Mohamed Baioumy (2019, DPhil Engineering)

Mohamed joined Univ in 2019, doing his DPhil at the Oxford Robotics Institute. He is supervised by Prof. Nick Hawes and Dr. Bruno Lacerda and is part of the GOALS group. He received the 2019 Oxford-Ashton memorial scholarship and an EPSRC Doctoral Training Award (DTA). Mohamed did his undergraduate studies in Mechanical Engineering and Robotics at TU Delft, the Netherlands.

Why did you decide to do a DPhil?
When I found out that it’s possible to pursue a DPhil at Oxford directly after my undergraduate degree it was a no-brainer. I thus skipped my master’s degree and directly started my DPhil with the intention of doing good research and only taking the classes that I care about!

Give your specialist subject pitch!
Robotics and AI, as I research it, is about building intelligent machines that improve our lives. I investigate how to make robots reason about safety, do the tasks we humans want efficiently and robustly.

How have you changed since walking through Univ’s doors for the first time?
A major change in my life has been around intentionality. I now often ask myself if I really should pursue a certain path, and why. Making sure that I do the things I actually want.

Has anything about the course/Oxford University experience/Univ surprised you?
I was surprised by the sheer number of societies and activities organized. I could easily fill my whole schedule with random activities, which I did during some weeks. There is even a tea appreciation society with weekly events.

Besides that, just being in Oxford felt like living in a gigantic museum. To this day walking by the RadCam feels surreal to me.

What do you do outside your studies?
I love playing sports of all sorts (football, basketball, rowing, squash). Playing piano or guitar is always fun. Also, travelling, reading and fancy cooking.

Describe Univ in three words.
Beautiful, confusingly-named, supportive

You can follow Mohamed on Twitter.

Published: 19 August 2021

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