Dr. Xucong Zhang
Assistant Professor
Intelligent Systems Department
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)
E-Mail: xucong.zhang [AT] tudelft.nl
Office: Room 6.E.320 (6th floor east)
Van Mourik Broekmanweg 6 (building 28)
2628 XE Delft
Netherlands
Links: Google Scholar, CV [PDF], LinkedIn
Research Interest
My core research interest is human-centered visual computing, with a focus on advancing computer vision and generative AI that promote human well-being.
My core research interest is human-centered visual computing, with a focus on advancing computer vision and generative AI that promote human well-being.
From Gaze to Full-body Intelligence: Building on my experience in gaze estimation and its applications, I now focus on embodied visual intelligence through holistic human motion modeling, including gaze, face, hand, and full-body dynamics. This research integrates diffusion models and large language models (LLMs) to drive intelligent human-AI interactions, supporting the development of human-robot collaboration and realistic avatar generation.
Heathcare: I am working on the intersection of computer vision, medical, and healthcare research, aiming to develop tools that support clinical practice and benefit society at large. My goal is to enhance human physical capabilities by integrating AI-driven assistive technologies. I may not succeed, but I already feel happy on the way toward the goal.
Short Bio
I am an Assistant Professor at TU Delft, a Guest Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, and an ELLIS Scholar.
I joined TU Delft in 2021 as an assistant professor and was granted a permanent position in 2023. I was a postdoc from 2018 to 2021 at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, led by Prof. Otmar Hilliges. I received my PhD (summa cum laude) from Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Germany, where I conducted my research from 2013 to 2018 under the supervision of Prof. Andreas Bulling.
Funding
Honda Research Institute (Japan) + Netherlands TKI program, "Intelligent Human-robot Interaction". EUR 950k, sole PI, 2023 - 2028.
Internal funding from our INSY department for the upgrade of INSYGHT Lab, EUR 250k, leading PI of 17 PIs, 2023 - 2024.
Meta Research Award Gift, "Privacy-preserving Eye Tracking for AR/VR with Adversarial Learning". USD 70k, co-PI with Guohao Lan, 2022 - 2024.
Media
I coordinated the upgrade and Open Day of the INSYGHT Lab:
I am thrilled to be promoted from ELLIS Member to Scholar:
9 researchers from ELLIS Unit Delft honoured with Fellows or Scholars title
Our capture system is reported on our faculty news:
Cutting-Edge Multi-Camera System for Multi-Modal Data Capture
My collaboration with HRI is reported in our faculty news:
Latest News
[07.2025] Together with Dr. Hadi Jamali Rad, we are organizing the GenAI workgroup at TU Delft.
[07.2025] One paper is accepted by IMWUT.
[06.2025] One paper is accepted by the IROS 2025.
[04.2025] One paper is accepted by the "International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery".
[04.2025] I will give a talk at the ETH AI Center in June.
[02.2025] I will serve as Area Chair of NeurIPS 2025.
[01.2025] One paper is accepted by ICRA 2025.
[01.2025] One paper is accepted by HRI 2025 Late Breaking Report.
[01.2025] Our "Nonverbal Cues for Human-Robot Cooperative Intelligence" workshop will continue at ICRA 2025.
More news
Teaching
BSc course "Image Processing", responsible, 2022 -- present.
MSc course "Seminar Computer Vision by Deep Learning", co-teach, 2022 -- present.
BSc course "Image Analysis", guest lecturer, 2024.
Professional Activities, Awards and Talks
Organizing Committee
Area Chairs: NeurIPS 2024 & 2025, CVPR 2025.
Co-chair of short paper track: ETRA 2024 & 2025.
Organizer:
Workshop "GAZE" at ICCV/ECCV/CVPR from 2019 to 2024.
Workshop "Nonverbal Cues for Human-Robot Cooperative Intelligence" at IROS 2024 and ICRA 2025.
Reviewing
CVPR 2023 Outstanding Reviewers
Highlighted Reviewers of ICLR 2022
Journals: TPAMI, MM, TIP, Nature Communications
Conferences: CVPR, ECCV, ICCV, ICLR, NeurIPS, CHI, UIST, IMWUT, BMVC, WACV, ETRA
Talks
June 2025, Google Zurich. Hosted by Dr. Thoba Beeler.
June 2025, ETH Zurich. Hosted by Prof. Siyu Tang.
June 2025, ETH AI Center. Hosted by Dr. Manuel Kaufmann.
May 2025, keynote in GenEAI: Generative AI meets Eye Tracking workshop at ETRA.
June 2024, University of California, San Diego. Hosted by Prof. Pamela Cosman.
April 2024, The University of Tokyo, Japan. Keynote at International Workshop on Human-Centered Vision and Media Technologies.
February 2024, University of Stuttgart. Hosted by Prof. Andreas Bulling.
August 2022, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS). Hosted by Prof. Michael Black.
August 2022, Microsoft UK. Hosted by Dr. David Wong.
November 2021, Facebook Reality Labs Pittsburgh.
May 2018, ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Hosted by Prof. Otmar Hilliges.
March 2018, The University of Tokyo, Japan. Hosted by Prof. Yoichi Sato.
March 2018, Osaka University, Japan. Hosted by Prof. Yusuke Sugano.
March 2018, Keio University, Japan. Hosted by Prof. Kai Kunze.
Funding:
