Nils Papenberg

Nils Papenberg is a computer vision researcher whose work connects optical flow with medical image registration. He presented a 2003 diploma thesis on nonparametric image registration, pursued optical-flow research at Saarland University, and completed a Lübeck doctorate on registration for navigated liver surgery. His 2004 motion-estimation paper won ECCV's Longuet-Higgins Best Paper Award and its Koenderink Prize in 2014; later work covered fast 3D registration of CT scans and radiotherapy uncertainty. He joined Fraunhofer MEVIS in 2009 and, as of October 2026, is Principal Scientist for Image Registration and Deputy Quality Management Representative.

Now at: Fraunhofer MEVIS
Works: 58
Citations: 3,525
h-index: 12

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

May 2003

A thesis in image registration

In May 2003, he presents a diploma thesis on nonparametric image registration at the University of Lübeck's Department of Mathematics.
2004

The ECCV optical-flow paper

In 2004, he coauthors “High Accuracy Optical Flow Estimation Based on a Theory for Warping” with Thomas Brox, Andrés Bruhn and Joachim Weickert. The method follows image brightness and edges across consecutive frames to estimate motion, and it wins ECCV's Longuet-Higgins Best Paper Award.
2004–2009

From Saarbrücken to MEVIS

By May 2004, he is a PhD student at Saarland University's Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, with research in optical flow and medical image matching. He transfers to the University of Lübeck in 2004 and joins the Fraunhofer MEVIS Project Group Image Registration in 2009.
2008–2010

A doctorate and university award

At the University of Lübeck's Institute of Mathematics and Image Computing, he completes a doctorate in 2008 on image registration for navigated liver surgery under Prof. Bernd Fischer. The university awards him the Bernd Fischer Award in 2010 for the dissertation.
2014

The Koenderink Prize

In 2014, he and three colleagues receive ECCV's Koenderink Prize for their 2004 motion-estimation method. The method supports medical-image fusion and special-effects software.
2019

3D registration in two seconds

In 2019, he coauthors “Fully-Deformable 3D Image Registration in Two Seconds,” a highly parallel GPU method for variational deformable registration. At a resolution of approximately 256³ voxels, the full registration averages 1.99 seconds.
2025

Validating dose uncertainty tools

In 2025, he coauthors a Medical Physics paper on end-user validation of tools for modelling uncertainty in deformable dose accumulation.
As of October 2026

Image registration at MEVIS

As of October 2026, he is Principal Scientist for Image Registration and Deputy Quality Management Representative at Fraunhofer MEVIS. In 2026, he coauthors a practical probabilistic framework for uncertainty in deformable image registration for radiotherapy dose propagation.