Open PhD Position (Praedoc) in IVA3D Project on Interactive Solutions for Massive 3D Data

Position & Context

We invite applications for a fully-funded 3-year PhD position on the project "Instant Visualization and Editing of Arbitrarily Large 3D Data Sets" in Vienna, Austria, hosted at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien). The successful candidate will join the Institute for Visual Computing & Human-Centered Technology, working on cutting-edge solutions for real-time graphics, large-scale visual datasets (volumes, 3DGS, point clouds, and more), and their interactive 3D visualisation.

Supervisors

• Dr. Markus Schütz (TU Wien, on-site) – known for his pioneering work on massive point cloud rendering, near-instant level-of-detail (LOD) generation, and out-of-core visualisation of huge 3D scans.
• Ass.-Prof. Bernhard Kerbl (remote supervision) – known for research on 3D Gaussian Splatting, real-time graphics, parallel processing, point-based and neural-radiance-field (NeRF)-based view synthesis.

Project Description

The explosion of 3D dataset sizes—ranging from country-scale scans at centimetre resolution to brain-scans of cubic millimetres at nanometre accuracy—poses a major bottleneck: pre-processing (reconstruction, building acceleration structures, segmentations, statistics) still takes days or weeks, limiting real-time exploration and editing. This PhD project aims to remove that bottleneck, by developing novel visual computing and I/O methods that allow:

• Reconstructing and visualising arbitrarily large 3D datasets without slow pre-computation.
• On-the-fly data loading and LOD generation to support a wide range of end-user devices and use cases.
• A near-instant feedback loop (inspection → processing → editing) for e.g. medical researchers, geographers, or surveyors.

Candidate Profile

• A Master’s (or equivalent) in Computer Science, Computational Science/Engineering, Computer Graphics, Visualisation, or a related field.
• Strong programming skills (C++, GPU programming such as CUDA/OpenCL/Vulkan); experience with data structures, streaming, or out-of-core algorithms is highly valued.
• A keen interest in graphics, large-scale data visualisation, or point cloud processing.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Ability to be based in Vienna, working on-site at TU Wien with Dr. Schütz (with remote supervision by Prof. Kerbl).

Working Conditions

• A 3-year doctoral fellowship at TU Wien, Austria's largest and highest-ranking technical university.
• Permissive salary and conditions, as per Austria's convenient university regulations.
• A vibrant international research environment in Vienna — combining top research quality with excellent quality of life.
• The chance to perform high-impact research at the intersection of visualisation, large data, and real-time interaction.
• Supervision by established experts on point-based data and real-time graphics.

Application Procedure

Please fill out the application form below. In addition to information on your background and education, the following separate documents will be required for upload:

• Motivational letter summarising your motivation and fit for the project.
• Curriculum Vitae (including a photograph and publications or project experience).
• A digital copy of your Master's thesis (if confidential, please mail us directly)
• Other relevant certificates that you want us to consider
• (Optional) Short research statement (1–2 pages) outlining your research interests and long-term career goals.

(Soft) Deadline

Jan 31st, 2026 (preferred start: Spring 2026; earlier/later negotiable).

Why Vienna & TU Wien?

Vienna consistently ranks among the world’s most liveable cities, offering a rich cultural atmosphere, affordable living, and excellent research infrastructure. TU Wien is one of Europe’s leading technical universities, renowned for its contributions to computer graphics, visualisation, and large-scale data processing.