Academy Professor Guoying Zhao awarded valued IAPR 2024 Maria Petrou prize

The Maria Petrou Prize honors the memory of professor Maria Petrou as a scientist of the first rank and particularly her role as a pioneer for women researchers. The prize is given to a living woman scientist who has made substantial contributions to the field of Pattern Recognition and whose activities may be regarded as a model to both established and aspiring researchers. The International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR), founded in 1978, is a global community committed to advancing pattern recognition, computer vision, and image processing.

“As IAPR approaches its 50th anniversary, I am grateful to be recognized by this esteemed organization. This achievement reflects the inspiration and collaboration I have been fortunate to receive from my colleagues, students, and collaborators. I dedicate this honor to everyone who has supported me throughout my journey and look forward to continuing our collective efforts to advance innovation and discovery in this dynamic field”, says Academy Professor Guoying Zhao from the University of Oulu, Finland.

She emphasizes that this award is a testament to the expertise and long-term work of the entire research unit in machine vision and signal analysis.

“On a related note, my esteemed colleague, professor Matti Pietikäinen, was awarded IAPR's prestigious King-Sun Fu Prize at ICPR 2018 for his foundational contributions to texture analysis and facial image analysis. Such achievements showcase the remarkable advancements made by our field and the Center for Machine Vision and Signal Analysis (CMVS) at the University of Oulu, driven by the dedication and creativity of its dynamic community,” Guoying Zhao greets.

Prestigious Academy Professor is the highest academic position in Finland. Zhao started her five-year Academy Professor period in 2021. Guoying Zhao is originally from China. She studied computer sciences and technology and gained PhD degree from the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Since 2005 she has been in Finland working at the University of Oulu.

More about Zhao´s research.