Sara Bernardini
Bio
Sara is a Professor of Artificial Intelligence in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and a Tutorial Fellow in Computer Science at Mansfield's College.
Education
Sara received a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Trento (Italy) as well as an MSc and BSc in Computer Science and Engineering (summa cum laude) from the University of Rome "La Sapienza" (Italy).
Employment
Before joining Oxford, I was a Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Royal Holloway University of London, the Principal Research Scientist in AI and Data Science at the National Oceanography Center and a fellow of the Alan Turing Institute.
Sara's academic journey includes positions at King's College London, University College London and NASA Ames Research Center, where I worked on autonomous planning agents for space mission operations.
Leadership
Sara is a member of the Executive Council of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), where she leads the Partnership Committee, the International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling (ICAPS), and the Scientific Organizations Coordinating Council (AISOCC).
She was the Program Chair of ICAPS 2024 and the Associate General Chair of AAAI-23. At AAAI-23, she initiated the Bridge Program, fostering cross-fertilisation between AI and other disciplines, a program she continued at AAAI-24 and AAAI-25.
Editorial Work
Sara is also an associate editor of the Artificial Intelligence Journal and the managing guest editor of the Artificial Intelligence Journal Special Issue on ‘Risk-Aware Autonomous Systems’, a testament to her commitment to AI safety.