Early Stage Researchers

Waqas Ellahi is from Islamabad, Pakistan. He completed his Bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering from Mohammad Ali Jinnah University Islamabad campus and Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, Pakistan.

Besides educational qualification, he has acquired more than seven years of professional experience in a different roles in public and private organizations. He worked on various research projects during his academic and professional career primarily involving Biometric based Identification System, Image & Video processing, and Data compression.

Waqas joined the University of Nantes, France, in February 2019 as a PhD student under Prof. Patrick Le Callet at the School of Polytech. His research work is for the major part about algorithm that predicts perceptual effects of light field processing on Quality of Experience (QoE) which is a part of the ITN RealVision project.

Ali is from Turkey and he received his B.Sc. in Mathematics from Bilkent University in 2014. He co-founded a start-up company, Verosis, to develop an immersive virtual reality platform. The company was designing a hemi-spherical projector screen, a wide angle lens (165+) for the projector and appropriate wide angle computer-generated video content.

Prototypes were designed and produced in two years, afterwards the company ran out of funds and he moved to industry to work temporarily. He worked at KaTron where they developed simulation devices for airport and emergency vehicles. Later, to have a research-oriented career, he studied for one year in Visual Computing at University of Nantes for his Master degree. During his Master’s he worked on JND-based image quality assessment models with deep learning.

As from September 2018, he has joined LS2N in University of Nantes within the framework of RealVision Innovative Training Network. He is focusing on developing perceptual tools that will be used for processing, compression and quality evaluation of light-field and volumetric imaging.

Milan is from Elemir, Serbia. In 2012, he received a Bachelor with Honors degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering with specialization in Communications Technologies and Signal Processing at Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad. In 2014, he earned a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He spent the second year of his Master's studies at Agfa, Antwerp, Belgium, working on a framework for semi-automatic image enhancement as a part of a 6-month internship and his thesis.

Following his graduation, Milan worked in industry as a Software Engineer. He was actively involved in various projects and contributed in computer vision solutions for object detection, classification and tracking. Finally, he decided to advance his career and pursue a research career. As a part of the Realvision Innovative Training Network project, in December 2018, he joined the Telecoms and Networks division at Laboratory for Signals and Systems (L2S), to conduct his PhD with main objective of proposing compression schemes for light field data, utilizing joint optimization of view extraction and coding.

Abhishek comes from the City of Joy, Kolkata located in the eastern part of India. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Institute of Engineering and Management, Kolkata in 2015.

He moved to Germany to pursue his Master’s degree in Computer Science from University of Saarland, Saarbruecken. His inclination was towards mathematical image analysis and image compression. As a result, he closely followed and worked on his thesis at the MIA Saarland group under Prof. Joachim Weickert and Dr. Pascal Peter. He defended his thesis on PDE-based Image Compression codecs in May 2018 and received his Master’s degree. Simultaneously on a different but interesting sphere, he worked as a student researcher at the Business Informatic group, IWI at DFKI Saarbruecken for almost 2 years where he worked on different public and private funded projects related to business process management towards ecological goals.

He joined DxO Labs in France from January 2019 within the framework of RealVision Innovative Training Network as a PhD researcher under the supervision of Wolf Hauser. Further, he is enrolled at the doctoral school of University of Paris-Saclay where he is supervised by Dr. Frédéric Dufaux at the L2S laboratory, CNRS/Centrale Supelec/Univ. Paris-Sud. Abhishek's primary focus is on HDR images and content-aware tone mapping algorithms for the same.

Dingcheng is from China. He completed his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering Physics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2017. During that time, he developed a strong interest in computational photography and image processing. In 2018, he obtained his master degree from the University of Cambridge. His master thesis is on the optic of light-field view interpolation using convolutional neural network.

He joined the Graphics and Interaction group at the University of Cambridge in 2018 as a PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Rafal Mantiuk. His primary focus of the RealVision project is on the data representation for image-based rendering techniques such as light-field.

The goal is to find a suitable representation that is both compact and efficient for rendering, and also enables easy processing that preserves perceptual realism.

Fangcheng Zhong comes from China. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Economics at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, and his master’s degree in Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He then spent a year in the department of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics at Northwestern University where he collaborated with Prof. Jack Tumblin’s Graphics group working on light fields and real-time rendering. After that, he decided to leave Northwestern and Mathematics to pursue a career in Graphics.

He joined the Graphics & Interaction Group at the University of Cambridge in 2018 as a PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Rafal Mantiuk. His work mainly focuses on visual perception and computational displays. As part of the European RealVision ITN Project, he studies the integration of perceptual cues that contribute to the impression that perceived scenes look highly realistic.

This involves series of experiments on a novel hyper-realistic display, proposing a model explaining the data (possibly with some machine learning component) and applying the model to address practical problems, such as how to optimally capture and display hyper-realistic video, or optimize algorithms for hyper-realistic displays.

Akshay Jindal is from India where he received his Bachelor’s and Master’s in Information Technology from International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore in 2017. During his Master’s, Akshay worked on tensor-based analysis of LiDAR point clouds to improve their structural classification, developed new techniques for 3D reconstruction using user-guided methods and built tools for Visual Analytics involving point/glyph rendering for large-scale data.

After graduation, Akshay joined the Research and Innovation Team at WalmartLabs, Bangalore (India) as a Software Engineer. His work there was primarily focused on the development of real-time graphics, particularly, Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). Working there, he gained experience in building large-scale procedural virtual worlds, performance optimizations for VR and programming with low-level graphics APIs to build AR experiences on native mobile applications.

As of January 2019, Akshay has joined the Graphics and Interaction Group at the University of Cambridge as a PhD student under the supervision of Dr Rafał Mantiuk. As an ESR in the ITN RealVision Project, his work will involve research into the real-time rendering techniques for realistic reproduction of images and videos on future electronic displays. He will also investigate efficient data representation of content intended for future display technologies.

Anantha Krishnan comes from Kerala, a southern state in India. He completed his Bachelor's and Master’s in Optometry and Vision Science from the University of Hyderabad in 2018. He underwent a one-year clinical Internship at L.V. Prasad Eye Institute during the period of his course. In 2016 he completed his Bachelor's dissertation by constructing a Michelson’s Interferometer by salvaging CD/DVD drives to measure vibrations on rough surfaces under the supervision of Dr Joby Joseph at the Centre for Neural and Cognitive Sciences, the University of Hyderabad. In this project, he developed a miniature Michelson interferometer by hacking into a DVD drive for general research applications and educational demonstration. In 2017 he started his research in the field of Low Vision optical device development where he completed his Master’s thesis by developing a “binocular telescope with mechanical focus adjustment enabled using an rangefinder for assisting individuals with Low vision” under the supervision of Dr Rishi Bhardwaj at the School of Medical Science, University of Hyderabad. Here he developed a low-cost optical device for assisting patients affected with Low vision.

Anantha Krishnan joined The University of Bangor in Wales, UK, on 1 October 2018 as a PhD student (Research Assistant) under Dr Simon Watt at the School of Psychology. As a part of the ITN RealVision project, his topic of research is to “Evaluate the effectiveness of focus cues in novel displays and content.” The motive of this research is to determine the extent to which novel display technologies (light-field, gaze-contingent, multiple-focal-planes) present a natural focal stimulus to the eye and the contribution this makes to realistic appearance. It is known that focus cues play an essential role in displays. However, most 3D display technologies do not deliver correct focus cues. Light-field displays, gaze-contingent displays, and multiple-focal-planes displays present inherently unnatural focal stimuli in one or more ways. Akshay Jindal is from India where he received his Bachelor’s and Master’s in Information Technology from International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore in 2017. During his Master’s, Akshay worked on tensor-based analysis of LiDAR point clouds to improve their structural classification, developed new techniques for 3D reconstruction using user-guided methods and built tools for Visual Analytics involving point/glyph rendering for large-scale data.

Allie comes from Birmingham, UK, but spent the last five years living and studying in Boston, MA, USA. She completed her undergraduate studies at MIT in Physics and Brain & Cognitive Sciences. During this time Allie visited the Paris Diderot University, Fermilab, and Caltech for summer internships. She then spent a year as a graduate student at Harvard studying Neuroscience using fiber photometry methods to study cataplexy and narcolepsy in mice.

She joined the RealVision project as an ESR at the University of Oxford in October 2018, working under the supervision of Professor Hannah Smithson in the Perception Lab. Allie’s work focuses on the intra- and inter-individual differences in colour perception, and exploiting those differences to maximize the effect of displays. Allie is particularly interested in individual differences in cone ratios and the cone mosaic, and will investigate this through indirect methods such as heterochromatic modulation photometry and direct methods such as retinal imaging using an adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AOSLO).

Krzysztof is from Poland. He completed his B.Sc. degree in Computer Science from the West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, in the year 2015. He had his Master’s degree in Computer Graphics and Multimedia from the same institution in 2016. His studies were focused on designing custom, high speed eye tracker and evaluation of the eye trackers’ accuracy. Meanwhile he had internships in two companies where he could collect an experience in gamedev and programming. He also assisted a professor in conducting lectures which helped him in developing his professional and soft skills.

In January 2018, he joined the Computer Graphics group at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Saarbruecken, Germany, under the supervision of Prof. Karol Myszkowski, to conduct his PhD in the framework of the Realvision project. He is focusing on image metrics, image quality, lightfield technology and material appearance.

Muhammad Shahzeb Khan Gul is from Karachi, Pakistan. He obtained his Bachelor degree in Electronics Engineering from PAF-Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology in Dec 2014. He moved to Istanbul, Turkey after working for one and a half year as a System Design Engineer at a local engineering firm. He pursued his Master in Image processing and Machine learning from Istanbul Medipol University under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Bahadir K. Gunturk and graduated in May 2018. His master thesis entitled “Super-resolution of light field using deep learning” dealt with the spatial and angular resolution enhancement of commercially available light field cameras using convolutional neural networks (CNNs). During last 6 months of his master studies, he worked as a Digital Design and Verification Engineer focusing on hardware implementation of H264 video encoder and decoder on Cyclone V FPGA board.

In order to further explore his research areas and interest, Shahzeb joined Fraunhofer IIS for his PhD. He is working under the guidance of Group Leader Dr. Ing. Joachim Keinert. At Fraunhofer, his main focus will be to design and improve the current image processing algorithms that transform the source content into a high-quality light field or 3D mesh. He will also explore the application of booming deep learning architectures and studies for 3D reconstruction and view rendering.

Jingyu Liu is from China. She received her Bachelor degree in Electronics Engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2014.

She then moved to the United States to pursue her Master degree in Entertainment Technology at Carnegie Mellon University. During that time she has developed interests in Virtual Reality(VR)/Augmented Reality(AR) experience design and high-performance visual computing. After graduation in 2016, she joined Advanced Micro Devices, Inc in California US as a software development engineer, where she gained experience with power management and automation infrastructure design for graphics cards and VR systems.

As from December 2018, she has joined the Department of Photonics Engineering at Technical University of Denmark as an ESR within the framework of RealVision Innovative Training Network, under the supervision of Professor Søren Forchhammer. She is focusing on plenoptic modeling of novel displays. Especially head-mounted displays with innovative form-factor. Related topics include physical characterization of displays and viewing set-up based on the light-field description, light projection experiments based on holographic optical elements/waveguide, quality assessment of displays and user experience design.

Umair is from Karachi, Pakistan. He received B.E. in Industrial Electronics in 2014 from NED University of Engineering & Technology, Pakistan and M.S. in Electronics with specialization in computational imaging in 2017 from Istanbul Medipol University, Turkey. His M.S. thesis was focused on improving the quality of light field image captured with but not specific to LYTRO camera. He worked on the improvement of spatial resolution and the virtual extension of aperture size of light field image. His research interests includes computational imaging and light field compression.

As a part of RealVision ITN project, he joined Coding and Visual Communication group at Technical University of Denmark (Department of Photonics Engineering) in 2018. As a part of this project, his goal is to encode light field image data for flexible access and processing, since light field video and imaging lead to very large amounts of data and coding is crucial to utilize the data efficiently. Therefore, he will develop high quality coding of light field data facilitating interactive, visually oriented applications. The coding scheme will be based on modelling relations of subsets, e.g. close-by views and efficient coding of these. He will implement, apply and extend “random access view extraction” technique for interactive user defined access for selected applications.

Sarvesh R. Agrawal is a Research Fellow at the luxury lifestyle company, Bang & Olufsen, in Denmark. Born and raised in Mumbai, Sarvesh moved to the United States in 2014 to pursue a B.S. in audio production at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). During his time in Tennessee, Sarvesh developed a keen interest in psychoacoustics and sound reproduction. He received a master's degree in acoustics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2018.

As a part of the RealVision project, Sarvesh is enrolled as a PhD student at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in the Department of Photonics Engineering. He is investigating the impact of audio rendering systems on the experience of audiovisual immersiveness for domestic applications under the supervision of Dr. Søren Forchhammer and Dr. Søren Bech. The primary goal of the project is to understand how different audio systems (stereo, surround sound, ambisonics, binaural, etc.) influence the experience of immersion in audiovisual environments. This study will incorporate UHD, 4K, and HDR displays along with sophisticated audio systems in participatory and non-participatory applications to understand, assess, and quantify audiovisual immersion. Sarvesh's work could be applied to augment immersion and deliver convincing audiovisual experiences.

Randy Frans Fela comes from Indonesia. He received B.Sc. in Engineering Physics from Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia, in the year of 2015. After that, he was involved in some national funding projects between universities in the field of Acoustics and Building Physics. He obtained M.Sc. in Engineering Physics from Institut Teknologi Bandung (2016-2018) through his study on the auditory virtual reality for students training purpose. As a part of his Master thesis, he also got a 3-month exchange programme at Acoustics and Audio Engineering, University of Salford UK, under a supervision of Prof. Yiu W Lam. Pursuing his interest in research, he returned to Universitas Gadjah Mada to join the university research group and worked on a perceptual evaluation of auditory virtual reality by combining audio transcoding and 360 video display using HMD.

As from January 2019, he has joined SenseLab at FORCE Technology, within the framework of RealVision Innovative Training Network. He is also enrolled as a PhD student at the Department of Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU). His research topics is a Perceptual Evaluation of Immersive Audio Visual Quality supervised by Prof. Søren Forchhammer and Dr. Nick Zacharov. He is investigating the effect of a set of AV stimuli provided on different AV systems to the quality of experience. The goal is to develop an efficient method to assess quality of experience from sophisticated and next-generation AV technology devices.