PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Ivan Varzinczak

Also known as Ivan José Varzinczak

Ivan Varzinczak is a computer scientist and logician who works on logic-based knowledge representation and reasoning in artificial intelligence, with a focus on defeasible description logics. A graduate of the Federal University of Paraná in Brazil, he earned a PhD in artificial intelligence at Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse in 2006. In 2018 he won the first Louis Couturat Logic Prize and the first Universal Logic Prize for work on a description logic of concept and role typicality, and in 2019 he defended his habilitation on defeasible description logics at Université d'Artois. In 2020 he co-chaired the International Workshop on Nonmonotonic Reasoning, and in 2025 his paper on defeasible standpoint logics, written with Nicholas Leisegang and Thomas Meyer, won the best paper award at JELIA. He is a professor of computer science at Université Sorbonne Paris Nord and an associate editor of Artificial Intelligence.

Now at
Université Sorbonne Paris Nord

Timeline

  1. 2000–2006

    A Toulouse doctorate in AI

    He earns a BSc in 2000 and an MSc in 2002, both in computer science, at the Federal University of Paraná in Brazil. In 2006 he completes a PhD in artificial intelligence at Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, under Andreas Herzig and Laurent Perrussel, with the thesis "What is a good domain description? Evaluating & revising action theories in dynamic logic".

  2. 2018

    First Universal Logic Prize

    In 2018, he receives the first Louis Couturat Logic Prize (France) for his article "A note on a description logic of concept and role typicality". He presents the work to a jury of seven logicians at UNILOG 2018 in Vichy, and the jury awards him the first Universal Logic Prize.

  3. 2019

    Habilitation at Artois

    In 2019, he defends his habilitation, titled "Defeasible Description Logics", at Université d'Artois.

  4. 2020

    Co-chairing NMR 2020

    From CRIL at Université d'Artois and CNRS, he and María Vanina Martínez chair the 18th International Workshop on Nonmonotonic Reasoning (NMR 2020), a virtual workshop from Rhodes, Greece, held in September 2020 alongside the KR 2020 conference.

  5. 2020–2021

    KLM-style defeasible logics papers

    In 2020, he coauthors "Principles of KLM-style Defeasible Description Logics" with Katarina Britz, Giovanni Casini, Tommie Meyer, Kody Moodley and Uli Sattler, a study of the formal foundations of preferential defeasible reasoning for description logics. In 2021, he coauthors "Contextual Conditional Reasoning" with Giovanni Casini and Tommie Meyer for the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence; the paper adds context as a new parameter to conditional reasoning.

  6. 2025

    JELIA best paper and B2 rating

    In 2025, his paper "Extending Defeasibility for Propositional Standpoint Logics", written with Nicholas Leisegang and Thomas Meyer, wins the best paper award at the JELIA conference at Kutaisi International University in Georgia; it gives a defeasible version of propositional standpoint logic a preferential semantics and a tableaux calculus. The National Research Foundation also awards him a B2 rating in 2025, and he is an Honorary Professor with the Department of Computer Science at the University of Cape Town.

  7. As of October 2026

    Professor at Sorbonne Paris Nord

    He is a professor in computer science at Université Sorbonne Paris Nord in France, after serving as an associate professor at Université Paris 8. His area is logic-based knowledge representation and reasoning in artificial intelligence; he is an associate editor of Artificial Intelligence and general co-chair, with Matthias Knorr, of the 39th International Workshop on Description Logics (DL 2026) in Lisbon, Portugal.

Career

  1. NowUniversité Sorbonne Paris NordProfessor of computer science
  2. From 2025University of Cape TownHonorary Professor
  3. Université Paris 8Associate Professor

Education

  1. 2006Université Toulouse III - Paul SabatierPhD
  2. 2002Federal University of ParanáMSc
  3. 2000Federal University of ParanáBSc

From the biography.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Ivan Varzinczak. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Cape Town. 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.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Cape Town. 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.
  4. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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

  1. bio – Ivan Varzinczak's website ijv.ovh. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Ivan José Varzinczak - The Mathematics Genealogy Project mathgenealogy.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Ivan Varzinczak to receive Louis Couturat's logic prize cril.univ-artois.fr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. [DL] Ivan Varzinczak, winner of the universal logic prize at UNILOG'2018 mailman.zih.tu-dresden.de. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. International Workshops on Nonmonotonic Reasoning nmr.krportal.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. [DL] Workshop on Nonmonotonic Reasoning (NMR 2020) mailman.zih.tu-dresden.de. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Ivan Varzinczak | CAIR cair.org.za. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. AIRU student wins best paper award | School of Information Technology sit.uct.ac.za. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. New B2 NRF rating for the Dept of Computer Science | School of Information Technology sit.uct.ac.za. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. [2507.10133] Extending Defeasibility for Propositional Standpoint Logics arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  11. [DL] DL Workshop 2026: First Call for Papers mailman.zih.tu-dresden.de. Checked 21 October 2026.