<div dir="ltr"><div style="border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:12pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline">Dear all:  </span><b style="font-size:10pt;font-family:inherit;font-variant-caps:inherit;font-variant-ligatures:inherit"></b><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline"></span><br aria-hidden="true"></div><div dir="auto" id="gmail-x_mail-editor-reference-message-container" style="border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(32,31,30)"><div dir="ltr" style="font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><div dir="auto" style="font-size:12pt;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><br aria-hidden="true"></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size:12pt;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Please see <u>two</u> key updates below on behalf of the<span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> UK EPSRC funded COG-MHEAR research programme (http://<span class="gmail-markooi32lx6z" style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><a href="http://cogmhear.org">cogmhear.org</a></span>), and k</span>indly help circulate as appropriate - thank you very much in advance. <span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"></span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size:12pt;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><br aria-hidden="true"></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size:12pt;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><b>(1) </b>COG-MHEAR is recruiting for a <b>postdoctoral research fellow</b> based at Edinburgh Napier University</span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> - please see application details below.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size:12pt;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><br aria-hidden="true"></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size:12pt;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13.32px;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">COG-MHEAR Research Fellow post (for up to 30 months - closing date:  10<span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">^th July </span></span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13.32px;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">2022</span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13.32px;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">):</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size:12pt;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><a href="https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CRB059/research-fellow-cog-mhear-full-time-up-to-30-months-fixed-term" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" id="gmail-LPlnk159050" style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CRB059/research-fellow-cog-mhear-full-time-up-to-30-months-fixed-term</span></a><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span><br aria-hidden="true"></div><div dir="auto" style="font:inherit;border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"></div><div dir="auto" style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><div style="font-size:12pt;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><br aria-hidden="true"></span></div><div style="font-size:12pt;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><b>(2) </b> Invite to the</span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><b>first COG-MHEAR Audio-visual Speech Enhancement Challenge (<span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">AVSEC</span>)</b></span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">- </span><a href="http://challenge.cogmhear.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">http://challenge.<span class="gmail-markooi32lx6z" style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">cogmhear.org</span></span></a></div><div style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><div dir="ltr" style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(32,31,30)"><div dir="ltr" style="font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><div dir="auto" style="font-size:12pt;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><br aria-hidden="true"></span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Participants will work on a large dataset derived from TED talks to enhance speech in extremely challenging noisy environments and with competing speakers. The performance will be evaluated using human listening tests as well as with objective measures. We hope that the Challenge will create a benchmark for<span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">AVSEC</span><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span>research that will be useful for years to come. The challenge data and development tools are now available - for details see the challenge website:</span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span><a href="https://challenge.cogmhear.org/#/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">https://challenge.<span class="gmail-markooi32lx6z" style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">cogmhear.org</span>/#/</span></a><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">  and our github repository:</span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span><a href="https://github.com/cogmhear/avse_challenge" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">https://github.com/cogmhear/avse_challenge</span></a><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">  </span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">AVSEC</span><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span>has been accepted as an official challenge at the</span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><b>IEEE Spoken Language Technology (SLT) Workshop</b></span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">(</span><a href="https://slt2022.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">https://slt2022.org/</span></a><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">) to be held in Doha, Qatar, 9-12 Jan 2023, where a special session will be run.</span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><b>Important Dates</b></span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">1st May 2022: Challenge website launch</span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">31st May 2022: Release of the full toolset, training/development data and baseline system</span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><b>1st June 2022: Registration for challenge entrants opens</b></span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">25th July 2022: Evaluation data released</span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">1st Sept 2022: Submission deadline for evaluation (by objective and subjective measures)</span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">9th Jan 2023: Results announced at IEEE SLT 2022</span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><b>Background: </b></span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Human performance in everyday noisy situations is known to be dependent upon both aural and visual senses that are contextually combined by the brain’s multi-level integration strategies. The multimodal nature of speech is well established, with listeners known to unconsciously lip-read to improve the intelligibility of speech in a real noisy environment. It has been shown that the visual aspect of speech has a potentially strong impact on the ability of humans to focus their auditory attention on a particular stimulus. </span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">The aim of the first<span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">AVSEC</span><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span>is to bring together the wider computer vision, hearing and speech research communities to explore novel approaches to multimodal speech-in-noise processing. Both raw and pre-processed AV datasets – derived from TED talk videos – will be made available to participants for training and development of audio-visual models to perform speech enhancement and speaker separation at SNR levels that will be significantly more challenging than those typically used in audio-only scenarios. Baseline neural network models and a training recipe will be provided.</span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">In addition to participation at IEEE SLT, Challenge participants will be invited to contribute to a<span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span><b>Journal Special Issue</b><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span>on the topic of Audio-Visual Speech Enhancement that will be announced later this year.</span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><b>Registration/further information</b></span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">: </span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">If you are interested in participating and wish to receive further information, please sign up here:</span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span><a href="https://challenge.cogmhear.org/#/getting-started/register" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">https://challenge.<span class="gmail-markooi32lx6z" style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">cogmhear.org</span>/#/getting-started/register</span></a></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">If you have questions, contact us directly at:</span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span><a href="mailto:cogmhear@napier.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">cogmhear@napier.ac.uk</span></a></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><b>Organising Team</b></span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">: </span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Amir Hussain, Edinburgh Napier University, UK (co-Chair)</span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Peter Bell, University of Edinburgh, UK (co-Chair)</span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Mandar Gogate, Edinburgh Napier University, UK</span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Cassia Valentini Botinhao, University of Edinburgh, UK</span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Kia Dashtipour, Edinburgh Napier University, UK</span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Lorena Aldana, University of Edinburgh, UK</span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Evaluation Panel Chair: John Hansen, University of Texas in Dallas, USA</span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Scientific Committee Chair: Michael Akeroyd, University of Nottingham, UK</span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Industry co-ordinator: Peter Derleth, Sonova AG</span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) programme grant: COG-MHEAR (</span><a href="http://cogmhear.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">http://<span class="gmail-markooi32lx6z" style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">cogmhear.org</span></span></a><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">)</span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"> </span></p><p style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0px"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Supported by RNID (formerly Action on Hearing Loss), Deaf Scotland, Sonova AG</span></p></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size:12pt;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:10pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><div style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"></div></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size:12pt;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><br aria-hidden="true"></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size:inherit;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13.32px;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">We hope to see you soon.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size:inherit;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13.32px;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><br aria-hidden="true"></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size:inherit;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13.32px;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Kindest regards</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size:inherit;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13.32px;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><br aria-hidden="true"></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size:inherit;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13.32px;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Amir</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size:inherit;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13.32px;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">---</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size:inherit;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13.32px;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Professor Amir Hussain</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size:inherit;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13.32px;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Programme Director: EPSRC COG-MHEAR (http://<span class="gmail-markooi32lx6z" style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><a href="http://cogmhear.org">cogmhear.org</a></span>)</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size:inherit;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13.32px;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">School of Computing, Engineering & Built Environment,</span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-size:inherit;font-weight:inherit;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13.32px;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Edinburgh Napier University, </span><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13.32px;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">Edinburgh EH10 5DT, Scotland, UK</span></div></div><div dir="ltr" style="font:inherit;border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><span dir="auto" style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:black"><span style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:13.32px;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit">E-mail: <a href="mailto:a.hussain@napier.ac.uk">a.hussain@napier.ac.uk</a>   </span></span></div></div></span></div></div></div></div></div>