Catz Fellow Awarded Prestigious AI Fellowship
St Catherine’s College is delighted to announce that Professor Philip Torr, Catz Fellow by Special Election in Engineering Science, has been awarded a prestigious fellowship in the study of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by Schmidt Sciences. This year, Professor Philip Torr and Dr Christian Schroeder de Witt (Department of Engineering Science) are the only two Oxford academics to be recognised with AI2050 Research Fellowships, and they join a global cohort of 30 researchers.
This fellowship is the latest in a long series of academic honours for Professor Philip Torr, which otherwise includes such prolific prizes as the Marr Prize (1998, the highest honour in vision) and a Turing AI World-Leading Research Fellowship (2021). The AI2050 Research Fellowship recognises Professor Torr’s efforts in advancing computer vision, promoting AI safety, and designing agent-based systems.
The AI2050 Research Fellowships were established by Schmidt Sciences to award, recognise, and drive the study of AI. The primary focus of this scheme is to foster ground-breaking advancements in AI by 2050. Eric Schmidt, co-founder of Schmidt Sciences, emphasises: “AI is underhyped, especially when it comes to its potential to benefit humanity.” Founded in 2024 by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, Schmidt Sciences aims to connect scientists across fields, in order to spark fresh thinking and drive creative problem-solving to pressing global problems.
Professor Torr seeks to use the fellowship to create an AI system capable of working alongside historians to better interpret the past. The envisioned technology would support researchers as they examine evidence, investigate causal links, evaluate alternative explanations for perceived phenomena, and uncover trends in social development. Rather than replacing human insight, which Professor Torr considers deeply valuable, this “digital co-historian” would complement the work by helping to navigate extensive archives and to caulk gaps in incomplete scholarship and large datasets.
Professor Torr comments: “This Fellowship gives me the chance to work on my dream project. The aim is to launch a new discipline of ‘computational historiography’, where AI and humans collaborate to better understand the forces that have shaped – and may continue to shape – human history.”
Dr Schroeder de Witt was honoured with the 2025 AI2050 Early Career Fellowship for his contributions to AI safety and global technology policy. At the University of Oxford, he leads the Witt Lab; based within the Department of Engineering Science, the Oxford Witt Lab prioritises assurance in AI. Their focus is building trust, evaluating risks, and providing foundational security for AI systems and organisations. Dr Schroeder de Witt underscores the threat of advanced AI agents capable of covert communication, concealed skill development, and stealthy attacks.
Dr Schroeder de Witt was awarded a 2025 AI2050 Early Career Fellowship for his contributions to AI safety and global technology policy. At Oxford, he leads the Oxford Witt Lab; based at the Department of Engineering Science, the Lab prioritises assurance in AI. Their focus is building trust, evaluating risks, and providing foundational assurance for AI systems and organisations, and Dr Schroeder de Witt emphasises the threat of advanced AI agents capable of covert communication, concealed skill development, and stealthy attacks.
Reflecting on the Early Career Fellowship, Dr Schroeder de Witt commented: “I am grateful to Schmidt Sciences and to the University, and I am excited to build this with colleagues and students both here and beyond.”
AI2050 Fellows become part of a global community of leading researchers working at the intersections of AI, computer science, economics, and politics. The fellowships offer annual meetings, collaborative opportunities, and potential further funding to support the joint initiatives and innovative research which are encouraged by Schmidt Sciences.
Professor Philip Torr FREng FRS
Professor Philip Torr is Catz Fellow by Special Election in Engineering Science and Professor in Engineering Science. In 2021, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society for his “substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge”, having been made a Fellow of the Royal Academy for Engineering years prior. In 2007, he was made a Wolfson Research Merit Award Holder.
At Catz, Phil teaches computer vision and machine learning, and he also leads a large group of graduate students and postdoctoral researcher. At the University, Phil leads the Torr Vision Group. His work primarily advances the field of computer vision, which explores how computers perceive and interpret visual information. While his earlier research focused solely on real-time scene understanding and reconstruction using mobile cameras, the rise of modern AI has increasingly shaped his interests, and it now plays a central role in his work.
Professor Torr has founded and c0-founded several companies in the field, including OxSight; and he has also been involved with a number of spin-out companies, including FiveAI, Eigent, DreamTech, and CamelAI. His work is underpinned by the foundational experience of his PhD at the Robotics Research Group at the University of Oxford, and his extensive professional experience at Oxford Brookes University and Microsoft Research. He returned to Oxford in 2013 as a Professor of Engineering Science and the founder of the Torr Vision Group.
To read more about Professor Torr’s work and publications, please see here.
For more information about Schmidt Science’s mission and values, please see here. Further information about the AI2050 Fellowships is available here.
Image courtesy of the University of Oxford