Oxford researchers secure major international funding for AI safety and cybersecurity

Dr Adel Bibi, a Senior Researcher in Machine Learning and Computer Vision, has secured funding through two major international research programmes to advance the development of safe, trustworthy and resilient artificial intelligence systems.

The awards include the Horizon Europe project and a Competitive Research Grant (CRG) from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) as part of a bigger consortium of industry and academic partners across Europe. Together, the projects will support several researchers and strengthen Oxford's leadership in AI safety, machine learning and cyber resilience.

The project is a collaboration between Oxford and KAUST, led in partnership with Professor Bernard Ghanem at KAUST. As AI agents become increasingly capable and autonomous, ensuring that they operate safely and reliably has become a critical challenge. T

The funding will support Dr Bibi's research programme and a postdoctoral researcher over the 36-month project.

In parallel, Dr Bibi has been awarded the Horizon Europe grant from Oxford as part of a consortium on the project GENESIS-AI (Self-Improving Generative Intelligence for Cybersecurity in Complex Infrastructures), a €582,000 award to Oxford led by Dr Adel Bibi. The three-year project brings together 18 partners from across Europe, including major industrial organisations such as Siemens, Airbus, Bosch and NXP Semiconductors.

GENESIS-AI will develop a self-improving and regulation-aware generative AI ecosystem capable of protecting critical digital infrastructure against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. The project combines multi-agent AI systems, privacy-preserving learning, explainable AI and automated cyber defence technologies to help organisations respond proactively to emerging risks while remaining compliant with European regulations.

This oxford award will support Dr Adel Bibi, along with Dr Puneet Dokania, and Prof Philip Torr to recruit postdoctoral researchers to contribute to the development of trustworthy ai etc.

Dr Adel Bibi said: "Through the Horizon Europe grant, which brings together a consortium of academic institutions and industry partners across Europe, and the CRG collaboration with KAUST, these projects form part of a wider international effort to advance both AI security and AI for cybersecurity, making advanced AI systems safer, more reliable and more accountable."