Nando de Freitas

Nando de Freitas
Born	Zimbabwe
Alma mater	University of the Witwatersrand, Trinity College, Cambridge
Known for	Machine learning LipNet
Scientific career
Fields	Computer science
Institutions	University of British Columbia Oxford University Google DeepMind Microsoft AI
Thesis	Bayesian Methods for Neural Networks  (2000)
Doctoral advisor	Andrew Howard Gee Mahesan Niranjan Christophe Andrieu Arnaud Doucet

Nando de Freitas is a researcher in the field of machine learning, and in particular in the subfields of neural networks, Bayesian inference and Bayesian optimization, and deep learning. ^[1]

Biography

De Freitas was born in Zimbabwe. He did his undergraduate studies (1991–94) and MSc (1994–96) at the University of the Witwatersrand, and his PhD at Trinity College, Cambridge (1996-2000). ^[2] From 2001, he was a professor at the University of British Columbia, before joining the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford from 2013 to 2017. In 2014, he joined Google's DeepMind when the company acquired Oxford spinoff Dark Blue Labs. ^{[3] [4] [5]} He was in charge of the team that worked on creating tools for generating audio and images at DeepMind. ^[6] In September 2024, de Freitas joined Microsoft AI as VP of AI. ^{[7] [6]}

Awards and recognition

De Freitas has been recognised for his contributions to machine learning through the following awards:

• Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Machine Learning (2016)
• Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Learning Representations (2016)
• Google Faculty Research Award (2014) ^[8]
• Distinguished Paper Award at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (2013) ^[9]
• Charles A. McDowell Award for Excellence in Research (2012) ^{[10] [11]}
• Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems Young Researcher Award (2010) ^{[12] [13]}

References

1. about (19 December 2013). "audioBoom / 'Deep learning' enabling computers to understand humans". Audioboo.fm. Archived from the original on 28 February 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
2. "Nando de Freitas". University of British Columbia. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
3. Lunden, Ingrid (23 October 2014). "Google's DeepMind Acqui-Hires Two AI Teams In The UK, Partners With Oxford". TechCrunch. Retrieved 13 November 2025.
4. Gibbs, Samuel (23 October 2014). "Google buys two more UK artificial intelligence startups". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 13 November 2025.
5. Katherine Gorman and Ryan Adams. "Solving Intelligence and Machine Learning Fundamentals". www.thetalkingmachines.com (Podcast). Talking Machines. Event occurs at 11:30. Archived from the original on 4 July 2015.
6. Coulter, Martin (20 March 2025). "Microsoft scoops up talent from AI video startup Haiper". Sifted. Retrieved 13 November 2025.
7. Tremayne-Pengelly, Alexandra (12 December 2024). "Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman Is in a Talent War With His Former Companies". Observer. Retrieved 13 November 2025.
8. "Nando de Freitas receives Google Faculty Research Award for his work on deep learning". Cs.ox.ac.uk. 27 February 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
9. "IJCAI 2013 Distinguished Papers | IJCAI 2013". Ijcai13.org. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
10. "Charles McDowell Award | Computer Science at UBC". Cs.ubc.ca. February 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
11. "Faculty Research Award Recipients | Office of the Vice President Research & International". 1 July 2013. Archived from the original on 1 July 2013. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
12. "NYU Computer Science Department". Cs.nyu.edu. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
13. "Nando De Freitas : CIFAR". Cifar.ca. Retrieved 5 January 2017.

External links

• Nando de Freitas home page