Each year since 2013 the Eyewitness Research Group in the Acsent Lab, Psychology Department, UCT, has organised an interdisciplinary research symposium. The annual ‘Face Science symposium’ brings together practitioners and researchers from a range of disciplines, including Psychology, three units of the South African Police Service (the Face Recognition Unit of the LCRC; the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation; and the Victim Identification Centre), Biomedical Engineering, Forensic Art, Fine Art, Dentistry, Human Biology, Forensic Anthropology, and Computer Science.  

Although the symposium was conducted face-to-face for several years, it has moved to a virtual edition since 2020. This has allowed researchers and practitioners from many countries outside South Africa to participate, a so-called ‘COVID dividend.’ The organisers have kept the conference free to all, and have absorbed the costs themselves, which allows practitioners and researchers from anywhere in the world to participate (with just the cost of an internet connection). 

The 2023 symposium was held on 7 November 2023, and attracted more than 150 registrations. There were delegates from all over South Africa, from the USA, UK, Sweden, India, Germany, China, and many other countries. The program and list of talks are shown below. A recording is available for interested parties (contact colin.tredoux@uct.ac.za for access).