessandro Barp is his primary supervisor.
              email: <ahab.isaac.24@ucl.ac.uk>
              website: https://ahabisaax.github.io

                Marta Piperno

                Marta is a PhD student through the CCMI CDT at UCL, and her research focuses on simulation-based inference and predictively-oriented inference. She started her PhD in Autumn 2026. I am her main supervisor, and Dr. Matt Graham is her subsidiary supervisor.
                email: <marta.piperno.26@ucl.ac.uk>
                website: https://martapip.github.io

                  Stefanos Ioannou

                  Stefanos is a PhD student through the CCMI CDT at UCL, and his research focuses on explainable AI and simulation-based inference. He started his PhD in Autumn 2026. I am his subsidiary supervisor, and Dr. Alessandro Barp is his primary supervisor.
                  email: <stefanos.ioannou.26@ucl.ac.uk>
                  website: https://stefanosioannou.github.io

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                    Visitors

                    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/

                      Sophia Kang

                      Sophia is an independent researcher, and her research focuses on kernel methods, optimisation and gradient flows.
                      email: <seulkang0518@gmail.com>
                      website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-kang-614799181

                        Yuta Ono

                        Yuta is a PhD Student at Imperial College London, and his research focuses on scalable deep learning. He started his PhD in Oct 2026 and is supervised by Dr Yingzhen Li, though I am acting as external supervisor.
                        email: <y.ono26@imperial.ac.uk>
                        website: https://yuta0no.github.io

                          Alumni

                          • Zonghao (Hudson) Chen - PhD thesis: “MiniMMD: Minimization of MMD for sampling, inference and integration” (2022-2026). Now postdoctoral researcher at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
                          • Matias Altamirano - PhD thesis: “Reconciling robustness and tractability in Bayesian inference under data contamination” (2022-2026). Now independent postdoctoral fellow (i.e. Nightingale Fellow) in the department of Statistics, University of Oxford.
                          • Ilina Yozova - PhD on Bayesian nonparametric methods for causal inference (2021-2026). Now Lecturer (Teaching) at UCL Statistical Science.
                          • Masha Naslidnyk - PhD thesis: “Scalable kernel-based distances for statistical inference and integration” (2021-2025). Now postdoctoral research fellow at UCL Statistical Science.
                          • Oscar Key - PhD thesis: “Scalable deep learning and data assimilation” (2020-2025). Now research scientist at Prior Labs.
                          • Kaiyu Li - PhD thesis: “Multilevel methods for Monte Carlo integration, with applications to tsunami modelling” (2019-2024). Now research scientist at Comac.
                          • Zhuo Sun - PhD thesis: “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.