Diego Oyarzún

Diego is originally from Valdivia in southern Chile. He is Professor of Computational Biology at the University of Edinburgh, with a joint appointment between the School of Informatics and the School of Biological Sciences. In 2026 Diego was appointed Head of ML Engineering at the Generative Biology Institute, EIT Oxford, where he leads the AI/ML research and strategy across the organisation.

He obtained a BSc and MSc in Control Theory and Electronic Engineering from U Santa María in Valparaiso, Chile, and a PhD from the Hamilton Institute, Ireland. He was a Research Fellow in Biomathematics at Imperial College London (2013-2018). He was appointed Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh in 2019, promoted to Reader in 2020, and to Professor in 2025.

At Edinburgh, Diego has had leadership roles, including Director of the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Biomedical AI, Director of the Cross-Disciplinary Fellowships (XDF) at the Institute for Genetics and Cancer, founder of the Biological Data Intelligence Hub, and co-founder of the Edinburgh Science for Sustainability Hub. He has worked with UK Government departments and various global organisations (OECD, World Economic Forum) on biotechnology, AI and emerging technologies. More information can be found in his LinkedIn profile.