The Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) is funding an Oxford vaccine research project that will tackle pathogenic diseases using AI.
Ellison, who recently overtook Elon Musk as the world’s richest man, is giving Oxford £118 million for the programme, which will be led by the Oxford Vaccine Group.
Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the group that led COVID-19 trials, described the programme as a “new frontier in vaccine science”. Scientists will use “human challenge models”, where volunteers are safely exposed to bacteria under controlled conditions and AI tools to identify immune responses that predict protection.
Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor, Irene Tracey, described the project as a “major step forward” in the strategic alliance with the Ellison Institute. She explained that her vision is to draw “more talent and capacity to the Oxford ecosystem to turn scientific challenges into real solutions for the world”.
EIT is designed to host 7,000 scientists, including an oncology clinic, auditorium, laboratories, library, classrooms, and park space. Oxford University, by comparison, has 5,000 research staff.
The Institute has already faced leadership turbulence, with the President, John Bell, resigning days before the vaccine project was announced. Bell was pictured signing the contracts with Irene Tracey when the “strategic alliance” was first announced in December 2024. Bell publicly endorsed Lord Hague in the Chancellor election last year.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Bell clashed with Ellison over operations and staffing, and that tensions flared over the mix of people being brought into the Institute, as well as Ellison’s decisions to fire senior staff without involving him.
Bell, who was Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford until March last year, also serves as chair of Our Future Health, a government-funded project to genetically test millions of patients. He holds over £700,000 of shares in Roche, a pharmaceutical company where he sat on the board for 20 years, which has drawn criticism from genomics-monitoring groups for the “conflict of interest”.
Despite these controversies surrounding Bell’s various roles, a University spokesperson told Cherwell: “We recognise his pivotal contribution in helping to establish the Institute and in attracting outstanding researchers to its mission.”
Bell belonged to the Institute’s Faculty of Fellows alongside former Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Tony Blair’s own Institute for Global Change (TBI) is bankrolled by Ellison. As well as sharing their source of funding, the Ellison-funded institutes work in collaboration on an “AI for Governments” project.
Larry Ellison amassed his billions as boss of tech-giant Oracle, where he has made headlines for suggesting that Oracle would pioneer “AI mass surveillance”, as well as for his friendship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he offered a job at Oracle. Ellison donated to the Israeli military through Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, giving the organisation $16.6 million in 2017.
Ellison also reportedly has a close relationship with Trump, attending meetings in the Oval Office. Trump has questioned the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines, which were pioneered by the same Oxford Vaccine Group that are partnering with Ellison’s institute on this project.
Responding to Ellison’s ties to vaccine-sceptic politicians, as well as questions over the ownership of intellectual property (IP) stemming from the strategic alliance, the University spokesperson told Cherwell that it ensures any external partnerships “align with the University’s public mission, including by realising impact from our academic research”.
Further details on the ownership or management of intellectual property arising from the programme have not been made public.
 is funding an Oxford vaccine research project that will tackle pathogenic diseases using AI.){kind=link}