PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Kai Lawonn

Kai Lawonn is a Berlin-born computer scientist who works on visualization, computer vision and explainable AI for medicine and the life sciences. After studying mathematics at the Free University of Berlin, he completed a PhD in computer science at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg in 2014 and taught medical visualization at the University of Koblenz-Landau from 2015 to 2019. At the University of Jena, he led the Visualization and Explorative Data Analysis Group, won the EuroVis Young Researcher Award in 2020 and received the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize in 2021. Since April 2026, he is professor of computer vision at Leipzig University and AI Professor at ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig, where his research centers on explainable and trustworthy AI.

Now at
Leipzig University and ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig
Born
1985

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

  1. 1985–2014

    Mathematics in Berlin, PhD in Magdeburg

    Born in Berlin in 1985, he studies mathematics with physics as a minor at the Free University of Berlin from 2006 to 2011 and earns a Diplom. In 2014, he completes a PhD in computer science at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg with a thesis on illustrative visualization of medical data sets.

  2. 2015–2019

    Medical visualization in Koblenz

    From 2015 to 2019, he is an assistant professor of medical visualization at the University of Koblenz-Landau. He wins the Eurographics PhD Award in 2016, and in 2017 he completes his habilitation in computational visualistics at Magdeburg with work on the visual enhancement of focus structures.

  3. 2019

    A Carl Zeiss post in Jena

    In 2019, he moves to the University of Jena as an assistant professor funded by the Carl Zeiss Foundation. There he heads the Visualization and Explorative Data Analysis Group.

  4. 2020

    EuroVis Young Researcher Award

    In 2020, he receives the EuroVis Young Researcher Award, a Eurographics prize for young researchers in computer graphics and visualization. The award honours his work in visual analytics and medical visualization, including illustrative and multimodal visualization and blood-flow exploration.

  5. 2021

    A Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize

    In 2021, he receives the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize, Germany's top award for early-career researchers, worth €20,000 and chosen by a committee of the DFG and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The prize recognizes new theoretical concepts in data visualization that he links to applications in medicine, chemistry and heritage conservation.

  6. 2021–2022

    Professor of visualization in Jena

    He becomes professor of visualization and exploratory data analysis at Friedrich Schiller University Jena in 2021. In June 2022, he gives the lecture "From Visualisation to Insight" at the university's PhD graduation ceremony on Schillertag, showing how data graphics can confuse or mislead.

  7. 2025–2026

    Best paper on aneurysm mapping

    In October 2025, his paper with Pepe Eulzer on uniform parametric mapping of saccular intracranial aneurysms wins the Best Paper Award at the VCBM conference. He joins the editorial board of the journal Computer Graphics Forum in March 2026.

  8. Since April 2026

    AI professor in Leipzig

    In April 2026, he joins Leipzig University as professor of computer vision and AI Professor at ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig, where he heads the Computer Vision Group. His research there centers on explainable and trustworthy AI, visual analysis and the human-AI interface in medicine and the life sciences. With Jena University Hospital, the University of Jena and the Technical University of Ilmenau, he is developing a sensor-based support system that uses AI-based real-time analysis to detect tumor margins during surgery.

Career

  1. Since 2026Leipzig UniversityProfessor of Computer Vision
  2. Since 2026ScaDS.AI Dresden/LeipzigAI Professor
  3. 2019–2022Friedrich Schiller University JenaAssistant Professor, Professor of Visualization and Exploratory Data Analysis
  4. 2015–2019University of Koblenz and LandauAssistant Professor of Medical Visualization

Education

  1. 2014Otto-von-Guericke-Universität MagdeburgPhD
  2. 2011Freie Universität BerlinDiplom

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 Kai Lawonn. 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 Leipzig University. 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 Leipzig University. 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. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes Freie Universität Berlin. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

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

  1. Kai Lawonn - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. EuroVis Early Career Award 2020 – Kai Lawonn – Eurographics eg.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Four female researchers and six male researchers receive Germany’s top award for early career researchers dfg.de. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Making the Invisible Visible: Prof. Kai Lawonn Takes on AI Professorship for Computer Vision scads.ai. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. PhD Graduation Ceremony on Schillertag uni-jena.de. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Visualization and Explorative Data Analysis Group – University of Jena vis.uni-jena.de. Checked 20 October 2026.