Model-Aware Deep Learning for Multimodal and Hyperspectral Imaging

— Professor Aleksandra Pizurica, Dr. Eng. Ghent University, Department of Telecommunications and Information Processing, Group for Artificial Intelligence and Sparse Modelling - GAIM

Abstract
Model-based optimization has long played a central role in inverse imaging and image analysis, providing principled ways to incorporate prior knowledge and domain structure. Today, it increasingly interacts with deep learning: well-founded signal models guide network design, while data-driven training enhances classical inference methods. ...
In this talk, we present learning frameworks that integrate sparse and probabilistic signal models with deep learning for robust image reconstruction and inverse problems in multimodal and hyperspectral imaging. These approaches address compressed sensing and restoration tasks, as well as downstream problems such as classification, clustering, spectral unmixing, and saliency detection within a principled optimization framework. Examples from medical imaging, remote sensing, and art investigation illustrate how model-aware design combined with deep learning improves robustness, interpretability, and practical performance across diverse imaging applications. Read more

Biography
Aleksandra Pižurica is a Full Professor in Statistical Image Modelling at Ghent University, Belgium, where she leads the GAIM group focusing on Artificial Intelligence and Sparse Modelling. She received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Ghent University in 2002. Her research includes multiresolution image models, probabilistic graphical models, sparse coding, representation learning, and image and video reconstruction, restoration, and analysis. ...
Dr. Pižurica was awarded the scientific prize “de Boelpaepe” by the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium in 2015 for her contributions to statistical image modelling and applications to digital painting analysis. She was co-recipient of the Best Paper Award of the IEEE GRSS Data Fusion Contest in 2013 and 2014, and the David Hestenes Prize at AGACSE 2018. She is a Senior Area Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Image Processing and previously served as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Image Processing and IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology. She was the General Chair of the Sixth International Workshop on Image Processing for Art Investigation (IP4AI) in 2018, and has served as TPC Co-Chair of EUSIPCO 2022, Plenary Co-Chair of EUSIPCO 2024 and EUSIPCO 2026, and TPC Co-Chair of ICIP 2026. Read more