Nadia Magnenat Thalmann

Nadia Magnenat Thalmann

Professor Thalmann has started her career in Canada at the University Laval, and Montreal where she pioneered the field of 3D Virtual Humans. One of her film, “Rendez-vous in Montreal”, many times awarded, has shown  the first 3D simulation of past legendary stars  acting in a café in Montreal. In 1989, she created the laboratory MIRALab at the University of Geneva, a ground-breaking research lab she founded in 1989 developing Virtual Humans and Social Robots. From 2019 to 2022, she was the Director of the research Center Beingthere and the Research Institute IMI in Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore.

During her illustrious career, she participated in more than 50 European research projects, helping MIRALab to develop revolutionising interdisciplinary research in computer graphics, computer animation, and virtual worlds and producing impactful work that synergises art, fashion, computer graphics and cultural heritage simulations. Some recent work includes a 3D see through multiscale virtual patient. In NTU, Singapore, she revolutionized social robotics by unveiling the first social robot Nadine that can show mood and emotions and remember people and actions. Besides having bachelor’s and master’s degrees in disciplines such as psychology, biology, chemistry and computer science, Professor Thalmann completed her PhD in quantum physics at the University of Geneva. She has received honorary doctorates from Leibniz University of Hannover and the University of Ottawa in Canada and several prestigious other Awards as the Humboldt Research Award in Germany, the Eurographics Career Award and the Canadian Human Computer Communications Society Award. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Visual Computer journal published by Springer, co-Editor-in-Chief of Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds journal published by Wiley. She is a life Member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences. For more information about her academic achievements, see google scholar.

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  • Organization
    University of Geneva
  • Profession
    Professor and Director
Related sessions
22 March 2024
11:00 - 11:20 CET Geneva | 06:00-06:20 EDT, New York | 18:00-18:20 CST, Beijing
Nadia Magnenat Thalmann (University of Geneva), Nadine (University of Geneva - MIRALab)