International Workshop on Biologically Inspired Information Fusion

Tuesday 22 August - Wednesday 23 August 2006, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.

www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/ias/workshops/biif/

We invite contributions to an international workshop on biologically inspired information fusion. The workshop is designed to bring together complementary researchers in the broad areas of computer science, engineering, psychology and biology who have an interest in the multi-disciplinary aspects of information fusion.

The programme consists of tutorials from discipline leaders, discussions, and research student poster and oral presentations. Contributions are being sought for the discussion sessions and research student presentations from all of the target disciplines: computer science, engineering, psychology and biology.

Natural and Artificial Multi-sensory Processing

The ability to process, interpret and act upon sensory information is perhaps one of the most remarkable aspects of human and animal cognition. Our sensory systems process large volumes of information at different scales in short periods of time, far out-performing current artificial systems, which struggle to usefully process just a single modality of information. For example, whereas speech recognition systems have achieved real-time continuous operation, artificial systems, designed for vision or olfaction are far less advanced, yet the combination of different information sources, or senses, may help overcome some of the processing limitations. This disparity between natural and artificial cognitive systems has been recognised in the recent UK Foresight Cognitive Systems Review, which suggests that our understanding of both natural and artificial systems of sensory processing can be achieved through collaboration between life and physical scientists.

About the Workshop

The workshop is sponsored by the University of Surrey's Institute of Advanced Studies. The aim is to promote collaboration between disciplines to develop an understanding of how to build adaptive information fusion systems by improving our knowledge from both natural and artificial systems research. The programme is designed to facilitate a cross-discipline understanding of multi-sensory fusion, with discussions on key topics and future directions, and presentation of current ideas. This is to be achieved through tutorials from leaders in each of the target disciplines, brainstorming and debate sessions lead by relevant researchers, and both oral and poster presentations from research students.

Example topics include, but are not limited to:

Sensory and multi-sensory processing: neurobiology, behaviour, computational modelling and artificial sensors
- Vision, audition, olfaction, taste, touch
- Attention: pre-attention or task-driven attention
- Emotional bias on senses
- Artificial sensors

Information fusion and multi-modal systems:
- Computer vision, speech processing, gesture recognition
- Sensor fusion
- Multiple regressor or classifier systems
- Biometrics, human-computer interaction, intelligent systems
- Bio-logically inspired robotics

Discussions

Topics for the discussion sessions should aim to promote new or controversial ideas, perhaps posing unanswered questions related to the workshop. These should be in the form of abstracts (maximum 500 words) stating the key topic of discussion and highlighting possible solutions and current points of view. Proposals for debates, where two participants offer their point of view prior to discussion, should be clearly highlighted.

All contributions will be peer reviewed by the workshop programme committee. Those with accepted topics will be invited to give a 10 minute presentation of their idea. For sessions focused around a debate, both participants will be invited to present their ideas in a 10 minute slot each, prior to discussion. An open brainstorming session will then follow for 50 minutes with a focus on initially evaluating the proposed idea or giving thoughts on unanswered questions. Notes and outcomes of these sessions will be recorded.

Abstracts should be submitted via e-mail to biif2006@surrey.ac.uk by the deadline.

Student Presentations

Papers are invited from research students only to promote discussion of new ideas and to foster training and development of new researchers. All papers will be peer reviewed by the workshop programme committee to assess originality, significance, quality and clarity. Those students with accepted papers will be invited to either present a poster or to give a 20 minute oral presentation.

Papers should not exceed 6 pages in length, including references, tables, figures and appendices, and should follow the LNCS format, details of which can be found at www.springer.com/sgw/cda/frontpage/0,11855,3-164-2-7237 6-0,00.html.

Papers should be submitted via e-mail to biif2006@surrey.ac.uk by the deadline.

Enquiries regarding abstract and paper submission should be directed to biif2006@surrey.ac.uk

Abstracts and papers will be available to workshop attendees via the website and printed proceedings. After the workshop, participants will be invited to submit papers based upon their work to two journal special issues (journals to be confirmed). These will contain a mixture of review/discussion articles and presentations of current research work.

Important Dates

15 May 2006 Deadline for submitting papers and discussion topics 19 June 2006 Notification of acceptance 17 July 2006 Camera ready papers 22-23 August 2006 Workshop at the University of Surrey

Guests looking for accommodation on campus (the cheapest in Guildford) are advised to register by the 15th May 2006. Otherwise, registration is open up until the workshop. For papers to be presented at the workshop, all guests must be registered by the 17th July 2006 to secure a place on the programme.

Further information can be obtained from:
- Website: www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/ias/workshops/biif/
- Enquiries about paper submission: biif2006@surrey.ac.uk
- General and administrative enquiries: Mrs Gautier O'Shea, S.Gautier@surrey.ac.uk; Mrs Heather Norman, H.Norman@surrey.ac.uk
- Dr Matthew Casey, M.Casey@surrey.ac.uk; tel. +44 (0)1483 689635
- Dr Paul Sowden, P.Sowden@surrey.ac.uk
- Dr Hujun Yin, Hujun.Yin@manchester.ac.uk
- Dr Tony Browne, A.Browne@surrey.ac.uk