alex stephens ~/

alex stephens

state estimation · quantum sensing · robotics

oxford, uk

Local--:--
Parkruns199 @ 67 venues
Lastrun · 8.2 km · today
ReadingOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Build02 Nov 2026
01about

Hi, I'm Alex!

I work on GPS-free magnetic navigation at Q-CTRL. I did my PhD (ahem, DPhil) at Oxford in long-term decision making for autonomous robots. My research interests are in probabilistic robotics, state estimation, and quantum sensing.

Outside of work, I'm into triathlon, parkrun, fantasy/sci-fi books, speedcubing.

Alex Stephens
02career / education

career

  • Q-CTRL
    Senior Scientist
    2026 — present
  • Smith Institute
    Mathematical Consultant
    2025
  • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
    Visiting Robotics Researcher
    2019
  • Atlassian
    Software Development Intern
    2018

education

  • PhD, Decision Making for Robotics
    University of Oxford
    2020 — 2025
  • BEng (Mechatronics) & BSci (Physics, Computer Science)
    University of Sydney
    2015 — 2019
03fitness

Year in sport

M W F Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct
run cycle swim gym walk other

Activity history (last 12 weeks)

Recent activities (last 7 days)

×2 1h 15m ▸ show details
  • run ×2 1h 15m
  • Mon 2 Nov
  • run
  • 8.2 km · 50m · ↑21m · ♥ 164 bpm
  • Sun 1 Nov
  • walk
  • 5.5 km · 1h 27m · ↑154m · ♥ 104 bpm
  • Sat 31 Oct
  • run
  • 4.9 km · 25m · ↑27m · ♥ 166 bpm
  • Thu 29 Oct
  • walk
  • 1.6 km · 24m · ↑10m · ♥ 96 bpm
  • Wed 28 Oct
  • walk
  • 2.9 km · 41m · ↑12m · ♥ 96 bpm

Sports

  • Triathlon: raced distances from Sprint to 70.3 ("half ironman") Proudest race: Brutal Half (1.9k swim / 94k bike / 23.6k run up Snowdon)
  • Running: completed 2 marathons, ran every street in Oxford (>1400!) 5k20:35 10k43:25 Half1:37:07 Marathon3:50:56

parkrun ↗

  • Completed 199 parkruns at 67 locations Latest: Henley Wood, Oswestry #316 on 31 Oct 2026 (25:52)
  • Volunteered 320 times Co-Event DirectorUniversity Parks parkrun Core Team VolunteerFlorence Park juniors