Perse student showcases colour blindness research at major conference
Amaan Jamil (Upper Sixth) had the honour of giving a presentation into his research at an illustrious computer science industry conference.
He was the youngest speaker at the Computer Graphics and Vision Computing (CGVC) conference at Aberystwyth University as he outlined his investigation into classifying user interface (UI) accessibility for colour blind users.
Based on the Rouse Award project he carried out in Lower Sixth, Amaan expanded his research with guidance from Perse computer science teacher Gyorgy Denes and presented a poster with his findings to an audience of experts in the field.
The response to his talk was such that Amaan has been invited to submit an extended paper on the topic to the CGVC journal.
Amaan said: “Despite being the youngest speaker, I received a positive response and presenting my poster generated interest, leading to fruitful discussions about my work.
“The conference provided valuable insights into various aspects of computer graphics and vision, including its connections to fields like data analytics. I learned from others’ experiences, gained advice for my future studies and work and made valuable connections.”
Amaan, who aims to read computer science with business studies at university, said he was inspired to research the topic by an interest in UIs, having learned how to use industry-standard software Figma.
He said: “I always like to do projects which have a social value, so for example, for my DT coursework, I made a toy for autistic children, so that’s why I wanted to look at UI accessibility.
“There are quite a few colour blind types and each has their own way of looking at things, so the way they perceive colour is different.
“What I set out to do with my Rouse project was take something like Instagram, which is heavy on photos, and think about how that interface could change so someone who is colour blind can still interact with it in the same way.”
Amaan considered daltonisation – a colour correction technique that attempts to adjust hues so there are less colour combinations that could be confusing to a colour blind person – and the international standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines as part of his research.
He said: “For CGVC, I pivoted my Rouse project towards classifying 24 different interfaces, such as Microsoft Word, and put together a table considering their user experience and functionality. I’m grateful to Dr Denes for his unwavering support and guidance throughout this journey.”
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