UMAFAE | Unaccompanied Minors Automatic Forensic Age Estimation

Summary
In recent years, the European Union is facing an unprecedented wave of mass migration and governments and institutions are struggling to keep up. One particular difficult topic is the age estimation of unaccompanied minors: in 2017 there were more than 20.000. Around 90% of them were between 15 and 17 years old and most of them were undocumented.

Several scientific publications are addressing the issue of age estimation. The focus is usually a specific anatomical region or a set of them. Regions are then analyzed within different medical image modalities to provide an age estimation. However, the limitations of state-of-the-art methods are as follows: i) subjectivity and lack of sound validation tests; ii) the majority is error-prone and time-consuming; iii) limited sample size; iv) vast population-specific differences in the patterns of maturation, and v) lack of reliability and reproducibility.

UMAFAE’s goal is to develop AI-based algorithms that determine the age of a person. This challenging proposal is achievable due to the ER (Dr. De Luca) and supervisor (Dr. Ibáñez) profiles. The ER is one of the most recognized European experts for age estimation, with a vast experience in forensic practice. Dr. Ibáñez is a world pioneer in the application of Artificial Intelligence techniques to Forensic Anthropology, with the largest number of publications and patents in this multidisciplinary field.

The know-how of Panacea’s research team in different fields (from forensic and medical imaging to deep learning and computer vision), the equipment and facilities of the University of Granada (UMAFAE’s partner), together with a large list of data providers (agreements with six Universities) and the support of the main leading international experts in the field (Drs. Cameriere, Schmeling, Viner, Márquez-Grant and Garamendi) compose a unique environment to accomplish these ambitious and groundbreaking objectives.

The project includes a clear plan for technology transfer.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101026482
Start date: 01-03-2022
End date: 29-02-2024
Total budget - Public funding: 172 932,48 Euro - 172 932,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

In recent years, the European Union is facing an unprecedented wave of mass migration and governments and institutions are struggling to keep up. One particular difficult topic is the age estimation of unaccompanied minors: in 2017 there were more than 20.000. Around 90% of them were between 15 and 17 years old and most of them were undocumented.

Several scientific publications are addressing the issue of age estimation. The focus is usually a specific anatomical region or a set of them. Regions are then analyzed within different medical image modalities to provide an age estimation. However, the limitations of state-of-the-art methods are as follows: i) subjectivity and lack of sound validation tests; ii) the majority is error-prone and time-consuming; iii) limited sample size; iv) vast population-specific differences in the patterns of maturation, and v) lack of reliability and reproducibility.

UMAFAE’s goal is to develop AI-based algorithms that determine the age of a person. This challenging proposal is achievable due to the ER (Dr. De Luca) and supervisor (Dr. Ibáñez) profiles. The ER is one of the most recognized European experts for age estimation, with a vast experience in forensic practice. Dr. Ibáñez is a world pioneer in the application of Artificial Intelligence techniques to Forensic Anthropology, with the largest number of publications and patents in this multidisciplinary field.

The know-how of Panacea’s research team in different fields (from forensic and medical imaging to deep learning and computer vision), the equipment and facilities of the University of Granada (UMAFAE’s partner), together with a large list of data providers (agreements with six Universities) and the support of the main leading international experts in the field (Drs. Cameriere, Schmeling, Viner, Márquez-Grant and Garamendi) compose a unique environment to accomplish these ambitious and groundbreaking objectives.

The project includes a clear plan for technology transfer.

Status

CLOSED

Call topic

MSCA-IF-2020

Update Date

28-04-2024
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Horizon 2020
H2020-EU.1. EXCELLENT SCIENCE
H2020-EU.1.3. EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
H2020-EU.1.3.2. Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
H2020-MSCA-IF-2020
MSCA-IF-2020 Individual Fellowships