Simon Henein

Simon Henein is an Associate Professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), leading the Micromechanical and Horological Design Laboratory (INSTANT-LAB) under the School of Engineering and Institute of Mechanical Engineering. Since 2024, he holds a Courtesy Appointment at the Digital Humanities Institute (DHI-GE). He was Tenure Chairholder at Patek Philippe (2012–2020) and a Visiting Professor at the University of Lausanne's Centre d'études théâtrales (2020–2021).

His research bridges micromechanical design and creative pedagogy, focusing on flexure mechanisms for aerospace, biomedical devices, and horology, alongside improvisational arts in education. He has authored over 25 peer-reviewed journal articles and 60+ conference papers, with 35 patents. Notable awards include the Best Teacher Award (2023), OMEGA Scientific Prize (1996), and Maillefer SA Award (1996).

His teaching involves 12 ECTS credits annually with over 200 students, including mentorship of 26 Master’s and 60 semester projects. He has directed 6 completed PhD theses and currently supervises 4 PhD students, co-supervising 1 more. His lab, INSTANT-LAB, comprises a dozen researchers focusing on centimeter-scale mechanisms with novel kinematics and technologies.