PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Jonathan Scarlett

Jonathan Scarlett is a researcher in information theory and machine learning at the National University of Singapore, with work on the theory of Bayesian optimization and group testing. After electrical engineering and computer science degrees at the University of Melbourne in 2010, he earned a Cambridge PhD in 2014 and spent 2014 to 2017 as a postdoctoral researcher at EPFL's Laboratory for Information and Inference Systems. He joined NUS Computing as an assistant professor in 2018, published tight regret bounds for Bayesian optimization at ICML in 2018, and co-wrote the 2019 monograph Group Testing: An Information Theory Perspective. A Singapore National Research Foundation Fellowship funded his work from 2019, and MIT Technology Review named him to its 2021 Innovators Under 35 Asia Pacific list. He is an Associate Professor at NUS in computer science, mathematics and the Institute of Data Science, and in March 2026 he received a Singapore Global AI Visiting Professorship grant.

Timeline

  1. 2010–2014

    Melbourne degrees, Cambridge PhD

    He earns bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Melbourne in 2010. From October 2011, he is a PhD student in the Signal Processing and Communications Group at the University of Cambridge, and he completes the degree in 2014.

  2. 2014–2017

    Postdoc at EPFL

    From September 2014 to September 2017, he is a postdoctoral researcher with the Laboratory for Information and Inference Systems at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. He receives the EPFL Fellows postdoctoral fellowship, co-funded by Marie Curie.

  3. 2018

    Joining NUS Computing

    He joins NUS Computing as an Assistant Professor in January 2018, with a joint appointment in the Department of Mathematics.

  4. 2018

    Regret bounds for Bayesian optimization

    His ICML 2018 paper gives tight regret bounds for Bayesian optimization in one dimension, and a NeurIPS 2018 paper with Ilija Bogunovic, Stefanie Jegelka and Volkan Cevher treats adversarially robust optimization with Gaussian processes. Bayesian optimization tunes black-box functions and has succeeded in automating machine learning algorithms by learning good sets of hyperparameters.

  5. 2019–2024

    A Singapore NRF Fellowship

    He holds a Singapore National Research Foundation Fellowship, a five-year grant for early-career researchers to carry out independent research in Singapore. Its funding runs from May 2019 to May 2024 for the project Robust Statistical Model Under Model Uncertainty.

  6. 2019

    A group testing monograph

    In December 2019, he publishes the monograph Group Testing: An Information Theory Perspective with Matthew Aldridge and Oliver Johnson in Foundations and Trends in Communications and Information Theory. Group testing seeks to identify defective items by testing groups of items in pools, with applications that include database systems, communication protocols and COVID-19 testing.

  7. 2021

    Innovators Under 35 Asia Pacific

    MIT Technology Review names him to its 2021 Innovators Under 35 Asia Pacific list for his work on the mathematics of group testing, a technique used for fast medical testing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  8. As of October 2026

    Associate Professor at NUS

    He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science, the Department of Mathematics and the Institute of Data Science at the National University of Singapore, and Assistant Dean, Graduate Studies, working on information theory, machine learning and high-dimensional statistics. In March 2026, he is one of six NUS Computing faculty to receive Singapore Global AI Visiting Professorship grants, for a project on adaptive and resource-efficient sequential decision-making algorithms with Kevin Jamieson of the University of Washington. The second edition of Group Testing: An Information Theory Perspective appears in May 2026.

Career

  1. Since 2018National University of SingaporeAssistant Professor
  2. 2014–2017EPFLPostdoctoral researcher

Education

  1. 2014University of CambridgePhD
  2. 2010University of MelbourneBachelor's degrees in electrical engineering and computer science

From the biography.

  1. People shaping AI work at a median of 3 organizations over a career: 3 for university starters and institute and lab starters, versus 2 for company startersIncludes National University of Singapore. Across 6,853 people shaping AI with a dated work role, we estimate a median of 3 parent organizations over a career (mean 3.6), comparing role groups, starting sectors and starting decades from the 1950s to 2020–2026.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes National University of Singapore. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  3. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes National University of Singapore. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes National University of Singapore. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. SCARLETT, Jonathan - NUS Computing comp.nus.edu.sg. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Member profile #9293 | IEEE Information Theory Society itsoc.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. NUS Computing welcomes three new faculty members - NUS Computing comp.nus.edu.sg. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Research - Jonathan Scarlett's Home Page comp.nus.edu.sg. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Prestigious NRF fellowship for Jonathan Scarlett - EPFL actu.epfl.ch. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Assistant Professor Jonathan Scarlett makes MIT Technology Review’s 2021 ‘Innovators Under 35’ Asia Pacific List - NUS Computing comp.nus.edu.sg. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Jonathan Scarlett | Innovators Under 35 innovatorsunder35.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Six NUS Computing Faculty Receive Grants Under Singapore's AI Visiting Professorship (AIVP) - NUS Computing comp.nus.edu.sg. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. Jonathan Scarlett's Home Page comp.nus.edu.sg. Checked 21 October 2026.