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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Dear Colleagues (apologies for cross-posting),<br>
<br>
Call for <b>Competitions at:<br>
The 20th IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition (FG 2026)<br>
May 25th \u2013 29th, 2026, Kyoto, Japan.</b><br>
</span><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); margin: 0px;" data-linkindex="0" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://fg2026.ieee-biometrics.org/&source=gmail&ust=1762274032560000&usg=AOvVaw2cZ-7aAyDr4a6AXhslEgWK" data-auth="NotApplicable" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="https://fg2026.ieee-biometrics.org/" class="x_x_OWAAutoLink" id="OWA829a74a7-f3d4-55d5-c208-7c7875832cec" target="_blank" href="https://fg2026.ieee-biometrics.org/">https://fg2026.ieee-<wbr style="color:rgb(17, 85, 204)">biometrics.org/</a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br>
<br>
We invite proposals for competitions to be held in conjunction with the<br>
2026 IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture<br>
Recognition (FG 2026), which will be held in Kyoto, Japan. The<br>
competitions provide a forum for challenging, stimulating, and<br>
benchmarking cutting\u2011edge research in face, gesture, and related<br>
visual\u2011computing tasks. We solicit competition proposals on any topic of<br>
relevance to the FG community, especially from emerging directions or<br>
novel application domains related to face and gesture analysis.<br>
Interdisciplinary topics relevant to a significant cross-section of the<br>
community (e.g., those linking FG to health, accessibility, robotics,<br>
human\u2013machine interaction, or social good) are particularly welcome.<br>
<br>
</span></div>
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<b>Types of Competitions</b></div>
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We envisage at least three possible types of competitions (but are open<br>
to creative alternatives):<br>
1. Standard (offline) data\u2011science competitions \u2013 Participants compete<br>
to achieve the best performance on a machine learning task of importance<br>
to the FG community based on data and clearly defined metrics provided<br>
by the organizers of the competition.<br>
2. Live / demo competitions \u2013 held in a \u201cscience-fair\u201d style at FG 2026,<br>
where participants bring interactive demonstrations applying their<br>
approaches to real-world problems or specific domains defined by the<br>
organizers.<br>
3. Lab to Market / Entrepreneurial competitions \u2013 designed to highlight<br>
the translation of research outcomes into deployable, real-world<br>
solutions. Organizers may design competitions that encourage<br>
participants to demonstrate the market readiness, societal relevance, or<br>
commercial potential of technologies related to face and gesture<br>
understanding. The goal is to bridge research innovation with market<br>
validation and showcase pathways from lab to product.<br>
<br>
<b>What We Look for in Proposals</b><br>
Competition proposals will be evaluated by the Competition Chairs. Each<br>
proposal will be reviewed for:<br>
- Task selection: Originality, relevance, and interest to the<br>
community.<br>
- Evaluation protocol and metrics: Clarity, fairness, reproducibility,<br>
and robustness.<br>
- Data and resources: Quality, diversity, annotation, and<br>
representativeness.<br>
- Feasibility and logistics: Realistic timeline, infrastructure, and<br>
communication plans.<br>
- Engagement and outreach: Strategies to attract participants and<br>
foster inclusivity.<br>
- For lab to market competitions, clarity of problem\u2013solution<br>
alignment, evidence of real-world relevance, and potential for<br>
societal or market impact. </div>
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- Organizer expertise and diversity:<br>
Experience and diversity of the organizing team.<br>
- Presentation plan: Tentative schedule and resource requirements for<br>
FG 2026.<br>
<br>
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P<b>roposal Preparation and Submission:</b></div>
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Competition proposals (for all types) should be submitted via the<br>
official conference submission system by selecting the Competition<br>
track:<br>
</span><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); margin: 0px; text-align: left;" data-linkindex="1" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/FG2026&source=gmail&ust=1762274032560000&usg=AOvVaw0IjIspr4YZeGiwY39hto2r" data-auth="NotApplicable" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/FG2026" class="x_x_OWAAutoLink x_x_elementToProof" id="OWA80ce4a6a-456b-1017-6bd8-66e02f59ec6b" target="_blank" href="https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/FG2026">https://cmt3.research.<wbr style="color:rgb(17, 85, 204)">microsoft.com/FG2026</a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br>
Please follow the structure of, and adapt, the provided template here:<br>
</span><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); margin: 0px; text-align: left;" data-linkindex="2" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.overleaf.com/read/ynkmqnpswykr%23ab0b9a&source=gmail&ust=1762274032560000&usg=AOvVaw30BroBVvMrfd16-ZyWgyCz" data-auth="NotApplicable" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="https://www.overleaf.com/read/ynkmqnpswykr#ab0b9a" class="x_x_OWAAutoLink x_x_elementToProof" id="OWAdebf3512-4170-7b2f-8015-b00b40ab5dfc" target="_blank" href="https://www.overleaf.com/read/ynkmqnpswykr#ab0b9a">https://www.overleaf.com/read/<wbr style="color:rgb(17, 85, 204)">ynkmqnpswykr#ab0b9a</a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br>
<br>
</span></div>
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<b>Important Dates </b>( and tentative timeline):</div>
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- Competition proposal submission deadline: <b>
November 21, 2025</b><br>
- Acceptance notification to organizers: November 28, 2025<br>
For Standard Competitions:<br>
- Competition launch (data release): Start January 2026<br>
- Submission deadline (Test Results): Mid February 2026<br>
- Result evaluation and feedback: Start March 2026<br>
- Paper Submission: Mid March 2026<br>
For Live Demo and Entrepreneurial Competitions:<br>
- Competition Launch: Mid January 2026<br>
- Demo and pitch submissions: Mid February 2026<br>
- Notification of results: Start March 2026<br>
- Paper submissions: Mid March 2026<br>
<br>
<b>Additional Notes</b><br>
- Competition organizers may request assistance regarding competition<br>
platforms or infrastructure.<br>
- FG 2026 will provide support for poster/demo space/pitch and<br>
logistics during the conference.<br>
- Organizers are encouraged to make evaluation code, baselines, and<br>
data public at the competition launch.<br>
- Competitions involving sensitive data must address privacy, consent,<br>
bias, and legal compliance.<br>
- Competition chairs will coordinate review, selection, and<br>
integration into the program.<br>
<br>
<b>Competition Chairs</b><br>
Chirag Raman, TU Delft, The Netherlands (</span><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); margin: 0px; text-align: left;" data-linkindex="3" title="mailto:c.a.raman@tudelft.nl" class="x_x_OWAAutoLink x_x_elementToProof" id="OWA0418ded9-572e-c21e-7406-f58d3f57d0cf" href="mailto:c.a.raman@tudelft.nl">c.a.raman@tudelft.nl</a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">)<br>
Jyoti Joshi Dhall, Monash University, Kroop AI, Australia<br>
(</span><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><a style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); margin: 0px; text-align: left;" data-linkindex="4" title="mailto:jyoti.joshi@monash.edu" class="x_x_OWAAutoLink x_x_elementToProof" id="OWAf979b596-3dfe-4c47-8ca5-99fe289e8e15" href="mailto:jyoti.joshi@monash.edu">jyoti.joshi@monash.edu</a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">)<br>
<br>
Contact and Inquiries<br>
For questions or advice (e.g., about platforms or logistics), please<br>
contact the FG 2026 Competition Chairs via the email addresses above.<br>
We look forward to your innovative competition proposals and to<br>
showcasing the next frontier of face and gesture analysis!</span></div>
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