1st Workshop on Foundational Models Beyond the Visual Spectrum
March 6 or March 7, 2026 (TBD) – Tucson, AZ
Note: We are having issues with the submission website. We will have it up as soon as possible.
The visual spectrum is a small part of the emitted radiation that can be utilized for a large variety of tasks.
The rapid rise of foundational models has transformed computer vision, but most progress has been confined to the visible spectrum. Many real-world applications in healthcare, maritime, biometrics, remote sensing, autonomous navigation, and defense rely on data modalities such as infrared, LIDAR, hyperspectral, depth, acoustic, event-cameras, RF, or radar, where foundational models remain underexplored. This workshop aims to bring together researchers working on extending and adapting foundational models beyond the visual spectrum, addressing challenges such as cross-modal pretraining, data scarcity, and domain adaptation. The motivation is to bridge the gap between visible-spectrum advances and broader multimodal sensing, which is both timely and relevant to the WACV community as it expands toward embodied AI and real-world deployment. The expected impact of the workshop is twofold: (i) to catalyze new research directions by highlighting the unique opportunities and challenges of non-visual modalities, and (ii) to foster collaborations across academia, industry, and government working in these critical areas. We anticipate outcomes including a clearer community roadmap, new benchmarks, and broader awareness of the importance of foundational models beyond the visual spectrum.
Link to official call for papers: TBD
Link to submission website: TBD
Submissions will be Full papers (up to 8 pages, including figures and tables): presenting mature, original research relating to foundational models beyond the visible spectrum. Submissions should follow WACV’s formatting and double-blind review guidelines, with accepted papers to appear in the WACV 2026 Workshop Proceedings (archival).
Topics include but are not limited to:
Novel sensing mechanisms that enable perception
Data compression, labeling, and curation techniques for non-visible data
Foundation models for non-visible data
Cross-modal learning, or transfer learning, with/from visible light
Few-shot adaptation of foundation models to non-visible light
Deployment of foundation models for non-visible light on the edge
Active control of non-visible light sensing mechanisms
Paper submission deadline: 30 Nov 2025 (Sun), AoE
Notification to authors: 29 Dec 2025 (Mon)
Camera-ready deadline (WACV defined): Jan 09, 2026 11:59 PM PST
TBD - Half day
Kitware
Johns Hopkins University
Washington University in St. Louis
Kitware
For all questions, please contact fomovwacv2026@googlegroups.com.