14 December 2011

Pupils to see 'through the eyes of machines' at Christmas Lectures

Photo opportunity: 10am on Friday, 16th December at D'Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre, University of Dundee.

More than 200 school pupils from across Tayside and Fife will this Friday learn to see the world 'through the eyes of machines' at the annual Christmas Lectures hosted by the University of Dundee's School of Computing.

Fifth and Sixth year pupils from 13 schools will be welcomed to the D’Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre for talks delivered by computing researchers and experts from the University.

A range of demonstrations will also take place to highlight the links between computing and a wide range of other subjects including games and medicine. It is hoped that this will provide students and teachers with a glimpse of the wide range of computer vision-related research being undertaken in the School of Computing

'We are delighted to welcome so many pupils to our Christmas Lectures, which will this year teach them to see through the eyes of machines,' said Professor Stephen McKenna, one of the academics delivering the lecture.

'The lecture and demonstrations will introduce some of the science and engineering of computer vision. It will also ask why the sense of vision that most of us take for granted is so difficult for computers to match, and whether we should believe what we see or whether it isn’t more a case of seeing what we believe?

'Live demonstrations will be used to illustrate and explain the computer vision technology behind the Xbox Kinect, facial recognition systems, and software that can track objects and activities. The pupils will also hear about cutting-edge research into image processing at the University which aims to help us better diagnose and treat diseases such as cancer and diabetes.'

The programme will run from 10am-1pm on Friday, 16th December, with lunch provided for pupils and teachers in the Queen Mother Building afterwards.

Pupils from the following school will be in attendance: Arbroath High School, Balwearie High School (Kirkcaldy), Craigie High School (Dundee), High School of Dundee, Inverkeithing High School, Kinross High School, Madras College (St Andrews), Morgan Academy (Dundee), Perth High School, St Andrews High School (Kirkcaldy), St John's Academy (Perth), Waid Academy (Anstruther), Webster's High School (Kirriemuir).

For more information visit: www.computing.dundee.ac.uk/christmaslectures/Welcome.html.

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277