Professor Nadia Magnenat Thalmann, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Bio: Professor Nadia Thalmann began her illustrious career in Canada at Université Laval and later at the Université of Montréal, where she pioneered the field of 3D Virtual Humans. Her groundbreaking film, Rendez-vous in Montreal, which has received numerous awards, showcased the first-ever 3D simulation of past legendary stars acting in a café setting in Montreal.
In 1989, Professor Thalmann established MIRALab at the University of Geneva, a groundbreaking research lab dedicated to the development of Virtual Humans and Social Robots. From 2019 to 2022, she served as the Director of the BeingThere Centre and the Institute of Media Innovation (IMI) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore.
Throughout her distinguished career, Professor Thalmann has participated in over 50 European research projects. Under her leadership, MIRALab has spearheaded interdisciplinary research in computer graphics, computer animation, and virtual worlds, producing impactful work that integrates art, fashion, computer graphics, and cultural heritage simulations. One of her innovations includes the development of a 3D see-through, multiscale virtual patient model. At NTU, Singapore, she made significant advancements in social robotics, unveiling Nadine, the world’s first social robot capable of displaying moods, emotions, and the ability to remember people and actions.
Professor Thalmann’s academic credentials are as diverse as they are impressive. In addition to bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology, biology, chemistry, and computer science, she earned a Ph.D. in quantum physics from the University of Geneva. Her remarkable contributions have been recognized through numerous honorary doctorates from institutions such as Leibniz University Hannover and the University of Ottawa in Canada. She has also received prestigious accolades, including the Humboldt Research Award in Germany, the Eurographics Career Award, and the Canadian Human-Computer Communications Society Award.
Professor Ian Williams, Birmingham City University, UK
Bio: Ian Williams is full Professor of Visual computing at Birmingham City University, UK. He gained his PhD from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2008 in Ai driven low level feature analysis of biomedical image analysis and improving clinical decision support systems. His current research centres on 3D user interfaces, with a key emphasis on creating novel methods, theories, and paradigms for interacting with, and improving Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). He is currently head of responsible innovation on the CreaTech Frontiers project Hid research . This 5-year AHRC funded project will bring a creative cluster to the West Midlands UK, transforming the sector via improved access, increased technical participation and spearhead future creative and industry practices and processes.
Ian has acted on the scientific and technical committee for IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR) for the past eight years, and been program chair for ISMAR in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. He also acts on the committee of the IEEE conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (IEEE VR) and the IEEE Conference on Games (IEEE CoG), He acts as a reviewer for many global conferences, journals and funding organisations including, IEEE Transactions on Visualisation and Computer Graphics (TVCG), IEEE Signal Processing Letters (SPL), the Elsevier Journal of Computer Vision and Image Understanding (CVIU) and the UK Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC).
Prof. Jian Jun Zhang, Bournemouth University, UK
Prof. Zhijie Xu, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China
Prof. Sylvia Xueni Pan, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK