Professor Eva M. Valero from the Department of Optics at the University of Granada, welcomes postdoctoral candidates interested in applying for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA-PF) in 2021 at this University. Please note that applicants must comply with the MobilityJulio SantiagoJulio SantiagoRule (more information about the 2020 call: http://sl.ugr.es/0aNV, the 2021 call is not yet open).

Brief description of the institution:

The University of Granada (UGR), founded in 1531, is one of the largest and most important universities in Spain. With over 60.000 undergraduate and postgraduate students and 6.000 staff. UGR offers a total of 89 degrees, 110 master’s degrees and 28 doctoral programmes through its 123 departments and 27 centers. Consequently, the UGR offers one of the most extensive and diverse ranges of higher education programmes in Spain.

The UGR has awarded with the "Human Resources Excellence in Research (HRS4R)", which reflects the UGR’s commitment to continuously improve its human resource policies in line with the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. UGR is also a leading institution in research, located in the top of Spanish universities by a variety of ranking criteria, such as national R&D projects, fellowships awarded, publications, or international funding. UGR is one of the few Spanish Universities listed in the Shanghai Top 500 ranking - Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) (http://sl.ugr.es/0bsW). The UGR is amongst the 201-300 first universities of the world, between 2nd-5th position of Spanish universities and number 1 in the Andalusian Region in the Shanghai Top 500 ranking. Specialties at UGR that stand out are Library & Information Science (position 32) and Food Science & Technology (position 36). Moreover, the UGR is also situated amongst the first 100 universities in Mining & Mineral Engineering between (76th-100th position), in Mathematics (between 76th-100th position) and in Hospitality & Tourism Management (between 76th-100th position). The edition of the ARWU places the UGR in 201-300th position in the world and as the 4th highest ranked University in Spain, reaffirming its position as an institution at the forefront of national and international research.

Additionally, the UGR has 8 researchers at the top of the Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) list in Computer Sciences & Engineering (position 101-150). It is also well recognized for its web presence (http://sl.ugr.es/0a6i), being positioned at 43th place in the top 200 Universities in Europe.

Internationally, we bet decidedly by our participation in the calls of the Framework Programme of the European Union. For the duration of the last two Framework Programmes, the UGR has obtained a total of 67 projects, with total funding of 18.029 million euros, and for H2020, 118 projects with total funding around 29.115 million euros.

Brief description of the Centre/Research Group:

The Color Imaging Lab belongs to the Optics Department at the University of Granada (ranked among the best 300 universities in the world and the second in Spain, according to the Shanghai ranking 2018).

In this department we have carried out research into both classical Colorimetry (e.g. color differences) and Color Vision (e.g. chromatic discrimination) since the beginning of the 1970s. In the 1990s we became interested in both human and computational color constancy. From its origin in 2000 the Color Imaging Lab has focused on the spectrum based color research and novel methods for spectral data analysis and measurement. Our current research topics are: spectral imaging, spectral estimation algorithms, high dynamic range imaging, de-weathering algorithms, human perception, color vision, visual saliency, polarimetric&spectral imaging, new spectral sensors.

In the research group we have four senior permanent staff and several Ph.D. and Post-doc students. Our laboratory is well-equipped for spectral color research with several spectral cameras (hyperspectral and multispectral) and spectroradiometers as well as eye-trackers and a thermal camera. Our university has also the facility to use color and spectral cameras on drones.

Our group is a consortium member of the and Erasmus+ COSI-master programmes. We are very active in international collaboration (i.e. half of our papers have international co-authorship). In research, we have project funding from the University of Granada, the Regional Government of Andalucia, the Spanish Government and from industrial partners.

Project description:

Customizable active aid system for Color Vision Defficient subjects

Congenital color vision deficiency (CVD) affects 8% of the Caucasian male population and 0.5% of the female. So far, two types of solutions have been used, which can be classified as active and passive aids. In active aids the CVD is addressed using image processing, with images captured by a camera and subsequently displayed to the CVD subject. Passive aids are based on filters incorporated into tinted glasses or contact lenses, nowadays even with their corresponding optometric prescription.

Several studies have proven that neither kind can fully compensate for the loss in colour discrimination of a CVD subject, although they can be potentially useful for discriminating certain stimuli in a particular context. The design of active systems that are customized and reprogrammable on the spot for specific observers and tasks has not been tackled successfully yet. This is the topic of the present project.

The main task is divided into steps. First, obtain enough data about the subject’s specific CVD via a small number of measurements based on a psychophysical experiment (subject characterization). Then, use an instance of the task or scene captured by a cell phone camera and introduce different color variations in the scene that would cause an increase of the perceived contrast according to an accurate simulation of the subject’s color vision (building of options for active aid). Finally, present several options to the subject and let him/her decide which transformation is the preferred one, and letting him/her do some adjustments if required (customization). The application would be developed for use as an app in the main mobile OS types, and tested by CVD subjects of different type and severity.

Research Area:

• Information Science and Engineering (ENG)
• Physics (PHY)

For a correct evaluation of your candidature, please send the documents below to Professor Eva M. Valero (valerob@ugr.es):

• CV
• Letter of recommendation (optional)