PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Richard Charles Wilson

Also known as Richard Wilson, Richard C. Wilson

Richard Charles Wilson is a York professor whose research focuses on machine learning for graphs and networks. He earns a first-class honours degree in physics at Oxford in 1991, then completes a York PhD in computer vision with Edwin Hancock and receives the Stott thesis prize in 1996. He holds an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship from 1998 to 2003, becomes a Reader in 2004, and is named a Professor and IAPR Fellow in 2010. His papers explore spherical and hyperbolic embeddings, optimal assignment kernels for graph classification, and diffusion wavelet graph embeddings. He is Professor of Pattern Analysis and head of AI at York, leads AI for SAINTs, and is associate editor-in-chief of Pattern Recognition.

Now at
UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training in Safe AI Systems
Works
303
Citations
5,189
h-index
34
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1991

    Physics at Oxford

    He earns a first-class honours degree in physics from St John's College, Oxford in 1991.

  2. 1996

    PhD and thesis prize at York

    After moving to York, he completes a PhD in computer vision with Edwin Hancock and receives the K. M. Stott prize for best thesis in 1996.

  3. 1998–2004

    EPSRC fellowship and York Reader

    After a brief period as a research associate, he holds an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship from 1998 to 2003 and joins the academic faculty at the fellowship's end. He becomes a Reader in 2004.

  4. 2010

    Professor and IAPR Fellow

    He becomes a full Professor at York in 2010. The International Association for Pattern Recognition names him a Fellow in 2010 for contributions to structural pattern recognition.

  5. 2014

    Spherical and hyperbolic embeddings

    In 2014, he coauthors “Spherical and hyperbolic embeddings of data” with Edwin Hancock and Elzbieta Pekalska in IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence. The paper embeds non-Euclidean dissimilarity data, including shape and graph distances, on spherical or hyperbolic surfaces.

  6. 2016

    Optimal assignment kernels for graphs

    In 2016, he coauthors “On Valid Optimal Assignment Kernels and Applications to Graph Classification” with Nils M. Kriege and Pierre-Louis Giscard for NIPS. It develops the Weisfeiler–Lehman optimal assignment kernel for graphs and reports higher classification accuracy on benchmark data than the original Weisfeiler–Lehman kernel.

  7. 2017

    Diffusion wavelet graph embedding

    In 2017, he coauthors “Diffusion Wavelet Embedding: a Multi-resolution Approach for Graph Embedding in Vector Space” with Hoda Bahonar and Abdolreza Mirzaei in Pattern Recognition. The method embeds graphs into vector space with diffusion wavelets and describes graph structure at several scales.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor and AI group lead

    He is Professor of Pattern Analysis in York's Department of Computer Science and head of its Artificial Intelligence research group. He is AI Lead for SAINTs, the UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training in Safe AI Systems, and associate editor-in-chief of Pattern Recognition. His research focuses on machine learning for graphs and networks.

Career

  1. Since 2004University of YorkReader
  2. NowUKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training in Safe AI SystemsAI Lead

Education

  1. 1991University of OxfordDegree in physics
  2. University of YorkPhD in computer vision

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Structural, Syntactic, and Statistical Pattern Recognition2010 · Lecture notes in computer science · 468 citationsWith Edwin Hancock
  2. Structural matching by discrete relaxation1997 · IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence · 311 citationsWith Edwin Hancock
  3. Spectral embedding of graphs2003 · Pattern Recognition · 286 citationsWith Edwin Hancock
  4. A study of graph spectra for comparing graphs and trees2008 · Pattern Recognition · 240 citations
  5. Pattern vectors from algebraic graph theory2005 · IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence · 221 citationsWith Edwin Hancock

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of York. 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.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of York. 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. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Oxford. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  4. Companies supply the most prior-work hires at 7 of the 9 frontier AI labsIncludes University of Oxford. Our estimates of the organizations where 550 people worked directly before joining 9 frontier AI labs across 620 career transitions, comparing the main feeder organizations per lab.

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. Richard Wilson's Homepage sites.google.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Chronological List of IAPR Fellows – International Association for Pattern Recognition iapr.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Spherical and hyperbolic embeddings of data - White Rose Research Online eprints.whiterose.ac.uk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. On Valid Optimal Assignment Kernels and Applications to Graph Classification arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Diffusion Wavelet Embedding: a Multi-resolution Approach for Graph Embedding in Vector Space - White Rose Research Online eprints.whiterose.ac.uk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Richard Wilson BA (Oxon), DPhil (York) - Computer Science, University of York cs.york.ac.uk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Meet Professor Richard Wilson – SAINTS Centre for Doctoral Training blogs.york.ac.uk. Checked 21 October 2026.