IC Dean and Director of the Imaging and Visual Representation Laboratory has been recognized with the 2025 Royal Photographic Society Award for Imaging Science.
The Royal Photographic Society, one of the world’s oldest, was founded in 1853 to make the art and science of photography more widely available. It aims to bring inspiration, creativity and connection through photography to people of all ages and backgrounds.
As part of this mission, the Society has hosted the world’s longest running photography prize for 147 years, recognizing outstanding contributions and ground-breaking achievements from hundreds of individuals.
This year, EPFL Professor Sabine Süsstrunk has joined the list of prize winners, receiving the Award for Imaging Science in recognition of sustained excellence and a notable contribution to the advancement and/or application of imaging science
A long career contribution to Imaging Science
Süsstrunk and her team aim to improve everyone's photographic experience, developing algorithms and systems that foster understanding, processing, and measuring images. Her research focuses on computational photography and imaging, generative AI, image quality, and image aesthetics.
As a recognized leader in academia and Industry, she is an accomplished author with more than 300 publications and holds more than ten patents. Süsstrunk has held chair or committee roles in numerous international conferences, serves as President of the Swiss Science Council, as member of the EPFL-WISH Foundation, and on the boards of both the Swiss Radio and Television Corporation and Largo Films.
Shining a light on creativity, innovation and technical mastery
Süsstrunk’s 2025 Royal Photographic Society award follows other recognition of her work, including the IS&T/SPIE 2013 Electronic Imaging Scientist of the Year for seminal contributions to color imaging, computational photography, and image analysis, as well as the IS&T 2018 Raymond C. Bowman Award and the 2020 EPFL AgePoly IC Polysphere Award for excellence in teaching.
Previous well-known recipients of Royal Photographic Society awards include Sally Mann, Steve McCurry, Annie Leibovitz, Sir David Attenborough, Martin Parr and Sir Don McCullin.
“This year’s awardees reflect the extraordinary breadth of photography and moving image today; from those pushing artistic and scientific boundaries to those educating, publishing, and volunteering in ways that strengthen and sustain our community. Together, they demonstrate how photography continues to evolve as both an art form and a means of understanding the world around us,” said Simon Hill CPhot HonFRPS, President of the UK’s Royal Photographic Society.