Standa ŽivnýView profile
Professor
Standa Živný is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and a Fellow and Tutor at Merton College. He has been a faculty member at Oxford since 2013 and was promoted to full professor in 2021. His research spans theoretical computer science and discrete mathematics, with a focus on algorithms, computational complexity, and constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) in various forms, including optimisation, counting, and approximation. His research interests include the power and limitations of convex relaxations, sparsification, submodularity, and the algebraic and logical foundations of tractability in combinatorial problems. He has made significant contributions to understanding when and why certain problems can or cannot be efficiently solved using linear programming and other algorithmic paradigms. The recent trends in his publications show a deep engagement with approximation algorithms, hardness results, sparsification techniques, and the complexity of counting and promise problems. His work often lies at the intersection of algebra, logic, and optimisation, demonstrating the power of interdisciplinary approaches in theoretical computer science. ERC Consolidator Grant (NAASP, 2022–2027) ERC Starting Grant (PowAlgDO, 2017–2022) Royal Society University Research Fellowship (2013–2021) He actively supervises a large cohort of postdoctoral researchers and students, including PhD candidates, master’s, and undergraduate students. His leadership extends to academic service, where he serves as Editor-in-Chief of the SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics and holds editorial and committee positions in major journals and funding bodies. He has organised numerous workshops and research programmes at institutions such as Dagstuhl, the Isaac Newton Institute, and AIM. He is involved in major research initiatives, including a Simons Programme on symmetry in computation and an American Institute of Mathematics SQuARE on relaxations for promise CSPs.










