PhD student Jialun (Eric) Chen has secured a prestigious place in the Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Fellowship Program at the University of Oxford.
The bespoke AI training program (part of philanthropic initiative Schmidt Futures) at Oxford provides selected academics from around the world unprecedented levels of support and access to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in STEM research.
Through this international initiative, Oxford hopes to build a cohort of approximately 55 Fellows over six years.
Mr Chen, who is part of the Australian Research Council's Transforming energy Infrastructure through Digital Engineering (TIDE) Research Hub, will also be offered an Associate Research Fellowship at Reuben College, a new college at the University of Oxford dedicated to fostering interdisciplinary research.
Image: Off to Oxford, PhD student Eric Chen.
Having first visited Oxford in August 2023, where he was hosted by Professor Thomas Adcock, Mr Chen was encouraged to apply for the Fellowship as he progressed his research work.
Professor Adcock said the Fellowship provided training in machine learning from world leaders in the field.
“The Fellowship holders are expected to mentor members of the research group they join in AI methods, as well as pursue their own research,” Professor Adcock said.
“During the course of his fellowship, Eric will work with me to apply machine learning to ocean wave forecasting and I look forward to welcoming him at Oxford.”
Mr Chen’s UWA supervisor Dr Wenhua Zhao said his success reflected the quality of the training and mentoring provided by TIDE.
“It has been a great pleasure to supervise Eric, who has consistently demonstrated self-motivation and extraordinary dedication throughout his PhD journey,” Dr Zhao said.
“This prestigious fellowship is a testament to Eric’s outstanding AI-based research with applications to marine renewable energy.
“I am confident that he will continue to excel in advancing cutting edge research in artificial intelligence at Oxford.”
After submitting his thesis, Mr Chen hopes to travel to Oxford to commence his fellowship in early May.