Professor Otmar Hilliges steps down due to illness
It is with great regret that we announce the resignation of our esteemed colleague Otmar Hilliges, full professor of computer science. He left the Department of Computer Science and ETH Zurich at the end of June 2025 due to illness.
Professor Otmar Hilliges (*1979), Full Professor of Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science, left ETH Zurich on medical grounds at the end of June 2025. Otmar Hilliges joined ETH Zurich in 2013 as a tenure track assistant professor. He has carried out pioneering work in the area of augmented reality and is acknowledged for his visionary thinking in the field of human-computer interaction. His internationally acclaimed research was at the intersection of human-machine interaction, machine vision and learning, and computer vision, and has won numerous awards, including an ERC Starting Grant, an ERC Consolidator Grant, a Microsoft Research Grant and the Google Research Award.
Since 2023 Otmar Hilliges has been suffering from the effects of two Covid infections. His doctors have diagnosed myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), an extremely serious neuroimmunological disease with a wide range of symptoms which leads to severely limiting physical and/or neurocognitive disability and is still insufficiently researched.
With great regret, the ETH Board and ETH Zurich take note of Otmar Hilliges’ resignation, thank him for his commitment and send him every good wish for the future and for a full recovery.
Reference: ETH News "Eight Professors appointed" from the ETH Board, 11 July 2025