Azade Farshad

I am an Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, and a Principal Investigator at the ELLIS Institute Finland. Before moving to Finland in 2025, I was a postdoctoral research associate at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), where I also completed my PhD summa cum laude in 2023 with a thesis on learning neural representations with limited data and supervision — recognized with the BVM 2025 Best Dissertation Award.

My research develops deep generative models — with a focus on diffusion models and structured representations such as scene graphs — to understand, generate, and manipulate images and videos. A central goal of my group is to bring these methods into the operating room: simulating surgery, modeling surgical workflow, and synthesizing realistic medical data to build the next generation of clinical AI tools. I continue to co-advise doctoral researchers at TUM with Prof. Nassir Navab.

Beyond research, I serve the community as an Area Chair for MICCAI, an Executive Committee member of the British Machine Vision Association (BMVA), a Board Member of Women in MICCAI, and a Lead Member of Women in AI and Robotics. I have organized workshops at CVPR, ICCV, and ECCV, and I am committed to mentoring junior researchers and supporting women in AI. See my full CV →