Next President of Reuben College announced: Professor David Gavaghan
Professor Gavaghan will become the second President in the history of Reuben College.
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Professor David Gavaghan has been elected as the next President of Reuben College
Reuben College has announced that Professor David Gavaghan has been elected as its next President. He will succeed Professor Lord (Lionel) Tarassenko, who will step down following eight successful years of service as Reuben College’s founding President.
Professor Gavaghan brings to Reuben College a distinguished career spanning research, academic leadership, and the advancement of provision for graduate students, alongside a longstanding commitment to interdisciplinary education and researcher development.
As an internationally recognised researcher in computational biology, he has been Professor of Computational Biology in the University of Oxford’s Department of Computer Science since 2004. He completed his DPhil at Oxford in 1991 and, following a series of competitive research fellowships, has been a Governing Body Fellow of New College for more than 20 years.
Alongside his research career, Professor Gavaghan has made significant contributions to graduate education at the University. He established the Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) within the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences (MPLS) Division in 2002 and continues to serve as its director. To date, the DTC has developed 15 interdisciplinary training programmes and secured more than £200 million in funding for over 1,500 doctoral students. It has also provided training for postdoctoral researchers through the Schmidt AI in Science Fellowship programmes, with support from Reuben College.
Professor Gavaghan will take up the role of President on 1 September 2027.
On his appointment, Professor Gavaghan said:
'I am honoured to join Reuben College as its next President, entrusted with building on the extraordinary momentum achieved by its founding President, Lionel Tarassenko.
As Oxford’s newest college, Reuben has already established a distinctive reputation for fostering interdisciplinary approaches to the major challenges of the 21st century.
I look forward to working with the College community in creating an intellectual home where students can thrive in a welcoming and inclusive environment driven by creativity, innovation and shared discovery.'
Vice President, Janet Stott, said:
'I am delighted that Professor Gavaghan has been elected as the next President of Reuben College. He has a huge depth of experience in graduate education and is passionate about the graduate experience, so we are very fortunate to have him as our President from September 2027.
I know that we will benefit from his wisdom and expertise in the coming years, and I am very much looking forward to working with him.'
