Sandra Wachter
As of October 2026, Sandra Wachter is Humboldt Professor at the Hasso Plattner Institute and Professor of Technology and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute. Her Technology and Regulation group explores the legal, ethical, and technical aspects of AI. She completed an LL.M. in 2009 and then worked as a legal counsel at the Austrian Federal Ministry of Health. In 2018, with Brent Mittelstadt and Chris Russell, she published a paper on counterfactual explanations that describe the smallest change that can be made to obtain a desirable outcome. Oxford made her an associate professor in 2019, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation gave her a research award in 2025.
Timeline
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2009
Legal counsel at the health ministry
She completes an LL.M. in 2009, then starts work as a legal counsel in the Austrian Federal Ministry of Health.
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2016–2017
Research fellow at the Turing Institute
She becomes a research fellow at the Alan Turing Institute in 2016. In 2017 she joins the Oxford Internet Institute.
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2018
Counterfactual explanations for automated decisions
With Brent Mittelstadt and Chris Russell, she publishes a paper on counterfactual explanations in 2018. Its counterfactual explanations describe the smallest change to the world that can be made to obtain a desirable outcome, without needing to explain the internal logic of the system.
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2019–2020
Associate professor at Oxford
In 2019 she becomes an associate professor at the University of Oxford and, from spring 2020, a visiting professor at Harvard University.
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August 2022
Professor of Technology and Regulation
In August 2022 she becomes Professor of Technology and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute.
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2024
Nominated for a Humboldt professorship
In 2024 the Hasso Plattner Institute announces her nomination for a Humboldt Professorship for Artificial Intelligence 2025.
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2025
A Humboldt Foundation research award
In 2025 she receives the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Award.
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As of October 2026
Humboldt professor at HPI
She is Humboldt Professor at the Hasso Plattner Institute, where her Technology and Regulation group explores the legal, ethical, and technical aspects of AI. She has been Professor of Technology and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute since August 2022.
Sources and credits
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