Dr Robert Leigh
Dr Robert Leigh is a Senior Research Fellow in Bioinformatics and Molecular Epidemiology at TILDA. His research spans epigenomics, genomics, bioinformatics, and applied statistics, with a particular focus on identifying previously unrecognised structure and signal in high-dimensional biological data using advanced statistical modelling and machine learning. Within TILDA, his work focuses on addressing technical artefacts in population-scale epigenomic data, including batch structure, laboratory effects, and cell composition, to enable robust biological inference. Using high-dimensional modelling and machine learning, he extracts interpretable epigenetic signal linked to functional, metabolic, and clinical ageing phenotypes. He develops and deploys of molecular surrogates, including a large battery of epigenetic clocks and methylation risk scores, to the TILDA epigenetic cohort, supporting reproducible inference and translational ageing research.
Rob holds a PhD in Bioinformatics and Molecular Evolution (MU, 2019) and a BSc in Microbiology (UCD, 2014). His postgraduate training includes an MSc in Innovation (NUIG, 2020), a Specialist Diploma in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (UL, 2022), and a Postgraduate Certificate in Applied Statistics (TUD, 2023). He also serves as Adjunct Assistant Professor in Statistics at South East Technological University (SETU).
He is a Chartered Biologist (Royal Society of Biology, 2021) and Chartered Scientist (UK Science Council, 2023), a Peace Commissioner (2021), and was awarded an honorary colonelcy by the Governor of Kentucky (2023) in recognition of research contributions to animal health. He was appointed to the An Taisce One Health Committee (2025).
Rob's complete list of publications and outputs can be viewed here.