Facing the future

A system that takes just seconds to age a child’s image by decades could become a valuable tool in the search for missing persons.

Following preliminary tests, researchers at the University of Kent plan to develop a technique that produces a highly accurate rendition of an adult face from a picture of the subject as a child.

A photograph is an important tool for those trying to locate a missing person, but children’s features can change significantly in just a few years.

The research is backed by the Metropolitan Police and the National Missing Persons Helpline, which hope it will improve on current methods that can take up to 30 hours to produce an image of erratic accuracy.

The Kent team will work with Dundee University to develop algorithms that can age a facial image. Spin-out forensic technology company VisionMetric aims to commercialise the finished system.

Dr Christopher Solomon of Kent’s School of Physical Sciences, and the project’s principal investigator, said: ‘We have developed a theoretical framework which suggests we can do this semi-automatically.