PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Dirk Schnieders

Dirk Schnieders is a computer vision researcher and Senior Lecturer at the University of Hong Kong. He earned a Diplom-Informatiker (FH) at Fachhochschule Dortmund and MSc and PhD degrees in computer science at HKU. His research includes visual-hull detail reconstruction, eye-display reconstruction from one image, and camera-light calibration from sphere reflections. At HKU, he remained on the teaching team, held leadership and coordination roles in master's programmes, received a 2018 Early Career Teaching Award, and developed the AI literacy course he has coordinated since 2025.

Timeline

  1. 2004–2011

    Dortmund and HKU degrees

    He earns a Diplom-Informatiker (FH) degree at Fachhochschule Dortmund in 2004, then an MSc in 2007 and a PhD in 2011 in computer science from HKU.

  2. 2006–2011

    Light-source estimation and JSPS

    From 2006 to 2011, he studies light-source estimation from spherical reflections at HKU. He receives a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship for North American and European Researchers in 2010–2011.

  3. 2008–2010

    Reflective computer vision papers

    In 2008, he coauthors a paper on using illumination estimated from silhouettes to carve surface details on a visual hull. In 2010, he coauthors a CVPR paper on reconstructing a display and eyes from a single image.

  4. 2011–2013

    Teaching and camera-light calibration

    After his PhD graduation in 2011, he stays with the teaching team in HKU's Department of Computer Science. In 2013, he coauthors a paper on camera and light calibration from reflections on a sphere.

  5. 2015–2025

    Leading master's programmes

    From 2015 to 2025, he holds leadership and coordination roles in HKU's master's programmes in Computer Science, Data Science, and Artificial Intelligence.

  6. 2018

    An HKU teaching award

    He receives HKU's Early Career Teaching Award in 2018.

  7. Since 2025

    HKU's AI literacy course

    He develops HKU's AILT1001 AI literacy course and coordinates it from 2025.

  8. As of October 2026

    Senior Lecturer at HKU

    As of October 2026, he is a Senior Lecturer in HKU's School of Computing and Data Science.

Career

  1. Since 2011University of Hong KongTeaching Team Member, Programme Leader and Coordinator

Education

  1. 2011University of Hong KongPhD
  2. 2007University of Hong KongMSc
  3. 2004Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and ArtsDiplom-Informatiker (FH)

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Hong Kong. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Hong Kong. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes University of Hong Kong. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.
  4. 5 of the 25 people with the most-cited recent papers also lead on career citationsIncludes University of Hong Kong. We compare citations to 2023–2025 papers with career citations and h-index, after correcting reviewed publication-date errors: who leads, when they started and where they work.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Dirk Schnieders yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Schnieders, D. cs.hku.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Xingdou Fu (付 星斗) Personal website xingdoufu.github.io. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Kenneth - People i.cs.hku.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Dirk Schnieders Receives Early Career Teaching Award in University's Teaching Excellence Awards 2018 cs.hku.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Homepage of Dirk Schnieders dirk.hk. Checked 21 October 2026.