PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Matthew Robinson

Matthew Robinson is a medical genomics researcher who develops statistical models for large-scale genetic and health data. He earned a PhD at Edinburgh in 2008, held research posts in Sheffield and Queensland, became an assistant professor in Lausanne, and joined ISTA in 2020. His work includes BayesW for genomic prediction of disease onset and 2026 algorithms for analyzing biobank data and genetic effects across generations. As of October 2026, he is a professor and group leader of Medical Genomics at ISTA, and ELLIS lists him as a Scholar.

Timeline

  1. 2008–2013

    A PhD and Sheffield fellowship

    He earns a PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 2008. From 2009 to 2013, he holds a NERC Junior Research Fellowship at the University of Sheffield.

  2. 2013–2017

    Postdoctoral work in Queensland

    He works as a postdoc at the University of Queensland from 2013 to 2017.

  3. 2017–2020

    Lausanne professorship and grant

    He serves as an assistant professor at the University of Lausanne from 2017 to 2020. He receives an SNSF Eccellenza Grant in 2019.

  4. Since 2020

    Medical Genomics at ISTA

    He joins ISTA as an assistant professor in 2020 and leads its Medical Genomics group. The group develops statistical models and computational tools for large-scale human medical records to study how genetics and lifestyles shape disease risk.

  5. 2021

    BayesW for disease onset

    In 2021, he coauthors a Nature Communications paper on BayesW, a Bayesian approach for analyzing age-at-onset phenotypes at biobank scale. The study uses UK Biobank data to examine high blood pressure, cardiac disease, and type 2 diabetes, and tests genomic prediction in the Estonian Biobank.

  6. 2026

    gVAMP and genetic effects

    In February 2026, his group and Marco Mondelli’s group develop gVAMP, an algorithm for analyzing large biobank data. In June 2026, Robinson co-leads a study that separates direct, indirect, and parent-of-origin genetic effects; it finds that the environment shaped by parents’ genes can be nearly as important as inherited genes for height, body weight, and school test performance.

  7. As of October 2026

    Professor and ELLIS Scholar

    As of October 2026, he is a professor and group leader of Medical Genomics at ISTA, where the group develops statistical models and tools for large-scale medical records. ELLIS lists him as a Scholar at ISTA.

Career

  1. Since 2020Institute of Science and Technology AustriaAssistant Professor
  2. 2017–2020University of LausanneAssistant Professor
  3. 2013–2017University of QueenslandPostdoc
  4. 2009–2013University of SheffieldNERC Junior Research Fellow

Education

  1. 2008University of EdinburghPhD

From the biography.

  1. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes Institute of Science and Technology Austria. 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.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Institute of Science and Technology Austria. 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.
  3. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Institute of Science and Technology Austria. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.
  4. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Institute of Science and Technology Austria. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. ISTA | Robinson Group ista.ac.at. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. ISTA | Predicting the Onset of Diseases ista.ac.at. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. ISTA | Big Data and Human Height ista.ac.at. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Human traits beyond inherited genes: ISTA scientists reveal genetic connections between generations idw-online.de. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Matthew Robinson | European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems ellis.eu. Checked 21 October 2026.