biography

Summary

Kaan Akşit is an Associate Professor of Computational Light at University College London, where he also leads the Computational Light Laboratory. His research focuses on the intersection of light and computation, developing Artificial Intelligence-assisted approaches in imaging, graphics, fabrication, and displays. His work is widely known among the optics and graphics community for his contributions to display technologies dedicated to 3D, virtual reality, and augmented reality. Over the years, his research has been recognized with numerous awards from ACM SIGGRAPH, IEEE VR and ISMAR, and Optica. For more details, please visit his website.

Collaborators

Special thanks! Kaan is forever thankful to his collaborators for enabling his scientific journey. Kaan learned a lot from them. They shape and influence Kaan's scientific journey.

When inviting Kaan to review processes: If you are going to invite Kaan to a review process, it is worth to check Kaan's publications in the last two to three years to make sure to maintain a fair review process as Kaan can not review his co-authors in the review processes. Please also make sure that you understand "Kaan's expertise" before inviting Kaan to a review process. For example, Kaan doesn't know anything about "sea creatures and their natural habitats" or "lifetime of volcanos".

Check active collaborators before inviting Kaan to a review process. For a list of Kaan's active Post-doctoral researchers, Ph.D. students and M.Sc. students visit Computational Light Laboratory's people page. Please also remember that Kaan is conflicted with the people in his affiliated institutions.

General information

Name Kaan
Surname Akşit
Title Associate Professor of Computational Light
Email kaanaksit@kaanaksit.com
Address 169 Euston Road, NW1 2AE, London, United Kingdom
Webpage kaanaksit.com
Github kaanaksit
Linkedin kaanaksit
Twitter kaanaksit
Google scholar FhyBsnQAAAAJ
Orcid 0000-0002-5934-5500

Education

Work experience

  • 2021.01 - Present

    London, United Kingdom

    Associate Professor of Computational Light
    Computer Science Department, University College London
    In this role as an educator and scientist, Kaan established the Computational Light Laboratory with a focus on artificial intelligence-driven computational methods across various fields such as displays, imaging, graphics, optics, fabrication, holography, virtual reality, and augmented reality.
    • Computational Light
    • Computational Displays
    • Perceptual Graphics
    • Optical Computing
    • Computer-Generated Holography
    • Augmented Reality
    • Virtual Reality
  • 2014.07 - 2020.08

    Santa Clara, United States

    Senior Research Scientist
    NVIDIA Research
    As NVIDIA's first employee within the newly established New Experiences Group, Kaan worked as a Senior Research Scientist and contributed to inventing cutting‑edge Computational displays for virtual reality and augmented reality applications. In this role, Kaan has made significant contributions by establishing laboratory spaces and recruiting new employees with similar or relevant focuses.
    • Near-Eye Displays
    • Gaze-tracking
    • Perceptual Graphics
    • Holography
    • Augmented Reality
    • Virtual Reality
  • 2013.08 - 2013.09

    Uppsala, Sweden

    Visiting Researcher
    Goodbye Kansas (Formerly known as Imagination Studios)
    Kaan visited Imagination Studios as a researcher through a European Union seventh framework funded project. The collaboration between Koç University and Imagination Studios focused on creating the next generation of stereoscopic displays, allowing actors/actresses to have a more immersive experience in their virtual environment. Kaan's role in this project was to develop the necessary hardware components that include optical, electrical, and mechanical parts.
    • Projection Displays
    • Motion Capture
    • 3D Displays
  • 2013.02 - 2013.05

    Zürich, Switzerland

    Research Intern
    Disney Research Zürich
    As a research intern at Disney Research Zürich, Kaan contributed to visible light communication applications across various hardware systems by focusing on day-to-day tasks such as developing Android and iPhone applications, designing electronic hardware, and creating libraries for Arduino platforms.
    • Visible Light Communications
    • Embedded Systems
    • Smartphones
  • 2010.05 - 2014.06

    Istanbul, Türkiye

    Research Assistant
    Optical Microsystems Laboratory, Koç University
    The European Commission's seventh framework program (EC-FP7) funded research on an innovative high efficiency laser-based multi-user multi-modal 3D display project, known as HELIUM3D. Additional support from the Turkish Scientific Council provided funding for a cutting-edge autostereoscopic super multi-view display device. The Ph.D. thesis culminated these projects by exploring the potential applications of laser-based projectors in 3D displays and near-eye display technologies. In addition to the Ph.D. thesis, a device that alleviates Parkinson's symptoms in patients was also developed.
    • 3D Displays
    • Autostereoscopic Displays
    • Stereoscopic Displays
    • Biomedical Electronics
    • Laser Projectors
  • 2009.06 - 2010.02

    Eindhoven, Netherlands

    Research Intern
    Philips Research
    As an intern at Philips Research, focused on several projects including the development of a multi-actuator control for unit-injector drives and design responsibilities for a test facility dedicated to fragrance injection. Additionally, contributed to the creation of a remote heart rate and motion monitoring system.
    • Photoplethysmography
    • Fragrance Injectors
  • 2007.01 - 2008.01

    Aachen, Germany

    Student assistant
    RWTH ISEA
    Troubleshooted switched reluctance machine drive circuits designed for MIELE.
    • Flyback DC/DC Converter
    • Electrical Reluctance Machines
  • 2006.01 - 2007.01

    Istanbul, Türkiye

    Student assistant
    Electrical Machines Laboratory, Istanbul Technical University
    During the undergraduate studies, led experiments for third-year undergraduates and contributed to the solar race car team of the university. The focus in the team was on developing telemetry systems.
    • Electrical Direct Current Machines
    • Electrical Asynchronous Machines
  • 2005.07 - 2005.09

    Istanbul, Türkiye

    Intern
    Turkish Telecommunications Company
    Troubleshooted failures that were reported in different internet network topologies (i.e., ADSL).
    • Internet connection issues
  • 2005.05 - 2005.07

    Istanbul, Türkiye

    Intern
    Istanbul Transportation Company
    Translated Honda GX240/270/340/390 manuals from English to Turkish.
    • Subway trains

Academic funding

Invited talks and workshops

Teaching

Awards

Mentorship

*For more, please visit this link.
Antoni Wuczyński, 2026, Next: Software Engineer, VIVIDATA
Abubakar Sharif, 2022, Next: -
Alicia Mak, 2026, Next: Business Analyst Intern, PwC
Ashton Hill, 2026, Next: Software -
Ahmet Hamdi Güzel, 2022-2024, Next: Ph.D. Student at University College London
Amirhossein Ghanbari Niaki, 2013-2014, Next: Ph.D. student at Johns Hopkins University
Chengkun Li, 2021, Next: Ph.D. student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Chuanjun Zheng, 2025, Next: Ph.D. Student at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Chung-Yu (Kevin) Wei, 2025, Next: Research Intern at Tractable
Daniel Andersen, 2016, Next: Research Scientist at Meta Reality Labs
David Dunn, 2016-2017, Next: Senior Engineer at Qualcomm XR Research
David Robert Walton, 2021-2022, Next: Lecturer at Birmingham City University
Daren Palmer, 2026, Next: Engineer Intern, Hiya Inc
Darius Chitoroaga, 2026, Next: Software Engineer Intern, Meta
Debosmit Neogi, 2022, Next: Master of Science at University at Buffalo
Doğa Doğan, 2020-2021, Next: Instructor at Boğaziçi University
Doğa Yılmaz, 2023-2025, Next: Ph.D. Student at University College London
Eric Whitmire, 2018, Next: Research Scientist at Meta Reality Labs
Eugene Hong, 2016-2017, Next: Bachelor of Science at Binghamton University
Efe Tekin, 2026, Next: MSc at Imperial College London
Gbemisola Akinola-Alli, 2022, Next: Senior Engineer at MBDA
Henry Kam, 2025, Next: Graduate student at New York University
Hongbin Zhang, 2025, Next: -
Jeanne Beyazian, 2022, Next: Computer Vision Developer at Glimpse Analytics
Joshua Soh, 2026, Next: MSc at Imperial College London
Josh Kaizer, 2022, Next: -
Jiasheng Yang, 2025, Next: Research Intern at University College London
Jiayi Wang, 2025, Next: -
Jihao (Geo) Gu, 2025, Next: Research Intern at University College London
Jingxuan Zhong, 2025, Next: M.Sc. student at University College London
Junhao Cheng, 2025, Next: High School teacher
Kerem Eroğlu, 2022, Next: MEng at University College London
Kishore Rathinavel, 2017, Next: Visiting Student at Stanford University
Koray Kavaklı, 2021-2023, Next: Ph.D. Student at Koç University
Kylee Krzanich, 2018, Next: Research Assistant at Stanford University
Lifeng Qiu Lin, 2025, Next: Visiting Researcher at Tsinghua University
Nerea Sainz De La Maza, 2022, Next: Bachelor of Science at University College London
Oliver Kingshott, 2021, Next: Ph.D. Student at University College London
Osman Eldeş, 2010-2014, Next: Product Manager at Augmency
Vladimiros Karin, 2026, Next: -
Praneeth Chakravathula, 2017-2018, Next: Postdoctoral Researcher at Princeton University
Pengze Li, 2024, Next: -
Qian Liu (刘谦), 2026, Next: -
Richard Li, 2018-2020, Next: Ph.D. student at the University of Washington
Rasul Bakhodirov, 2026, Next: -
Rohan Kumar, 2016-2017, Next: Bachelor of Science at University of Maryland
Runze (Aiden) Cheng (程闰泽), 2026, Next: MSc at University of Cambridge
Serhat Aksoy, 2022, Next: Bachelor Student at Istanbul Technical University
Santtosh Sivaram, 2026, Next: -
Stefan Sarmo, 2026, Next: Freelance software developer
Tianwen Zhou, 2025, Next: Researcher at Huawei Technology Ltd
Toma Kolev, 2025, Next: Software Engineer at Smartsoft Healthcare
Tong Wu, 2026, Next: Research Intern at University College London
Weijie Xie, 2024, Next: Research intern at University College London
Xiaoyue (Merry) Fan, 2025, Next: Research intern at University College London
Xinyao Zhuang, 2025, Next: Research intern at University College London
Xinyu (Lina) Gu, 2025, Next: Research intern at Tractable
Yichen Zou, 2022, Next: Graduate Student at McGill University
Yuze Yang, 2021, Next: -
Yilin Qu, 2022, Next: Machine Learning Software Engineer at Qualcomm Incorporated
Yuchen Xiang, 2026, Next: -
Ziang Shi, 2026, Next: -
Zhiren Zan, 2024, Next: -
Zicong Peng, 2025-..., Next: Ph.D. student at Koç University
Zhuoxuan Jiang, 2025, Next: -
Ziyang Chen (陈子扬), 2023-..., Next: Ph.D. student at University College London

Outreach

2021-2026
- Kaan organizes weekly seminars at University College London, hosting internal and external expert speakers on various topics.
- Kaan organizes an online discussion group on rendering, perception, displays and cameras with +250 members across globe.
- Kaan helped organizing Optica's Frontiers in Optics Virtual Reality and Augmented Vision theme in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
- Kaan helped organizing Optica's incubator, Optical Waveguides, A Key to Socially Acceptable Augmented Reality Glasses?.
- Kaan helped organizing Optica's Could Deep Learning Improve Visual Quality in Holographic Displays? event.
- Kaan helped organizing Optica’s Incubator on Perception in Immersive Technologies.
2017-2018-2019
- Kaan held public demonstrations at ACM SIGGRAPH 2019. The entire exhibit hosted more than ten thousand visitors.
- Kaan held public demonstrations at ACM SIGGRAPH 2018. The entire exhibit hosted more than ten thousand visitors.
- Kaan held public demonstrations at ACM SIGGRAPH 2017. The entire exhibit hosted more than ten thousand visitors.
2005-2007
- Kaan helped forming a solar race car team during his undergraduate studies at Istanbul Technical University.

Reviewing service

Editor/Chair duty
- Associate Editor of ACM TOG (2024 - ...)
- Chair of OPTICA Display Technology Group (2025-...)
- Review Editor of Frontiers in Virtual Reality (2020-2022)
- Executive Committee Member of OPTICA Display Technology Group (2019-2024)
Reviewer duty
- Kaan acts as a reviewer for countless Optica, ACM, SPIE, NeurIPS, ECCV, Nature and IEEE publications.
Technical Committee
- ACM SIGGRAPH ASIA 2020, 2021, 2025
- EuroGraphics 2027
- IEEE AIVR 2027
- IEEE ISMAR 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023
- IEEE VR 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2027
- IMID 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026
- NeurIPS 2026
- NVIDIA GTC 2017, 2018
- SPIE AR/VR MR 2025, 2026
- SPIE DOT 2025
Award Committee
- ACM SIGGRAPH ASIA 2025 Best Paper Awards
- IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award
- IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 2023 Technical Achievement Award
- IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 2023 Best Dissertation Award
- IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award
- IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 2022 Technical Achievement Award
- SPIE 2020 AR/VR/MR Student Optical Design Challenge Referee
Grant Committees
- EPSRC 2021
- NVIDIA Graduate Fellowship 2017, 2018
Ph.D. Thesis Examiner/Viva Duty
- Aaron Demolder, Bournemouth University, United Kingdom
- Animesh Karnewar, University College London, United Kingdom
- Ege Keskin, Koç University, Türkiye
- Fan Yang, Cambridge University, United Kingdom
- Klara Brandstätter, University College London, United Kingdom
- Michael Fischer, University College London, United Kingdom
- Remy Sabathier, University College London, United Kingdom
- Sanjeev Mk, University College London, United Kingdom
- Skanda Koppula, University College London, Google Deepmind, United Kingdom
- Zak Morgan, University College London, United Kingdom
M.Sc. Thesis Examiner Duty
- Koray Kavaklı, Koç University, Türkiye

Media coverage

2026
- Optica announces 2026 Fellows class, EurekAlert.
2025
- Press release on Beaming Displays from University of Tokyo, Japan.
- Tyndall spinoff Vivid Photonics boosts image quality in AR applications.
2024
- TV100, Daha az enerji ile daha fazla verim alınabilecek
- TV100 Esra Öz'ün haberi, elektrik yerini ışığa mı bırakıyor?
- Phys.org News, Image denoising using a diffractive material
2023
- Communications of the ACM, ACM News, The Promise of Holographic Displays
2022
- MIT News, Invisible machine-readable labels that identify and track objects
- Invisible 3D-Printed Machine-Readable Labels that Identify and Track Objects
- 3D Natives InfraredTags, Invisible Barcodes Embedded in 3D Printed Objects
2021
- Vision Spectra, Laser Cutter Differentiates Among Materials
- The Next Bytes’ podcast on our sensicut project
- MIT’s new machine learning tool makes laser-cutting safer
- IT Media’s article on our beaming displays
- Koç University's news about Kaan's new post
2019
- Upload VR article on our varifocal displays
- Businesswire, Computer Graphics Community Arrives in Los Angeles, Reports Record Numbers at SIGGRAPH 2019
- Shootonline, Marvel’s Victoria Talks SIGGRAPH Diversity
2018
- Inpark, SIGGRAPH 2018 concludes with more than 16,000 in attendance
- AWN, SIGGRAPH 2018 celebrates Generations in Vancouver
2017
- UploadVR interview, a short interview at SIGGRAPH 2017 with UploadVR.
- An article by Leiphone on our varifocal displays
- RoadToVR article on our varifocal displays
- Forbes article on our varifocal displays
- NVIDIA blog on our varifocal displays
- UPLOADVR article on our varifocal displays