Introduction
I am working on computational colour constancy algorithms, using the bee colour vision and flower colour as a model, supervised by Peter McOwan (Vision Group in Computer Science) and Lars Chittka (Centre for Psychology – the Bee Lab in Biological Sciences Dept). We developed the Floral Reflectance Database , and I use the reflectance spectra of flowers to simulate bee colour choice in an agent-based modelling environment under changes of illumination, under various colour visual models (variations of colour constancy in the bee colour vision) and if there is possibly any selective pressure on flower colour occurrences under variations of illumination.
CV
2008 - Present
PhD Student, EPSRC Studentship
Queen Mary University of London,
Supervised by Prof. Peter McOwan & Prof. Lars Chittka
2005 - 2008
BSc (Hons) First Class in Computer Science and Multimedia,
Final
year
project supervised by Prof.Peter McOwan & Prof.Lars Chittka - Awarded Microsoft Prize for Best Final Year project
Material
Faruq S, McOwan P, Chittka L (2012), "Testing the biological significance of colour constancy in an agent based model with bees foraging from flowers under varied illumination" Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour Easter Conference 2012 Aberystwyth
Faruq S, Chittka L, Mcowan P (2011), "Testing the biological significance of colour constancy in an agent based model with bees foraging from flowers under varied illumination" Perception vol. 40 ECVP Abstract Supplement, page 9 (Link)
Faruq, S, Chittka, L, McOwan, P (2011) . Modelling the quantitative effects of colour vision applied to a foraging honey bee. Perception vol. 40, (1) 105-105.
Arnold SEJ, Faruq S, Savolainen V, McOwan PW, Chittka L, 2010 FReD: The Floral Reflectance Database — A Web Portal for Analyses of Flower Colour. PLoS ONE 5(12): e14287. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014287 (Link)
Faruq, S, 2010 Mutant Bees - Perception of Colour in Different Natural Lighting Conditions, London Hopper Colloquium BCS Headquarters
Andrews,
D. & Faruq, S, Conference Workshop: People who've been through it,
the use of past mentor experiences in mentor training and development, UK National Transition Conference 2009,
About
I am a PhD student in the Vision Research Group in the Department of Computer Science and the Bee Lab in the Centre for Psychology (at Biological sciences) modelling different colour visual models in a natural environment, using the bee colour vision, natural light and flower colours as a model.
My project is supervised by Prof.Peter William McOwan, co-supervised by Prof.Lars Chittka, and funded by EPSRC
Contact
Mrs Samia Faruq
Department of Computer Science, Rm:420
Mile End Road, London
E1 4NS
email: samia (at) dcs.qmul.ac.uk
Project Links
Floral Reflectance Database - Database of reflectance spectra of over 2000 flowers.
- BBC News Coverage "Database shows how bees see world in UV"
- QMUL News "FReD can help explain how a bee sees"
The Blair Wiki - Undergraduate special-subject course in the School of History at Queen Mary
- QMUL News "Studying the Blair Government at QMUL"