Main Structure
The proposed conference structure closely mimics previous years of FG, starting with tutorials, workshops, and doctoral consortium on Monday, main conference taking place from Tuesday to Thursday, and Friday is reserved for workshops. The main conference will include a single track of oral paper presentations and poster paper sessions throughout the three days. Given the proposed location and timing of the conference, it is expected that FG 2027 main conference will have around 250 attendees. We anticipate around 300 – 400 submissions, and that the acceptance rate will be around 35% – 40%.

Different from previous years, we will take the following steps (and inform people way in advance) to increase the attendance especially on Monday and Friday:

• Based on the experience of previous year’s organizers, we intend to have single-round submissions.
• We consider organizing free walking/bike tours in Utrecht on Friday afternoon
• We will work closely with DC chairs to ensure that several mentors are present in person in conference.
• We consider organizing snacks for the organization team on Monday.

Exhibition and demo sessions
The proposed Technical Program will also include exhibition and demo sessions. Demo sessions will be co-scheduled with the poster sessions for two days (the first and the third conference day). We aim to have a single exhibition session co-scheduled with the poster session planned for the second main conference day. The main idea behind the exhibition session is to attract and feature industrial exhibits. The aim is to inform the research community on the existing commercialization of research results in the field, instigate discussion about the state of the art in real-world applications, and cross-fertilize the knowledge and the ideas about the future research.

Workshops and tutorials
Workshops and Tutorials will be held on the day before and the day after the main conference. Workshop and tutorial proposals will be invited and solicited by the Workshops/Tutorials Chair, with proposals due one month prior to the main FG conference paper submission deadline. Finances and logistics will be combined with FG.

Keynote speakers
The Technical Program will also include an invited keynote talk on each day of the main conference. Candidate invited keynote speakers will include researchers from Asia, America, and Europe. We aim to have one keynote on facial image analysis and processing, one on gesture analysis and one on psychological aspects. Travel expenses of the keynote speakers will be covered from the conference budget.

Ask-me-anything session
We will invite a senior researcher to attend FG (potentially virtually) and answer questions by the audience. We can collect questions anonymously in advance, but we will also give the audience opportunity to ask their questions on site.

Awards and journal special issue

1 Best Paper, Best Student Paper, Test of Time

The conference will continue granting the awards established in previous FGs, such as the best paper and the best student paper. Possible funding sources for covering the travel grants are conference budget, governmental agencies, and local and international companies.

2 Journal special issue

We propose to select the best FG papers for a special issue of the IEEE Trans. BIOM. The TPC and reviewers will be asked to identify potential award papers from the papers submitted to the main conference. A separate award committee, formed from senior members of the FG community would then be asked to review nominations and select awardees. Sponsorship of awards will be sought from industrial partners and governmental agencies.

Doctoral Consortium
The aim of the Doctoral Consortium is to provide a forum for Ph.D. students to discuss their research and career objectives with other students and senior researchers working in the same area. As part of the main conference program, there will be a Doctoral Consortium Poster session with a catered lunch. During the session, the accepted student participants will meet an invited committee of faculty and industry researchers in the relevant area. Each student participant needs to present his/her thesis work or a recent paper, which is part of the thesis work. The committee members will discuss the work with the student and provide constructive comments and guidance on his/her research in a feedback form. Student participants accepted in the Doctoral Consortium are eligible for consideration for some level of financial support on their travel.

Student travel grants
We plan to award at least 5 travel grants. Possible funding sources for covering the travel grants are governmental agencies (NWO), IEEE, and local and international companies.