The SOCIA Lab. (Soft Computing and Image Analysis Group) of the Department of Computer Science, University of Beira Interior (Portugal) is organizing a new iris segmentation contest: NICE.I (Noisy Iris Challenge Evaluation - Part I). Within this laboratory we developed and publicly released the UBIRIS database (http://iris.di.ubi.pt). Since September, 2005, this database has been freely downloaded by more than 500 individuals and institutions from over 70 countries and its data constituted the basis for a large number of works with academic, research and commercial purposes. In the iris recognition compass, the robustness to noise receives growing attention. Many efforts are focused toward the accurate iris recognition within less constrained image capturing environments, probably toward the covert iris recognition in a near future. To support such research developments, we created a new version of the UBIRIS database (UBIRIS.v2). This version is significantly extended, has new and more realistic noise factors and will be used as data source for the Noisy Iris Challenge Contest - Part I (NICE.I). Basically, the NICE.I is a completely free-of-charge iris segmentation and noise detection contest that operates on noisy data, resultant from less constrained image capturing conditions. Its main purpose is the evaluation of the iris segmentation robustness to noise factors. Its is open to individuals and institutions, either with academic, research or commercial purposes. Moreover, the NICE.I contest will be the only way to legally obtain the UBIRIS.v2 database within the next 24 months. Also, the participants that achieve the lowest error rates on the NICE.I contest will be invited to publish their approach on the Elsevier Image and Vision Computing Journal, (ISI Web of Knowledge indexed) through a journal's special issue. Detailed information can be found at the contest web site: http://nice1.di.ubi.pt We look forward for your participation, Best regards Hugo Proença Member of the NICE.I Organizing Committee

Ah, yes, I can see it now... biometric access control to that door in Quake 5 will require that you actually stick your eye up close to your webcam and say "lemme in or I'll blow your chips off"!