Paul Goldberg

Paul Goldberg is a Professor of Computer Science and Director of the MSc in Mathematics and Foundations of Computer Science (MFoCS) at the University of Oxford. He holds a BA in Mathematics from Oxford University and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on algorithmic game theory, computational complexity, and machine learning, with notable contributions to equilibrium computation, complexity classes of total search problems, and decentralized systems.

• Affiliations: Department of Computer Science, Oxford; Editorial Board of ACM Transactions on Economics and Computation.
• Education:
  • PhD in Computer Science (1993), University of Edinburgh
  • MSc in Computer Systems Engineering (1989), University of Edinburgh and Université Paris-Sud
  • BA in Mathematics (1988), Oxford University

Research Interests: Algorithmic game theory, computational complexity (especially total search problems like CLS and PPAD), decentralized computation of equilibria, and applications in machine learning and AI. His work bridges theoretical computer science and economics, with a focus on algorithm design and complexity analysis.

Publications and Awards: Over 120 papers, including influential work on Nash equilibrium complexity (2009), gradient descent (2023), and fair division algorithms. Notable awards include the ACM SIGecom Test of Time Award (2022) and a SIAM Outstanding Paper Prize (2011).

Grants and Students: Leads EPSRC-funded projects on game theory and machine learning. Supervised 11 PhD graduates and currently advises Giannis Tyrovolas and others. Active in mentoring MSc and undergraduate projects.

Labs/Teams: Part of the Algorithms and Complexity Theory group at Oxford, contributing to research on optimization, equilibrium dynamics, and fair division.