Naoto Yokoya is a professor with the Department of Complexity Science and Engineering, the Department of Computer Science, and the Department of Information Science at the University of Tokyo, co-running Machine Learning and Statistical Data Analysis Laboratory. He is the team director of the Geoinformatics Team at the RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project (AIP).
His research studies how intelligent systems can understand and reason about the complex physical and semantic structure of the real world from limited visual observations. He develops the fundamental principles of visual intelligence by combining computer vision, machine learning, and data fusion. Earth observation serves as a particularly challenging and socially important domain where these principles are tested and advanced.
He is an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (TPAMI), IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (TGRS), and ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (P&RS).
| 2013 Mar. | D.Eng. | Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics | The University of Tokyo | Japan |
| 2010 Sep. | M.Eng. | Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics | The University of Tokyo | Japan |
| 2008 Mar. | B.Eng. | Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics | The University of Tokyo | Japan |
| 2025 Apr | - | present | Professor | The University of Tokyo | Japan |
| 2023 Apr. | - | present | Team Director | RIKEN | Japan |
| 2022 Dec | - | 2025 Mar. | Associate Professor | The University of Tokyo | Japan |
| 2020 May | - | 2022 Nov | Lecturer | The University of Tokyo | Japan |
| 2018 Jan. | - | 2023 Mar. | Unit Leader | RIKEN | Japan |
| 2019 Apr. | - | 2020 Mar. | Visiting Associate Professor | Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology | Japan |
| 2015 Dec. | - | 2017 Nov. | Alexander von Hunboldt Research Fellow | DLR and TUM | Germany |
| 2013 Jul. | - | 2017 Dec. | Assistant Professor | The University of Tokyo | Japan |
| 2013 Aug. | - | 2014 Jul. | Visiting Scholar | National Food Research Institute (NFRI) | Japan |
| 2012 Apr. | - | 2013 Jun. | JSPS Research Fellow | The University of Tokyo | Japan |
| Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in Geosciences (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025). |
| Funai Academic Award (2024). |
| Young Scientists’ Award, MEXT (2024). |
| 1st place in the 2017 IEEE GRSS Data Fusion Contest. |
| Alexander von Humboldt research fellowship for postdoctoral researchers (2015). |
| Best presentation award of the Remote Sensing Society of Japan (2011, 2012, 2019). |
| 2025 Oct. | - | 2031 Mar. | PI, CRONOS, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) |
| 2025 Apr. | - | 2028 Mar. | PI, NEXUS (Networked Exchange, United Strength for Stronger Partnerships between Japan and ASEAN) Japan－Singapore Joint Research, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) |
| 2023 Sep. | - | 2028 Mar. | CI, SIP, Development of a Resilient Smart Network System against Natural Disasters, National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED) |
| 2022 Apr. | - | 2026 Mar. | PI, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research B, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) |
| 2021 Apr. | - | 2028 Mar. | PI, FOREST (Fusion Oriented REsearch for disruptive Science and Technology), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) |
| 2021 Apr. | - | 2024 Mar. | CI, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research B, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) |
| 2019 Apr. | - | 2022 Mar. | CI, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research B, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) |
| 2018 Apr. | - | 2021 Mar. | PI, Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) |
| 2015 Apr. | - | 2018 Mar. | PI, Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) |
| 2015 Jan. | - | 2016 Dec. | PI, Research Grant Program, Kayamori Foundation of Informational Science Advancement |
| 2013 Aug. | - | 2014 Mar. | PI, Adaptable and Seamless Technology Transfer Program through Target-driven R&D (A-STEP), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) |
| 2012 Apr. | - | 2013 Jun. | PI, Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) |
| Mathematics for Information Science (in Japanese) | The University of Tokyo | since 2020 |
| Computer Vision (in Japanese) | The University of Tokyo | since 2021 |
| Remote Sensing Image Analysis (in English) | The University of Tokyo | since 2021 |
| 2015 Sep. | - | 2017 Nov. | Visiting scholar at DLR and TUM, München, Germany. |
| 2011 Oct. | - | 2012 Mar. | Visiting student at the Grenoble Institute of Technology, Grenoble, France. |
| Organizer | IEEE GRSS Data Fusion Contest 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2025 |
| Organizer | OpenEarthMap Few-Shot Challenge @ L3D-IVU CVPR 2024 Workshop |
| Organizer | IJCAI CDCEO Workshop 2022 |
| Organizer | CVPR EarthVision Workshop 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 |
| Chair & Co-Chair | IEEE GRSS Image Analysis and Data Fusion Technical Committee (2017-2021) |
| Secretary | IEEE GRSS All Japan Joint Chapter (2018-2021) |
| Student Activity & TIE Event Chair | IEEE IGARSS 2019 |
| Program Chair | IEEE WHISPERS 2015 |
Reviewers for various journals and conferences:
- IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing
- IEEE Transactions on Image Processing
- IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing
- IEEE Transactions on Computational Imaging
- IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence
- IEEE Journal of Selected Topics on Applied Remote Sensing
- IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing
- IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters
- IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine
- Proceedings of the IEEE
- ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
- Remote Sensing
- Remote Sensing of Environment
- International Journal of Remote Sensing
- Pattern Recognition
- Pattern Recognition Letters
- Neurocomputing
- CVPR
- ECCV
- ICCV
- NeurIPS
- AAAI
- WACV