Jonathan Shock

Associate Professor Jonathan Shock leads the UCT AI Initiative in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town and holds an adjunct appointment at INRS Montréal. Trained in theoretical physics, he applies advanced theoretical tools to study strongly coupled field theories and quantum many‑body dynamics, while collaborating with clinicians and biologists on data‑driven projects addressing tropical diseases and neuroscientific questions.

He supervises research across reinforcement learning, supervised and unsupervised learning, and multi‑agent systems, with a particular interest in how reinforcement learning models can illuminate human cognition, attention, and behaviour. Outside academia he champions AI literacy and ethical AI development through the UCT AI Initiative and industry partnerships.