We are proud to announce that Arnak Dalalyan, director of CREST, Hi! PARIS Fellow and Professor of statistics at ENSAE Paris, has been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant for his project SAGMOS – Statistical Analysis of Generative Models: Sampling Guarantees and Robustness. This highly competitive grant will support his ambitious research at the intersection of statistics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.
With this new grant, the CREST now hosts eight ongoing ERC projects: three ERC Starting Grants, three ERC Consolidator Grants, and now two ERC Advanced Grants. This remarkable track record reflects the strength, diversity, and international visibility of fundamental and applied research at the lab. Arnak Dalalyan joins a long line of CREST researchers distinguished by the ERC, following for example the recent ERC Consolidator Grant obtained by Yves Le Yaouanq in economics.
About Arnak Dalalyan
A mathematician and statistician, Arnak Dalalyan studied at Yerevan State University (Armenia) before obtaining a PhD in statistics from Le Mans University in 2001, and an HDR from Sorbonne University (formerly Université Pierre et Marie Curie) in 2007. After postdoctoral research at Humboldt University in Berlin and several academic positions in France, he joined ENSAE Paris and CREST, where he has been director since 2020. His research focuses on mathematical statistics and its applications to machine learning, with particular emphasis on robust methods, high-dimensional data, and sampling techniques.
SAGMOS – Statistical Analysis of Generative Models: Sampling Guarantees and Robustness
Generative models — algorithms capable of creating realistic texts, images, music, or molecular structures — are now at the heart of many technological innovations, from artistic creation to drug discovery. The SAGMOS project will provide new mathematical guarantees on the reliability, originality, and efficiency of such models, particularly diffusion models that have become the new standard in the field.
“In recent years, generative models have made remarkable progress. But we still need to understand how much data is required for these models to generate reliable and truly novel outputs. The SAGMOS project aims to bridge this gap by providing precise theoretical guarantees,” explains Arnak Dalalyan.
The project will lead to the recruitment of PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, and to the organisation of international workshops to disseminate its findings.
The ERC Advanced Grant
The ERC Advanced Grant is one of the most prestigious funding schemes in Europe, supporting established researchers with a track record of significant research achievements. The grant allows recipients to pursue ground-breaking, high-risk projects that can lead to major scientific advances. The funding awarded to Arnak Dalalyan reflects the European commitment to frontier research and the scientific excellence of the CREST research centre.