Michael Wooldridge Receives Faraday Prize from Royal Society

Professor Michael Wooldridge has been awarded the Michael Faraday Prize and Lecture from the Royal Society. The award has been made for his award-winning work as a leading researcher, educator and commentator in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) whose popular science books, lectures and media appearances have informed millions.

Professor Wooldridge is the Ashall Professor of the Foundations of AI in the Department of Computer Science. He has worked in AI for more than 35 years, and is one of founders of the field of multi-agent systems – concerned with building AI programs (“agents”) that operate on our behalf, possibly working with other AI agents while doing so.

Besides a prodigious scholarly output – including 450 scientific articles – Professor Wooldridge has significantly advanced the public understanding of AI. He has written nine books, translated ten times, including two popular science introductions to AI: the ‘Ladybird Expert Guide to AI’, and ‘The Road to Conscious Machines.’ He gives frequent public lectures on AI, including the 2023 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, and his career was profiled in the 300th edition of BBC Radio 4’s ‘The Life Scientific.’ He has given evidence on AI to multiple government committees and in 2023 was appointed Specialist Advisor to the House of Lords inquiry on Large Language Models and Generative AI.

I am stunned and beyond delighted to be recognised for this work by receiving the Faraday Prize and Lecture from the Royal Society. Just as I could never have imagined how far my field would come, so I could never have expected to be recognised in this way. Professor Michael Wooldridge

Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society, said: 'The recipients of this year’s medals and awards have all made outstanding contributions to science and its applications for the benefit of humanity.

'They have done so through by furthering our understanding of the processes that govern the world around us, changing the practices of academia to build a more robust and inclusive research environment, and engaging new audiences.

'Celebrating these diverse contributions is core to the Society’s mission and I offer my congratulations to all the 2025 recipients.'

Previous Oxford recipients of the Faraday Prize include Baroness Kathy Willis, Principal of St Edmund Hall, Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, and Professor Marcus du Sautoy. Michael is the first computer scientist to receive the award in its 40-year history. He will give his award lecture at the Royal Society in early 2026.