We are pleased to share the news that Professor Christian Coester, Tutorial Fellow in Computer Science, has been awarded one of 494 major European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grants. The funding – totalling nearly €780 million this year– is part of the Horizon Europe programme and will support researchers at the beginning of their careers to launch their own projects, form their teams, and pursue their most promising ideas.
The application process for ERC Starting Grants is highly competitive: this year, around 14% of applications were successful, with 494 researchers selected out of 3,474 proposals.
Each of the Oxford researchers selected for a Starting Grant will receive €1.5 million for a period of five years.
Professor Coester’s work addresses questions at the forefront of theoretical computer science, both in classical algorithm paradigms as well as how machine learning can be leveraged to improve algorithms. Using the ERC Starting Grant, he will explore how to develop more effective strategies for handling the associated uncertainty of online algorithms – algorithms which receive their input over time and have to make decisions before future parts of the input are revealed. One strategy is to design learning-augmented algorithms that can take advantage of predictions when these are good, while simultaneously avoiding being misled if these predictions prove to be erroneous.
On the award, Professor Coester said: “I’m excited about receiving this support for my research, which will help me build a research group, strengthen international collaborations, and dedicate more time to my research agenda. I’m grateful to my mentors and collaborators, without whom receiving this grant would not have been possible.”
You can read about the other Oxford academics who have received funding on the University website here.