Vision, Video, and Graphics Network

Application Form - to apply for funds

Review Form - to asses your application

We are pleased the announce that EPSRC are supporting the cross-community Vision, Video, and Graphics network. The purpose of the VVG network is to promote the ``convergence'' area between vision, video, and graphics, in two main ways.

by funding research placements between laboratories.
running workshops, day-meetings, and conference in support of convergence

The VVG network sets out to be as transparent as possible. The case that managed to gain EPSRC favour can be downloaded.

Areas of interest

We are interested in any project that crosses the traditional community boundaries. Placement projects should be well defined, they may transfer knowledge across boundaries, but ideally would contribute to at least two of the three communities in some way. The network deliberately avoids a definition of ``convergence'', but typical areas include:

Image based rendering
Inversive and augmented environments
Video representation issues
Advanced communications, such as video-conferencing
Geometric and photometric reconstruction
Shape and motion modelling
Hardware and systems issues

To reiterate that this list is not exhaustive: we believe that the area should be defined through community activities. An example placement is for a graphics PhD to visit a vision lab. The subject of study is to reconstruct lighting information from real world video so that graphics objects can be placed in the video stream. The graphics PhD will bring skills relating to advanced lighting and shading models, such as backward ray-tracing and radiosity into the vision lab. The vision lab will equip the project with analytic skills relating the light source computation. The project raises problems that might not otherwise have occurred --- can we recover extended light sources? can the shadows be rendered to be convincingly real? how should failures in analysis be dealt with? is a full shading solution necessary? The two labs apply to the VVG network, making out a case for support, and requesting funding to support board and lodgings for a 3 month placement, plus travel and a couple of overnight stays for the supervisor. The two institutes have determined their own arrangements for bench-fees, and the host institution will allow the PhD student some lab supervision to militate against loss of earnings.

How to apply

An application is to be made by two full time researchers, and two different institutions, one of which is the designated placement holder. The researchers should both be eligible to apply for EPSRC funding, although applications of exceptional quality between academia and industry, and UK and overseas institutes will be considered. The application form can be downloaded from the VVG network website. There is a strict word limit for any application.

The application is to be emailed to

pmh@cs.bath.ac.uk

Applications can be recieved at any time. The VVG panel will find at least three referees from the review committee, and the referees will be chosen across the community borders. The panel will meet, about 6 weeks after the submission deadline to decide which proposals are to be funded.

The panel will issue letters to all applications to inform them of the result. Funds will be released to the placement holder, contingent upon relevant forms being signed by both institutions.

Each placement will typically cost a few thousand pounds. To reflect this, the application and review procedures have been designed to be as light as possible. Hence deadlines, word-counts, and other restriction will be strictly enforced. We will not enter into any correspondence regarding the outcome of the panel's decision.

To apply you will need to fill in the LaTex forms, which are in plain text. The completed application should not cover more than two sides of A4 paper.

Responsibilities of placement holders

There are two binding conditions that placement grant holders have to the VVG network:

To submit a brief report for publication on the VVG web site.
To attend the VVG conference and present a paper.

We have funds to support VVG placement holders at the VVG conference. Note that a placement holder is not the person who went on placement, but the supervisor --- in general these will be distinct individuals.

VVG network plans a special workshop event that is a satellite to the main VVG conference. Currently we plan a VVG conference every two years (2005, 2007, etc). The workshop will be non-refereed, and proceeding will not count as a publication --- the idea is to disseminate information and encourage inter-community exchange. Workshop delegates are free to attend the VVG main conference, and even submit papers for peer review if they wish to.

Responsibilities of the VVG network

Our responsibilities are:

to run the network on behalf of the community
to be as transparent and open as we can

The VVG network is intended to be a (multi) community network. There are two main groups that run it: the ``panel'' and the ``reviewers''; these are disjoint sets; the panel will seek to implement the reviewers decisions without prejudice of any variety.

In line with our policy of transparency all documents will be made available on the VVG website. These include the original case for support made to EPSRC, the names of panelists and reviewers, meeting minutes, and other material.