Tim Büchner
Computer Vision Group Jena, Research Associate, PhD Student
I am currently doing my PhD at the Computer Vision Group Jena at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena under Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joachim Denzler. My research focuses on developing new algorithms, especially for facial expression analysis in medical and psychological applications in the context of muscular activity. My focus is not only on 2D images but also 3D data, going into 4D data.
In the DFG project Bridging the Gap: Mimics and Muscles, we aim to combine 3D surface changes with the underlying muscle activity to understand facial expressions better. The project is a collaboration between the Computer Vision Group Jena and the Ear-Nose-Throat Clinic Jena under Prof. Dr. Orlando Guntinas-Lichius. Together, we combine our computer vision and medical science expertise to further the understanding of facial expressions for patients with facial palsy.
Another area I am currently investigating is understanding the black-box nature of deep learning models, especially in medical applications. We investigate whether human-defined properties (such as facial symmetry) significantly influence the internally learned decision rules of the model. Our goal is to make non-experts understand the decision-making process of deep learning models and improve their trust in the model’s predictions, especially in out-of-distribution scenarios.