Nadia Magnenat Thalmann
Founder and Director of MIRALab, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Biography
Professor Nadia Magnenat Thalmann: A Pioneer in Virtual Humans, Social Robotics, and populated XR
Professor Nadia Magnenat Thalmann began her career in Canada at Université Laval and later at the Université de Montréal, pioneering 3D human simulation. Her multi-awarded-winning film, Rendez-vous in Montreal, was the first to feature virtual recreations of legendary Hollywood icons.
In 1989, she founded MIRALab at the University of Geneva, a pioneering research lab exploring 3D fashion, interactive Virtual Humans, and augmented reality. Her innovations include a 3D see-through virtual patient model, which won a Eurographics award, and LifePlus, a EU project recreating daily life in ancient Pompeii that has been highly cited.
From 2009 to 2022, she was Director of the BeingThere Centre and the Institute for Media Innovation (IMI) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. There, she led groundbreaking research in social robotics, unveiling Nadine, a humanoid robot capable of displaying emotions, recognizing people, and remembering past interactions—one of the most advanced social robots ever created.
Professor Thalmann’s academic background is remarkably diverse. She holds multiple degrees in psychology, biology, chemistry, and computer science, along with a Ph.D. in quantum physics from the University of Geneva. Her achievements have earned her numerous honorary doctorates, including from Leibniz University Hannover and the University of Ottawa. She has also received prestigious awards, such as the Humboldt Research Award and the Eurographics Career Award.
She currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of The Visual Computer (Springer) and Co-Editor-in-Chief of Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds (Wiley) and is a lifetime member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences.
Her pioneering contributions continue to shape the future of AI, robotics, and virtual reality. For a comprehensive overview of her academic achievements, visit her profile on Google Scholar.