Sandra Fernando

Dr. Sandra Fernando is an Associate Professor at the School of Computing and Digital Media at London Metropolitan University, leading the Assistive Technology Research Group. She holds a PhD in Computer Science and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. With over 20 years of academic and industry experience, she specializes in assistive technologies for disabled individuals, particularly blind and visually impaired users. She has pioneered computer-aided drawing tools for blind learners and contributed to national research initiatives through her leadership in the Empowering London Research Centre.

Her academic leadership roles include managing international partnerships, leading the Data Science BSc program, and serving as the university's KTP Champion and ECR Lead. She has secured grants from the MACS charity and other organizations, producing research recognized as internationally excellent in the REF 2021 submission. Her work spans interdisciplinary collaborations with councils like Islington and Haringey, focusing on disability employment barriers and public health trends.

Research Interests: Dr. Fernando's work focuses on assistive technologies, big data analytics, and AI-driven solutions for accessibility. She explores innovative interfaces for disabled users, including haptic feedback systems and smart glove-based sign language translation. Her recent projects analyze healthcare data (e.g., vitamin D prescriptions) and employ machine learning for age recognition and breast cancer detection.

Awards & Grants: Her contributions include MACS-funded research, internal grants for NHS data intelligence, and a Springer publication on cloud-based prescription analysis. She serves as an Associate Editor for Assistive Technology and reviews for journals like Computational Intelligence.

Teaching & Mentorship: She teaches Data and Web Development modules and mentors students through her role as a Vocational Subject Specialist. She actively supervises PhD candidates and champions inclusive education policies at the university level.

Outreach: As part of the 'Giving back to the city' initiative, she collaborates with London boroughs to address disability-related employment gaps and healthcare disparities. Her research not only advances technical solutions but also informs urban policy decisions.