PyData June: H-Unique, Lend a Hand to Fight Child Abuse

THE TALK

H-Unique, Lend a Hand to Fight Child Abuse

H-Unique is a 5-year research project studying variability in the visible features of the human hand, which began in 2019. The project has arisen directly from Professor Sue Black’s ground-breaking work in the forensic identification of perpetrators from images of their hands in indecent images of children. The project aims to identify which features of the hand form the most reliable biometric for identification and to develop AI models and algorithms to automatically extract and analyse these from hands in images and video.

Ricki will discuss the project background and their approach to public engagement for data gathering and some of the challenges faced, Bryan Williams who leads the research activities will discuss some of the experiments conducted so far and research outputs to date.

During the evening there will also be an opportunity to contribute hand images to the project ‘control’ dataset, which the team are close to completing. We hope that after hearing about our work and why we are doing it you will be eager to volunteer!

For further info our project site is at: https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/h-unique

OUR SPEAKERS

Ricki Boswell-Challand, H-Unique Database Manager

Pronouns: he/him

Bio: Ricki graduated in Computer-Aided Physics at Lancaster after which he developed a long career in commercial software development and industrial R&D, with a background in database design, system integration and image management. He returned to Lancaster specifically to join the H-Unique project where, as database manager he designs, builds and maintains the systems for collecting, maintaining and managing project contributions and research data.

Ricki's LinkedIn

Dr Bryan Williams, Anniversary Lecturer in Biometrics

Pronouns: He/him

Bio: Bryan is a Lecturer in Biometrics and Human Identification with the School of Computing and Communications at Lancaster University and honorary Lecturer in Ophthalmic Imaging with the Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences at the University of Liverpool. He is a mathematician with a focus on computer vision, machine/deep learning, image processing and analysis, feature extraction, and medical device development. In particular, he has many years’ experience in computer vision research, outreach, citizen science and patient and public involvement, with work published in the world-leading venues and winning several awards. He is leading research on the H-Unique project. His key focus is to drive the direction of the research, overall management of the project and to ensure that the aims of the project are realised.

Bryan's LinkedIn

LOCATION
We'll be at Peak AI. The capacity is limited to 80.

After the talks we'll all head somewhere local for some post-event socialising.

EVENT GUIDELINES
PyDataMCR is a strictly professional event, as such professional behaviour is expected.

PyDataMCR is a chapter of PyData, an educational program of NumFOCUS and thus abides by the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct

https://pydata.org/code-of-conduct.html

Please take a moment to familiarise yourself with its contents.

ACCESSIBILITY
Under 16s welcome with a responsible guardian. There is a quiet room available if needed. Toilets are accessible, so I am hoping the venue is too but looking for more details!

SPONSORS
Thank you to NUMFocus for sponsoring Meetup and further support