MIRALab was founded in 1989 by Professor Nadia Magnenat-Thalmann. She chairs around 30 researchers coming from as many different fields as Computer Science, Mathematics, Medicine, Telecommunications, Architecture, Fashion Design, Cognitive Science, Haptics, Augmented Reality, etc. This truly interdisciplinary group works in the field of Computer Graphics, Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds. Since 1992, MIRALab has participated in more than 45 European Projects.

The group has generated over 300 papers and 50 books. Prof. Nadia Magnenat-Thalmann has directed more than a dozen of PhD thesis. Former PhDs have become Professors in renown institutes like the Indian Institute of Technology, the University of Zaghreb, the University of Utrecht, the University of Ottawa, Kaist in Korea, for example, or are working in renown companies like Electronic Arts and PDI/ Dreamworks in California, Samsung in Korea, IBM in Switzerland or BUF Compagnie in France, to mention just a few.