With various forms of biometric technologies becoming available, there is a growing need for scientists who are able to assess the merits of these technologies when applied to forensics. The Marie Curie ITN "Bayesian Biometrics for Forensics", or BBfor2, will provide a training infrastructure that will educate Early Stage Researchers in the core biometric technologies of speaker, face and fingerprint recognition, as well as the forensic aspects of these technologies. According to modern interpretation of evidence in court, biometric evidence must be presented as likelihood ratios. The calibration of likelihood ratios of individual behavioural and physical biometrics and of combinations of biometric modalities, including measures of the quality of the traces, is a unifying topic in all research projects in this Network.
The Network will conduct research in the core biometric detection areas of speaker, fingerprint and face recognition. The working experience in forensic research environments will educate the ESRs to become experts in the aforementioned biometrics modalities, with the application of forensic research in mind. The multi-disciplinary training makes the ESRs very employable in forensic sciences and governmental bodies such as law enforcement institutions, as well as research and development departments of industry.
The training of ESRs will be realized as individual PhD projects at various research labs, including a forensic institute. Apart from training at their host institute and secondments with other network partners, the ESRs will receive training in dedicated Summer Schools on Biometric Signal Processing, Bayesian Techniques in Forensic Applications and Legal Issues in Forensic Applications. The Network combines 8 European Universities and a leading Forensic Institute; it is augmented by a biometric industrial, a research institute and a forensic science services provider, where secondments of the ESRs will take place.
