Dr. Hubert P. H. Shum, Associate Professor of Northumbria University, UK

Due to the recent advancement in motion capture hardware and motion-based applications, human motion analysis has become an increasingly popular research area. Its core problem is to model human motion in a meaningful way, such that we can generalize knowledge to recognize, analyze and synthesize movement. Motion related applications nowadays such as motion-based gaming, 3D character animation, autonomous surveillance and smart robots are the results of the area. The problem of human motion analysis is important as it connects different research fields. Taking an example of motion gaming with the Microsoft Kinect, the system first applies computer vision techniques to identify human body parts. Then, artificial intelligence is introduced to understand the meaning of the movement and perform human-computer interaction. Virtual reality techniques based on movement are sometimes used to enhance gaming immersiveness. Character animation and graphical rendering algorithms are implemented to render the controlled virtual character. In this talk, I will discuss the importance of human motion analysis in computer science. With the support of my research projects, I will demonstrate how motion analysis can connect different research fields, including computer graphics, games and vision. I will show how my projects achieve impact in research and the society, and conclude my presentation with future opportunities and potential directions.

Biography:

I am an Associate Professor (Reader) in Computer Science and the Programme Leader of BSc (Hons) Computer Animation and Visual Effects at Northumbria University. I lead research team focusing on computer graphics and computer vision, utilizing and managing the Motion Capture and Virtual Reality Laboratory. The team consists of three faculty members, 2 post-docs and 8 PhDs. Before this, I worked as a Senior Lecturer at Northumbria University, a Lecturer at the University of Worcester, a postdoctoral researcher at RIKEN Japan, and a research assistant at the City University of Hong Kong. I received my PhD degree from the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh, as well as my Master and Bachelor degrees from the City University of Hong Kong. I have received £124,000 from EPSRC for a project on human motion analysis and £12,000 from the Royal Society. I have also been a funding officer of a €3.03 million Erasmus Mundus project. On top of these, I have received more than £210,000 from Northumbria University to hire PhD students and purchase research equipment. I have research collaborations with academics around the world such as Waseda University, the University of Edinburgh, INRIA France.