Experts at Bradford University could help shape the future training of surgeons and pilots with ground-breaking research.

Dr Marina Bloj, lecturer in the University's Department of Optometry, has won a £120,000 grant from the Government's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to fund a two-year project.

By probing the limits of our perception of colour, the scientist hopes to discover information which will reshape images used in virtual reality training tools such as flight simulators, and remote diagnosis tools in the medical profession.

"Colour constancy is humans' ability to recognise and match colour despite the different effects of light," said Dr Bloj. "An example of this ability would be a wall which is painted the same colour. The light from a window will display different shades but we can still identify the colour of the wall as being the same all along its surface. It has been impossible to replicate this in a machine."

Teams of volunteers will be shown objects and colours from the real world and computer-generated simulations.

Dr Blojn and the university's Dr Alexa Ruppertsberg will compare the results to help computer manufacturers make more effective training programmes.

"I will be able to advise manufacturers of computer programmes and flight simulators how much detail they need to simulate colour, and the way colour can change the behaviour of the person in the simulator," said Dr Bloj.