cv

CV of Will Rowan, computer vision researcher and film critic at the University of York. Co-founder of PXLD.

General Information

Name Will Rowan
Email will.rowan@york.ac.uk
Website w-rowan.github.io
Location York, United Kingdom
Nationality British / Irish

Education

  • 2020–2025
    PhD Computer Science
    University of York
    • Thesis: Towards an Intelligent Agent for the Human Face: Improving the Accuracy, Controllability, and Explainability of 3D Face Reconstruction
    • Supervisors: Dr Patrik Huber, Prof Nick Pears, Prof Andrew Keeling
    • Viva passed 2025. EPSRC Doctoral Scholarship.
  • 2019–2020
    MSc Advanced Computer Science
    University of York
    • Grade: Distinction, 84% (highest on record)
    • Thesis: The Effect of Temporal Dependency in Deepfake Detection
  • 2016–2019
    BEng Computer Science
    University of York
    • Grade: First with Distinction, 85%
    • Thesis: Deep Learning for Gaze Estimation (best dissertation in cohort, 1 of 150)

Experience

  • 2025–present
    Co-founder & CEO
    PXLD (University of York spinout)
    • Building the next generation of filmmaking tools. Featured in Variety and Screen Daily.
    • Selected for Zinemaldia Startup Challenge (San Sebastián) and European Film Market Startup Programme (Berlinale).
  • 2025–2026
    Research Fellow, Computer Science
    University of York
    • Utilising and adapting video foundation models and world models for the creative industries.
    • Selected for Zinemaldia Startup Challenge (San Sebastián) and European Film Market Startup Programme (Berlinale) with PXLD.
    • Developing business case, fundraising, and pitching for PXLD spinout.
  • 2024–2025
    Research Fellow, Arts & Creative Technologies
    University of York
    • £1.8M Innovate UK project with dock10 (UK's largest TV facility) and 2LE Media.
    • Developing 3D reconstruction techniques for real-time virtual production compositing.
    • Secured £20,000 grant from AI SuperConnector (Imperial College London).
    • Organised workshop at 2024 Locarno Film Festival.
  • 2020–2021
    Graduate Teaching Assistant
    University of York
    • Multi-Agent Interaction module (40 students). Dissertation supervisor 2021–2022.

Publications

  • N Heads Are Better Than One, ECCV Workshop on Foundation Models for 3D Humans (2024). Best Poster Award.
  • How Many OptiFaces?, ICLR (2024)
  • Text2Face: 3D Morphable Faces from Text, ICLR (2023)
  • San Vitale Challenge, ECCV Workshop on AI for Digital Humanities (2024)
  • Temporal Dependency in Deepfake Detection, arXiv (2022)

Awards & Honours

  • 2025
    • Best Presentation, International Computer Vision Summer School (ICVSS), Sicily
    • Berlinale Talents (1 of 200 worldwide), Berlin International Film Festival
    • Berlinale Talents Press (1 of 8 film critics worldwide)
    • REAL Academy, Locarno Film Festival, filmmaker lab
    • European Forum Alpbach, scholarship recipient
  • 2024
    • Best Poster, Foundation Models for 3D Humans Workshop, ECCV, Milan
    • GoCritic!, European criticism programme; wrote for Cineuropa
  • 2023
    • Best Presentation Runner-Up, Reproducibility in Computer Vision, CVPR
    • Far East Film Festival Campus (1 of 10 from Europe & Asia), Udine
    • Locarno Basecamp (1 of 200 worldwide), Locarno Film Festival
  • 2020
    • EPSRC Doctoral Scholarship
    • Writer of the Year (1 of 20,000), University of York
  • 2019
    • Best Dissertation in Cohort (1 of 150), BEng Computer Science
  • 2016
    • IBM Entrance Scholarship (3 of 150), University of York

Film & Criticism

  • Published Criticism
    • Cineuropa, Filmhounds Magazine, Taiwan News, Eastern Kicks, BBC Radio York, Yorkshire Evening Post, Movie Marker, East Euro Flicks
  • Key Interviews
    • Radu Jude, Kai Ko, Tommy Wiseau, Johnnie To, Gabby Wong
  • Filmmaking
    • Film Fever (2025), 9-min experimental documentary, REAL Academy, Locarno Film Festival
  • Cinema Programming
    • York Student Cinema (2017–2023). Head Film Programmer 2021–2022: ~100 films/year, 300-seat venue, £12,000 budget

Academic Service

  • Socials Chair, Conference on Visual Media Production (CVMP), organising committee
  • Symposium Chair, BMVA Symposium on 3D Computer Vision, February 2025

Projects & Ventures

  • PXLD
    • Co-founder & CEO. Next-generation filmmaking tools. pxld.ai
  • opencall.fyi
    • Founder. Curated opportunities for emerging artists.
  • SpeakEU
    • Technical Lead & Advisor. EU civic participation AI. Alpbach IDEAS 2025–2026.
  • Club Alpbach London
    • Scholarships Coordinator. European Forum Alpbach UK chapter.
  • Before Sunrise Tracker
    • Interactive web experience. beforesunrisetracker.com
  • Swingometer
    • UK election forecast platform.
  • Foresight
    • AI research intelligence. 2nd place, UCL AI Festival Hackathon 2026.

Skills

  • Deep Learning
    • PyTorch, PyTorch 3D, Keras, Transformers, Diffusers, nerfstudio
  • Computer Vision
    • OpenCV, skimage, COLMAP, MeshLab
  • Data Science
    • NumPy, Pandas, SciPy, scikit-learn, seaborn
  • Software & Tools
    • Python, Git, MATLAB, LaTeX, Docker
  • Languages
    • English (native), German (learning)

Community

  • Board Member, Club Alpbach London
  • Advisor, SpeakEU
  • Editor, York Vision (2021–2022). 30 staff, five 32-page print editions/year.
  • Editor/President, The Lemon Press. UK's largest volunteer-run satire magazine.