PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Thomas N. Kipf

Also known as Thomas Kipf

Thomas Kipf is a senior staff research scientist at Google DeepMind. With Max Welling, he published Semi-Supervised Classification with Graph Convolutional Networks at ICLR in 2017. He joined Google Brain in Amsterdam as a research scientist in January 2020 and defended his University of Amsterdam thesis, Deep Learning with Graph-Structured Representations, cum laude in April 2020. Slot Attention, written with Francesco Locatello and colleagues, was accepted as a spotlight presentation at NeurIPS in 2020. He was selected as an ELLIS Scholar in October 2021 and received the ELLIS PhD Award in December 2021.

Works
62

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 17 October 2026. Citations and h-index are hidden because this OpenAlex record may be incomplete or mix in other authors.

Timeline

  1. 2017

    Graph convolutional networks

    With Max Welling, he publishes Semi-Supervised Classification with Graph Convolutional Networks as a conference paper at ICLR in 2017. The model scales linearly in the number of graph edges and learns representations that encode local graph structure and node features.

  2. 2018

    Relational GCNs and NRI

    Relational graph convolutional networks win the best student research paper award at ESWC in 2018. In 2018 he and Ethan Fetaya introduce neural relational inference at ICML, an unsupervised model that learns interactions and dynamics from observational data.

  3. January 2020

    Joining Google Brain

    He joins Google Brain in Amsterdam as a research scientist in January 2020.

  4. April 2020

    A cum laude doctorate

    In April 2020 he defends his PhD thesis, Deep Learning with Graph-Structured Representations, at the University of Amsterdam and receives the degree cum laude. He is one of Max Welling's PhD students at the Amsterdam Machine Learning Lab.

  5. September 2020

    Slot Attention at NeurIPS

    In September 2020, Object-Centric Learning with Slot Attention, with Francesco Locatello and colleagues, is accepted for a spotlight presentation at NeurIPS. The module produces slots that can bind to any object in the input through multiple rounds of attention.

  6. 2021

    ELLIS scholar and award

    He is selected as an ELLIS Scholar in October 2021. He receives the ELLIS PhD Award in December 2021 for the dissertation Deep Learning with Graph-Structured Representations.

  7. As of October 2026

    Senior staff at DeepMind

    He is a senior staff research scientist at Google DeepMind.

Sources and credits

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  1. Thomas Kipf | Senior Staff Research Scientist @ Google DeepMind tkipf.github.io. Checked 16 October 2026.
  2. [1609.02907] Semi-Supervised Classification with Graph Convolutional Networks arxiv.org. Checked 16 October 2026.
  3. [1802.04687] Neural Relational Inference for Interacting Systems arxiv.org. Checked 16 October 2026.
  4. Thomas Kipf Awarded Doctorate Cum Laude - Informatics Institute - University of Amsterdam ivi.uva.nl. Checked 16 October 2026.
  5. [2006.15055] Object-Centric Learning with Slot Attention arxiv.org. Checked 16 October 2026.
  6. ELLIS PhD Award 2021 Winners Announced | European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems ellis.eu. Checked 16 October 2026.
  7. Thomas Kipf | European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems ellis.eu. Checked 16 October 2026.
  8. Thomas Kipf - Google Scholar scholar.google.com. Checked 16 October 2026.