109. Oxford University’s Newest College - Reuben College (Prof. Lionel Tarassenko)

The University of Oxford is made up of over 30 colleges and halls spread across the city centre and beyond. These colleges are at the heart of Oxford's reputation as one of the best universities in the world and make it a very special place to study and live. With the oldest colleges being over 700 years old, it is a rare occurrence for a new college to be established. In 2019, Reuben Colleges was established as the newest college at Oxford University. It is a graduate college dedicated to fostering interdisciplinary exchange within an inclusive, innovative and impact-oriented community. My guest in this episode is the first president of Reuben College. 

Professor Lord Lionel Tarassenko CBE FREng FMedSci is the first president of Reuben College, and Theme Lead for the AI & Machine Learning research cluster. He is a world-leading expert in the application of signal processing and machine learning to healthcare, with a strong track record in translation to clinical medicine.

Professor Tarassenko’s work has had a major impact on the identification of deterioration in acute care and on the management of chronic disease. The system which he designed for patient monitoring in critical care was the first machine learning system to gain FDA approval (in 2008). Prior to that, Professor Tarassenko had been closely involved in the development of some of the jet engine monitoring software at the core of the Rolls-Royce TotalCare® package. This won him the Rolls-Royce Chairman's Award for Technical Innovation in 2001 and the Sir Henry Royce High Value Patent Award in 2008.

Professor Tarassenko was elected to a Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2000, and to a Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2013. He has won many awards for his work, including the British Computer Society (BCS) Medal, the Silver Medal of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Engineering & Technology IT Award, among others. He was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for services to engineering in the 2012 New Year’s Honours List. In May of 2024, Professor Tarassenko was appointed to the House of Lords as a non-party-political peer and will join the House of Lords as a cross-bencher (Baron Tarassenko of Headington).