Connectionists: International Workshop on Biologically Inspired Information Fusion

[M.Casey@surrey.ac.uk]

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International Workshop on Biologically Inspired Information Fusion Call
for Contributions Tuesday 22 August - Wednesday 23 August 2006,
University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.

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

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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.

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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

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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 at surrey.ac.uk by the
deadline.

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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
http://www.springer.com/sgw/cda/frontpage/0,11855,3-164-2-72376-0,00.htm
l.

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

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Enquiries regarding abstract and paper submission should be directed to
biif2006 at 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.

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