FACULTY OF TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY | Lecture
Honorary doctor lecture – Julian Togelius

"Dr. Julian Togelius (PhD in Computer Science, University of Essex) is a pioneering researcher in artificial intelligence (AI) and games, whose groundbreaking contributions have significantly shaped the field. His work has transcended games to transform the AI research landscape, leading the future of AI-driven creativity with an enduring impact on both academia and industry in these areas that are of strategic relevance for the Faculty of Technology and Society, thus making him a highly deserving candidate for an honorary doctorate that I have the pleasure to nominate.
Prof. Togelius has directed the Game Innovation Lab at New York University for more than 10 years and has been awarded the IEEE Fellow distinction for his extraordinary accomplishments in artificial intelligence and games, as well as the position of guest full professor at University of Skövde. He is also a very active entrepreneur, as co-founder of Modl.ai, one the most successful Scandinavian research-grounded startups in on AI-drive game testing, and as chief scientific advisor of OriGen AI, a US-based deep learning company in the energy sector.
His research impact is immense, with 24,000+ citations, an h-index of 79, multiple best paper awards, being featured in international media like MIT Technology Review, The Guardian, New Scientist, and Le Monde. He served as Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Games, the most prestigious scientific journal in the field, and has an endless record of leading key international AI and game conferences, workshops, seminars, and competitions, which turns him into the most recognizable figure by game AI academics worldwide. His books coined fundamental topics in AI and games research and have now become essential references in academia and in popular science. Translated into several languages, they are read by scholars and enthusiasts in Artificial General Intelligence, AI-driven creativity, game-playing AI, player modeling, and videogame AI benchmarking all over the world.
Prof. Togelius has collaborated with researchers at MAU Game Lab at TS for almost 10 years, supporting our research initiatives with key collaborations such as joint participation in externally funded research projects, external doctoral student co-supervision, research exchanges, co-organization of conferences and seminars, and providing invaluable advice and connections to strategically relevant networks in academia and industry, inspiring us researchers at the MAU Game Lab and making it possible for the lab to become an actively contributing research unit at the Department of Computer Science and Media Technology, internationally positioned and identified within the field of AI and games.
The recognition of Prof. Togelius as TS honorary doctorate would greatly strengthen and expand the active research lines and research-based education programs of our faculty in artificial intelligence, highlighting MAU as a key research institution for AI and games in the Scandinavian, European, and international panorama. This would strongly align with the continued support from Malmö City and the region of Skåne to strategically develop Malmö as the city for game development in Europe, presenting MAU as the Swedish Higher Education Institution capable of being up to the challenge of leading the research advancements demanded by our world-class game development ecosystem.
In addition to the above, Prof. Togelius is natural from Malmö, which in turn makes a truly unique honor for Malmö University to award the distinction of honorary doctor to one of Malmö’s most internationally recognized living scientists."