PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Stefan Woltran

Stefan Woltran is a computer scientist at TU Wien who analyzes the formal properties and complexity of logic-based approaches to artificial intelligence. He earned his PhD in computer science there in 2003, won the START Prize of the Austrian Science Fund in 2013 for the Decodyn project on decomposition and dynamic programming, and became full professor of Formal Foundations of Artificial Intelligence in 2015. A fellow of the European Association for Artificial Intelligence since 2018, he chaired the program committees of FoIKS 2018 and LPNMR 2019. In 2021 he started TU Wien's Center for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning with Clemens Heitzinger, and he has co-directed it since 2022. He is head of the Databases and Artificial Intelligence research unit and Vice Dean of Academic Affairs for the Informatics Master.

Now at
TU Wien
Works
444
Citations
5,382
h-index
36
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2001–2008

    PhD and habilitation at TU Wien

    He earns a diploma in computer science at TU Wien in February 2001 and a PhD in May 2003 with a dissertation on quantified Boolean formulas. From July 2001 to May 2007, he works as a project research assistant in the Knowledge-Based Systems Group, and in June 2007 he becomes an assistant professor in the Database and Artificial Intelligence Group. In November 2008, he receives his Habilitation in information systems.

  2. 2010–2021

    Paper prizes at four conferences

    He wins best paper awards at the RR 2010, COMMA 2010 and ICLP 2021 conferences, and a distinguished student paper prize at KR 2012.

  3. 2013

    The FWF START Prize

    In 2013, he receives the START Prize of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) for Decodyn, a project on treating hard problems with decomposition and dynamic programming. The project simplifies hard computing tasks by using the natural structure of the data.

  4. 2013–2015

    Professor of formal AI foundations

    From August 2013 to January 2015, he is associate professor in the Database and Artificial Intelligence Group at TU Wien, and in winter term 2013 he holds a deputy professorship at Leipzig University. In February 2015, he becomes full professor of Formal Foundations of Artificial Intelligence in that group.

  5. 2018–2019

    EurAI Fellow and PC chair

    He becomes a fellow of the European Association for Artificial Intelligence in 2018. He serves as PC chair of the FoIKS symposium on foundations of information and knowledge systems in 2018 and of the LPNMR conference on logic programming and non-monotonic reasoning in 2019.

  6. Since 2020

    Group head and vice dean

    In January 2020, he takes over as head of the Databases and Artificial Intelligence group and becomes Vicedean of Academic Affairs of the Faculty of Informatics at TU Wien.

  7. Since 2021

    Starting the CAIML center

    In 2021, he and Clemens Heitzinger start CAIML, TU Wien's Center for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, which bundles research in AI and machine learning from foundations to applications. Since 2022, he is co-director of the center.

  8. As of October 2026

    Head of the AI research unit

    Since 2024, he leads TU Wien's iCAIML doctoral college on innovative combinations and applications of AI and machine learning. As of October 2026, he is a full professor at TU Wien, head of the Databases and Artificial Intelligence research unit, and Vice Dean of Academic Affairs for the Informatics Master. His research covers knowledge representation and reasoning, argumentation, complexity analysis in AI and logic programming.

Career

  1. Since 2001TU WienProject Research Assistant, Assistant Professor
  2. 2013Leipzig UniversityDeputy Professor

Education

  1. 2008TU WienHabilitation in Information Systems
  2. 2003TU WienPhD
  3. 2001TU WienDiploma in Computer Science

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Stefan Woltran. 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 TU Wien. 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 TU Wien. 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 TU Wien. 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 Stefan Woltran yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Homepage of Stefan Woltran dbai.tuwien.ac.at. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Univ.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.techn. Stefan WOLTRAN | TU Wien tuwien.at. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. START-Preis: Nur fast unlösbar | TU Wien tuwien.at. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. FWF START Award | TU Wien tuwien.at. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. FWF START Awards 1996—2017 - FWF fwf.ac.at. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Univ.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.techn. Stefan Woltran — CAIML caiml.dbai.tuwien.ac.at. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Stefan Woltran elected EurAI-Fellow : Vienna Center for Logic and Algorithms vcla.at. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. Thank you, Clemens! Thank you for all your tremendous work, for initiating and laying the foundation of CAIML. — CAIML caiml.dbai.tuwien.ac.at. Checked 20 October 2026.
  9. Stefan Woltran — TU Wien Informatics informatics.tuwien.ac.at. Checked 20 October 2026.