ELIZA at CVPR 2025

In the world of artificial intelligence, few achievements carry as much weight as presenting research at the IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR). For 2025, a select group of ELIZA-affiliated researchers joined this elite circle, showcasing innovation that pushes the boundaries of machine perception. Their journey reflects the power of mentorship, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the relentless pursuit of scientific excellence.

CVPR stands as the flagship conference in computer vision and pattern recognition—fields at the heart of modern AI. Each year, thousands of researchers from around the globe submit their most promising work, but only a fraction are selected for presentation. In 2024, the acceptance rate hovered around 23%, with less than 5% of submissions earning spotlight or oral presentation status. This rigorous selection process ensures that only the most impactful and innovative research is showcased.

Being accepted to present at CVPR is more than a professional achievement; it is a career-defining milestone. The conference is renowned for setting research agendas, fostering collaborations, and attracting attention from both academia and industry. For early-career researchers and established leaders alike, CVPR offers a platform to influence the global direction of AI.

The presented paper, “Scene-Centric Unsupervised Panoptic Segmentation,” addresses a central challenge in computer vision: how to simultaneously identify distinct objects (“things”) and amorphous regions (“stuff”) in images without relying on expensive, manually annotated datasets.

By leveraging scene-level consistency signals, the team’s approach enables unsupervised panoptic segmentation—opening new possibilities for scalable perception in robotics, autonomous vehicles, and beyond. This breakthrough reduces the need for labor-intensive data labeling, making advanced AI systems more accessible and adaptable to real-world environments.

At the core of this achievement are ELIZA fellows Daniel Cremers (Technical University of Munich) and Stefan Roth (TU Darmstadt), both internationally recognized for their pioneering contributions to computer vision and machine learning. Their leadership, mentorship, and commitment to advancing the field have been instrumental in shaping the next generation of AI researchers.

The collaborative environment at ELIZA and MCML brings together diverse talents and perspectives, fostering innovation that transcends institutional boundaries. By supporting interdisciplinary projects and providing access to world-class resources, these institutions empower researchers to tackle some of the most pressing challenges in AI.

For doctoral researchers like Christoph Reich, presenting at CVPR is not just a personal milestone—it is a gateway to new opportunities. Participation in such a prestigious venue connects young scientists with leading experts, potential collaborators, and industry partners, accelerating their professional growth.

Moreover, the success of the ELIZA team at CVPR sends a powerful message to current and prospective students: with the right mentorship and support, European researchers can compete—and lead—on the world stage. This achievement also strengthens ELIZA’s reputation as a hub for trustworthy, cutting-edge AI research.