We propose to develop methodologies for automatic construction of person-specific facial deformable models for robust tracking of facial motion in unconstrained videos (recorded 'in-the-wild'). The tools are expected to work well for data recorded by a device as cheap as a web-cam and in almost arbitrary recording conditions. The technology that will be developed in the project is expected to have a huge impact in many different applications including but not limited to, biometrics (face recognition), Human Computer Interaction (HCI) systems, as well as, analysis and indexing of videos using facial information (e.g., YouTube), capturing of facial motion in games and film industry, creating virtual avatars, just to name a few. The novelty of the ADAMant technology is multi-faceted. We propose the very first, robust, discriminative deformable facial models that can be customized, in an incremental fashion, so that they can automatically tailor themselves to the person's face using image sequences under uncontrolled recording conditions (both indoors and outdoors). Also, we propose to build and publicly release the first annotated, with regards to facial landmarks, database of facial videos made 'in-the-wild'. Finally, we aim to use the database as the base of the first competition for facial landmark tracking 'in-the-wild', which will run as a satellite workshop of a top vision venue (such as ICCV 2015). As a proof of concept, and with a focus on a novel application, the ADAMant technology will be applied for (1) facial landmark tracking for machine analysis of behaviour in response to product adverts watched by people at comfort of their home (indoors) and (2) facial landmark tracking for automatic face verification using videos recorded by mobile devices (outdoors). In an increasingly global economy and ever-ubiquitous digital age, the market can change rapidly. As stipulated by the UK Researcher Councils' Digital Economy Theme, realising substantial transformational impact on how new business models are being created and taking advantage of the digital world is one of the main challenges. As human face is at the heart of many scientific disciplines and business models, the ADAManT project provides technology that can reshape established business models to become more efficient but also create new ones. Within EPSRC's ICT priorities our research is extremely relevant to autonomous systems and robotics, since it enables the development of robots capable of understanding human behaviour in unconstrained environments (i.e., design of robot companions, robots as tourist guide, etc.).

CENTRE VISION Our vision for the new CDT in Financial Computing and Analytics is to as a national 'beacon' linking PhD & Masters' students, industry and academia in financial computing and analytics. We and our Industry partners are also central to the forthcoming investments in Big Data from EPSRC and ESRC (e.g. Business Datasafe). Its principal objective is to educate the next generation of elite PhDs with unparalleled, cross-disciplinary expertise in applied computing, analytics and financial mathematics, as well as in-depth sector understanding, to meet an increasing demand for their skills within the Financial Service Industry, Government, Retail and other Service sectors. Our existing DTC in Financial Computing is unique (there is no other research & training activity like it in the world) and by placing our PhD students in financial institutions and regulators it has had a major impact on the UK financial sector, as indicated by the Financial Times article (School for QUANTS) and our Letters of Support. The CDT is a new partnership between UCL, LSE and ICL, all providing MRes courses and PhD supervision. NATIONAL IMPORTANCE & GROWING NEED FOR CROSS-DISCIPLINARY SKILLS London is the world's leading international financial centre and the UK financial services industry is the key sector for the UK economy, contributed £124bn to the UK economy, generating a trade surplus of £36bn in 2010 and employing 1 million people. London is also the location for our financial regulators and world-class Retailers. Our Financial and other Service industries are therefore crucial to the UK's, and especially London's, continuing social and economic prosperity. Although we receive over 600 enquiries/applications per annum, and growing, recent reports by McKinsey and Accenture highlight the major and growing skills shortage of (postgrad) IT/data scientists in the USA 22,000 and the UK 4,000. EPSRC PRIORITIES AND RESEARCH The proposed CDT is aligned to EPSRC priorities across a number of Themes, in particular: Data to Knowledge (an ICT Theme priority), Industrially Focussed Mathematical Modelling (Mathematical Sciences) and New Digital Ventures (Digital Economy). The crucially important IT research challenges in just one area, namely the application of software engineering, AI and verification/correctness to algorithms for automated trading, illustrates the enormous research opportunities. IMPACT The current DTC in Financial Computing is acknowledged by the Department of Business Innovation & Skills as having had a major impact on our financial industry partners and on our academic partners. This will continue with the new CDT, impacting Regulators, government, Retailers and analytics companies. * STUDENTS - In 2011 the Centre funded more female PhD students than males, and in 2012 the Centre started 40 new PhD students if we count DTC funded students, students funded by other sources, such as retail and analytics companies, and industry-based part-time students. * ACADEMIA - UCL, LSE and Imperial College have all appointed new faculty in applied financial computing and business analytics; and UCL and ICL have started new Masters programmes. * INDUSTRY - many of the Banks now have established formal PhD programmes, in part due to the current DTC, and proved lecturers to the partners for industry-oriented programmes. * REGULATORS AND GOVERNMENT- we have placed PhD students in the BoE/FSA/PRA/FCA and the Cabinet Office, and as discussed in the Case for Support, we have held individual meetings and workshops with the Regulators (BoE, PRA, FCA) and with new (Retailer) partners (Tesco, BUPA, Unilever) to discuss how we can support them. * SOCIETAL - we encourage and support our PhD students in launching their own start-up, and we provide Masters and Undergraduate students to London-based start-ups, especially in the area called New Finance (e.g. P2P lending, crowdfunding).