Bio
Prof. Dr. Kristijan Lenac is a Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, the University of Rijeka. He received his PhD from the University of Trieste, Italy, submitting a dissertation pertaining to mobile robotics. He then spent five years as a project manager and lead developer at AIBSLab Engineering in Trieste, where he led several R&D projects commissioned by industry partners. Upon returning to Croatia, he joined the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Rijeka as a Professor in the Department of Computer Engineering. He is the founder and current head of the Artificial Perception and Autonomous Systems Laboratory and a co-founder of both the Riteh Drone Team and the Riteh Blockchain Team. His research interests include blockchain technology, biometrics, mobile robotics, and artificial intelligence. He advocates for decentralisation and transparency as key strategies to address the challenges posed by rapid technological advancement and global stressors, such as cybersecurity threats, the erosion of data privacy, and the unchecked proliferation of AI.

Talk
Overview of Biometric Template Protection: Why and How

Bio
Dr Vedrana Krivokuća Hahn is a Researcher in the Biometrics Security and Privacy group at the Idiap Research Institute (Martigny, Switzerland). Her main field of research concerns biometric template protection (BTP). Vedrana is currently the Chief Researcher and Project Manager of the Innosuisse PRiMEAiD project, which aims to use BTP algorithms to develop a privacy-preserving face identification system for humanitarian aid distribution programmes. She is also leading the production of the first ever Handbook of Biometric Template Protection, which will be published later this year. In addition to pursuing her BTP research interests, Vedrana regularly manages various research and engineering projects. The most recent examples include the presentation attack detection component of the EU research project SOTERIA, the goal of which was to produce a digital, secure, and user-friendly personal data platform for European citizens, and an industrial project investigating multimodal biometric recognition in vehicles. Vedrana is additionally involved in biometric system evaluations for identity management applications in both industry and government and is currently part of the EU CERTAIN project on AI system certification. She is also engaged in teaching activities, a prime example being Idiap's Masters in Artificial Intelligence programme, for which she taught a full course on biometrics.

Research Keywords
biometric template protection

Talk
Biometric-Bound Credentials: Enhancing Security and Flexibility in Digital Identity

Bio
Dr. Norman Poh leads technical strategy at Trust Stamp, driving growth in the company's privacy-preserving biometric applications, which are designed to tackle identity management challenges related to KYC/AML. Prior to this, he held positions in two separate industries where he utilized his data science skills, including financial forecasting in the oil and gas sector and in healthcare. With a strong track record of innovation, Norman has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, received five best paper awards, and holds more than ten patents. He earned his PhD in Multimodal Biometrics from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and currently serves as an Affiliate Associate Professor at the University of Malta.

Research Keywords
privacy-preserving biometric applications, identity management