Publications

“Developing a Line-scanning Hyperspectral Imaging System for Monitoring Plant Status” (poster) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference 2022 [June 2022] – Lincoln, UK.

“Towards Open Source Hardware Robotic Woodwind: an Internal Duct Flute Player” (oral) – International Computer Music Conference (ICMC) 2022 [July 2022] – Online.

“With machine learning, data fusion and an understanding of the marine environment to guide fishers to the best catch” (oral) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Summer School 2022 [July 2022] – Norwich, UK.

“Seeing Spectral Signatures” (oral) – Antobot industry visit [January 2023].

“Seeing Spectral Signatures” (oral) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Quarterly PhD Research Progress Meeting [January 2023] – Online.

“Serving a Full English Breakfast” (oral) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Summer School 2023 [March 2023] – Lincoln, UK.

“Simplifying tone curves for image enhancement” (poster) – University of East Anglia Computing Sciences Postgraduate Showcase Day 2023 [May 2023] – Norwich, UK.

“Simplifying Tone Curves for Image Enhancement” (poster) – Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems (TAROS) 2023 / AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference 2023 / Joint Robotics CDT Annual Conference 2023 [September 2023] – Cambridge, UK.

“Seeing Spectral Signatures” (oral) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Quarterly PhD Research Progress Meeting [October 2023] – Norwich, UK.

“Simplifying Tone Curves for Image Enhancement” (oral) – 31st Color and Imaging Conference [November 2023] – Paris, France.

“Even Simpler Tone Curves” (oral) – London Imaging Meeting (LIM) 2024: Image capture, from photons to photos [June 2024] – London, UK.

“Simplifying Tone Curves for Image Enhancement” (oral) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference 2024: Robots in Action [July 2024] – Norwich, UK.

“Simplifying Tone Curves for Image Enhancement” (oral) – UEA School of Computing Sciences Research Seminar Series [February 2025] – Norwich, UK.

“ShepSimulation” (oral) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Summer School 2025: Going to the Dogs! [June 2025] – Lincoln, UK.

“Evaluating Preference for Images Enhanced with Simple Tone Curves” (oral) – UEA School of Computing Sciences Postgraduate Research Day [June 2025] – Norwich, UK.

“Preference of Images Enhanced with Simple Tone Curves” (poster) – London Imaging Meeting 2025 [September 2025] – London, UK.

“Evaluating Preference for Images Enhanced with Simple Tone Curves” (oral) – The 16th Congress of the International Colour Association (AIC) 2025 [October 2025] – Taipei, Taiwan.

“Very Simple Tone Curves” (oral) – The 33rd Color Imaging Conference (CIC) 2025 [October 2025] – Hong Kong.

Other Activities

• Developed a robot outreach session for secondary school children (https://github.com/bennett-j/RoboChallenge) which is now used in the University of East Anglia’s computing outreach programme.
• Member of the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Advisory Board [March 2021 to present].
• Represented the AgriFoRwArdS CDT in the AgriFoRwArdS CDT video [November 2021].
• Discussion Panel member for the AgriFoRwArdS Seminar Series – Discussion topic: Prof Dionysis Bochtis’ talk “The digital transformation of agricultural production – advancements, opportunities, and challenges” [November 2021].
• Co-Chair of the AgriFoRwArdS Seminar Series February 2022 event with Dr Mark Ryan [February 2022].
• Member of the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Student Panel (March 2022 to present].
• Member of the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Drink Outside the Box Student Social Group Organisation Committee [October 2022 to September 2023].
• Represented the AgriFoRwArdS CDT, delivering the University of East Anglia’s school outreach programme at City College Norwich Sixth Form as part of an access to higher education programme [October 2022].
• Discussion Panel member for the AgriFoRwArdS Seminar Series – Discussion topic: Prof Harold Thimbleby’s talk “Poor research — and how to improve it” [November 2022].
• Discussion Panel member at the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Open Day for potential students – Discussion topic: What is it like to be an AgriFoRwArdS student [November 2022].
• Winner of the ‘Best Presentation’ award at the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Summer School 2023 [March 2023].
• Winner of the ‘Best Teamwork’ award at the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Summer School 2023 [March 2023].
• Runner up for the ‘Best Poster’ award in the early stages research category for poster titled ‘Simplifying tone curves for image enhancement’ at the University of East Anglia Computing Sciences Postgraduate Showcase Day [May 2023].
• Ran workshops with Lego Mindstorms robots at the University of East Anglia, Yarmouth College, and Thetford Academy as part of the ‘Brining Scientists to You’ school outreach scheme [June 2023].
• Presentation session Chair at the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Quarterly Progress Meeting [July 2023].
• Represented the AgriFoRwArdS CDT, delivering the University of East Anglia’s school outreach programme at City College Norwich Sixth Form as part of an access to higher education programme [October 2023].
• Represented the AgriFoRwArdS CDT at the University of Lincoln’s stand at REAP 2023 – showcasing research and communicating with the public [November 2023].
• Winner of the ‘Robert W.G. Hunt Best Paper’ award at the 31st Color and Imaging Conference [November 2023].
• Author of AgriFoRwArdS CDT news article ‘CIC Conference 2023‘ [February 2024].
• Discussion Panel member at AgriFoRwArdS ‘Transitioning to your PhD’ Q&A session – Discussion topic: Transitioning to your PhD [February 2024].
• Author of AgriFoRwArdS CDT news article ‘James and Harry encourage the next generation of roboticists‘ [February 2024].
• Member of the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference 2024 Programme Committee [May to July 2024].
• Delivered RoboChallenge workshop for year 7 school children as part of a University of East Anglia Year 7 Uni Boys Campus visit [May 2024].
• Runner up for the Best Presentation Award at the UEA School of Computing Sciences Postgraduate Researcher Day 2025 for presentation tiled “Evaluating Preference for Images Enhanced with Simple Tone Curves” [June 2025].
• Presentation session Chair at the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference 2024 [July 2024].
• Interviewed for Techopedia news article ‘AI in agriculture‘ [July 2024].
• Winner of the ‘Outstanding Contribution from a Student’ award at the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference 2024 – for work put in to the programme committee, arranging a demonstration, and giving a talk, all whilst on a placement [July 2024].
• Exhibited research and represented the Colour and Imaging Lab at the University of East Anglia School of Computing Sciences Innovate Day [November 2024].
• Session Chair at the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference 2025 [May 2025].
• Delivered RoboChallenge workshop as part of the ‘Brining Scientists to You’ school outreach scheme [July 2025].

About me

I am looking forward to being a part of the CDT to bring together my interests in research, engineering, and agriculture. Having experienced hands-on farming, I am excited to develop new innovations for the agricultural industry and make a difference to the future of farming.

Before joining the CDT I studied an MEng in Systems Engineering at the University of Warwick. I especially enjoyed the research and project work, including my final year project to develop an autonomous drone for campus parcel deliveries. I covered elements of robotics, computer vision, and machine learning and am eager to explore these further during the programme. This last year I have worked alongside my uncle on his dairy farm in Dorset and have developed a greater understanding and appreciation of all aspects of a working farm.

I am from Herefordshire, and in my spare time, I enjoy designing and making projects of all scales and complexity, working as a stage technician, and walking in the mountains.

MSc Project

Developing a Line-scanning Hyperspectral Imaging System for Monitoring Plant Status

This project aims to develop a hyperspectral imaging system to monitor the status of potato plants. Hyperspectral imaging has been used to study plants for many years, especially in laboratory settings, and can reveal information about plants that cannot be seen with the eye or conventional imaging technology. A system which can capture and process images of potato plants in natural lighting conditions offers the ability to monitor crops for disease and stresses. In this project, an acquisition system will be built to capture hyperspectral images from a line-scanning camera and a processing pipeline will be developed to calibrate images and extract features. The system will be tested on potatoes grown in pots in a polytunnel that are exposed to salt stress during growing.

PhD Project

Seeing Spectral Signatures

There are many applications in agri-food production where it would be very useful to measure the spectrum of light reflected from a scene rather than measuring a camera RGB. Indeed spectral signatures are useful for identifying plant species, monitoring growth and to determine the presence of disease, among other tasks. Unfortunately, spectral measurement devices are expensive, cumbersome to use, and often unsuitable for deployment in the field. In contrast conventional RGB cameras are cheap and reliable and are easy to use outside the lab.  

The core aim of this project is to develop algorithms for mapping the RGB signal recorded by a conventional camera to corresponding spectral signatures that are useful for solving classification problems including ripe vs non-ripe and the diagnosis of plant diseases. The research will be based on calibration, measurement and inference. That is, we will understand the physical characteristics of our device, the spectra in the world we would like to estimate and then we will develop algorithms for mapping the RGB camera measurements to spectra. Our work will also consider mapping RGB+Near Infra Read camera systems and develop algorithms for predicting spectral signature that extend to the NIR part of the spectrum. The research will be developed in close collaboration Antobot The project will dually focus on the development of robust algorithms and the engineering of practical systems that are deployed in the field.  

James’s PhD project is being carried out in collaboration with Antobot, with primary supervision by Prof Graham Finlayson.