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Dr James Ohene-Djan

James Ohene-Djan is interested in human-centred computing, digital health, adaptive and personalisable technologies, inclusive learning systems, digital entrepreneurship, social video technologies, QR code systems, and the use of computing for public good.

Staff details

Dr James Ohene-Djan

Position

Senior Lecturer and Assistant Pro Warden

School

Computing

Email

Contact James Ohene-Djan

Professor James Ohene-Djan is a Professor in the Department of Computing at Goldsmiths, University of London. His work brings together computer science, entrepreneurship, digital health, inclusive education, accessibility, social technology and public service.
 
Across his academic, professional and civic work, James has focused on one central question: how can computing be used to create technologies that genuinely improve people’s lives? His work has moved between research, teaching, enterprise and public service, with a particular focus on systems that support communication, learning, safety, health, inclusion and social participation.
 
James’s early research focused on adaptive hypermedia, personalisable web systems and advanced learning technologies. This work explored how digital systems could respond to the needs, preferences and contexts of different users. It provided the foundation for a wider body of work in adaptive learning, assistive technology, social video, digital communication and human-centred computing.
 
A major strand of James’s research has been the design of inclusive technologies. His work has addressed technologies for Deaf and hearing-impaired learners, blind and visually impaired users, dyslexic students, and people who need more accessible forms of digital communication. This has included research on British Sign Language learning technologies, emotional subtitles, digital sign writing, accessible drawing systems, screen navigation tools, adaptive learning systems and AI-supported learning.
 
James has also made a substantial contribution to teaching and academic leadership at Goldsmiths. He has taught across business computing, information systems, electronic commerce, database systems, telecommunications, digital venture creation, programming and final-year project work. His teaching encourages students to combine technical knowledge with creativity, enterprise, social awareness and practical implementation.
 
In 2004, James received the Goldsmiths Award for the development of learning and teaching. He has held a range of university leadership roles, including Associate Pro Warden for Widening Access and Student Opportunity, Associate Pro Warden for Student Experience, Academic Director of the Technical Team in the Department of Computing, Senior Tutor, Schools Liaison Officer, Director of Enterprise, and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator. These roles reflect his long-standing commitment to student success, widening participation, inclusion and institutional change.
 
James is also an experienced technology founder whose research has repeatedly moved from academic theory into public-facing digital systems. His ventures include WinkBall, Viewtalk, QR Touch TV and MiCode. These projects demonstrate his ability to turn computing research into large-scale technologies used in education, healthcare, public engagement, mental health, addiction recovery, charity work, community wellbeing and emergency information.
 
A major part of James’s professional and research career has been the development of WinkBall, an early large-scale video-based social media and communication platform. WinkBall grew from James’s doctoral and academic research into adaptive, personalisable and web-based systems, and became one of the most ambitious public-facing applications of his work.
 
WinkBall was designed to allow people to record, upload, send and publish video messages through a simple web-based interface, without specialist hardware or software. At a time when social video was still emerging, WinkBall explored how ordinary people could use video to communicate, tell stories, participate in public life and contribute to a shared digital record of major events.
 
The scale of WinkBall was considerable. The platform developed and trained a worldwide network of more than 500 digital video reporters across the UK, USA, India and South Africa. WinkBall reporters covered more than 8,000 sporting, cultural, political and public events, interviewing more than 4 million people. More than 30 million videos were watched through WinkBall, and at its peak the platform was uploading around 100,000 videos each month.
 
WinkBall worked with major public, commercial and cultural organisations, including Visit Britain, Transport for London, Crossrail, the London Development Agency, London Ambassadors, LOCOG, the Mayor’s Office, the Greater London Authority, Sony Music, Sky Sports, William Hill, Zurich, Jeep, the Daily Telegraph, Shell, Disney, Sky Bet and News International.
WinkBall also delivered major public engagement campaigns. In collaboration with the United Nations and the Hoping Foundation, it supported a video yearbook project connecting schools in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. Through the project, 50,000 schoolchildren recorded video messages expressing their hopes and dreams for the future.
 
During the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, WinkBall’s Faces of the Fans campaign recorded 80,000 videos and provided a unique digital record of the first football World Cup held on the African continent. The project also trained and employed young South Africans as video reporters, supporting skills development and media participation.
 
WinkBall’s Faces for the Forces campaign enabled members of the public to send video messages of support to the UK Armed Forces. The campaign was endorsed by senior public figures and developed in collaboration with the British Legion to support communication between members of the Armed Forces and their loved ones.
 
WinkBall received significant public and media attention, including coverage by BBC Click, Sky News, CNBC, BBC Worldwide, BBC News 24 and British Forces News Television. It was also recognised through award nominations from Marketing Week, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and PR Week. The technologies developed through WinkBall were internationally recognised as novel and led to two internationally published patents.
 
For James, WinkBall remains an important example of how computing research can move beyond the university and become a large-scale public communication technology with social, cultural and commercial impact.
 
Viewtalk developed from James’s work with Deafax and focused on video-based communication for Deaf and hearing-impaired users. It supported sign-language-based interaction, video blogging, educational communication and multimedia learning. The project reflected James’s belief that technology should be designed with the communities it aims to support, rather than simply imposed upon them.
 
QR Touch TV extended James’s research into adaptive communication by connecting physical objects, printed materials and digital video content through QR code systems. This work was applied in projects with organisations including Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, Mind, the London Borough of Brent, Nottinghamshire Mind, the David Lynch Foundation, Inclusion London and addiction recovery services. These projects used QR and video technologies to support medicines information, mental health resources, public health communication, wellbeing, recovery and community engagement.
 
James is the founder of MiCode, a medical emergency QR code technology company. MiCode is a QR code designed to store and manage your medical information and emergency contacts. MiCode can save your life. It allows essential medical and emergency information to be made available quickly when needed, while supporting language translation, PIN-protected information, document storage, emergency contact details and real-time updating.
 
Through MiCode, James is developing practical digital health technologies for individuals, families, carers, emergency services, healthcare professionals, charities and community organisations. His work includes collaboration with Great Ormond Street Hospital on QR code-enabled medicines information for children and families, focusing on multilingual, age-appropriate and accessible communication at the point of dispensing.
 
James’s recent research also focuses on dyslexia, neurodiversity and artificial intelligence in education. He is exploring how AI and adaptive systems can provide personalised support for students with dyslexia, including morphemic approaches to spelling, visual analytics of reading, alternative explanations and inclusive assessment design. This work reflects his wider belief that technology should raise expectations, not lower them, by giving learners better routes into complex academic material.
 
Beyond the university, James is active in public service and charity governance. He serves as a magistrate, contributing to the justice system and to public life. He is a trustee of Steps 2 Recovery, a charity supporting people affected by drug and alcohol dependency, and has contributed to recovery-focused technology and communication projects. He is also involved with Mulberry Schools Trust, supporting educational opportunity, aspiration and routes into higher education for young people.
 
James’s work is united by a practical and social vision of computing. He is interested in technologies that do something useful: technologies that help people learn, communicate, recover, stay safe, access services and live with greater dignity. His academic career, enterprise work and civic roles all reflect a commitment to computing as a discipline that can produce not only knowledge, but also public value.

Areas of supervision

James welcomes research proposals in human-centred computing, adaptive and personalisable systems, inclusive learning technologies, digital health, AI in education, dyslexia and neurodiversity, assistive technologies, QR code systems, digital entrepreneurship and civic technologies for social good.

Publications and research outputs

Book Section

Article

Conference or Workshop Item

Project

Research Interests

James’s research is concerned with the design of digital systems that are adaptive, inclusive and useful in the real world. His work asks how computing can be used to support people who need better access to information, learning, healthcare, communication and public services.
 
His research has developed across four connected areas.
First, he has worked on adaptive and personalisable systems, including hypermedia, web-based interaction and digital learning technologies. This research examines how systems can respond to users’ needs, preferences and contexts.
 
Second, he has worked on inclusive and assistive technologies, including systems for Deaf and hearing-impaired learners, blind and visually impaired users, and students with dyslexia. This work includes British Sign Language learning technologies, emotional subtitles, accessible drawing systems and AI-supported approaches to spelling, reading and learning.
Third, he has worked on digital health and QR code technologies, particularly through MiCode and his collaboration with Great Ormond Street Hospital. This research explores how simple digital tools can make medical and emergency information clearer, safer and more accessible.
 
Fourth, he has worked on digital entrepreneurship and social technology, including large-scale video communication platforms, public engagement technologies, recovery-focused systems, mental health resources and civic technologies for community benefit.

Current research

James is currently researching personalised and adaptive technologies for inclusive education, digital health and social good.
 
His current work includes AI-supported learning for students with dyslexia and other neurodiverse learners. This includes morphemic approaches to spelling, visual analytics of dyslexic reading, adaptive assessment design and the development of learning technologies that help students access complex academic material more confidently.
 
He is also researching QR code-enabled digital health communication through MiCode and related projects. This includes work on multilingual, age-appropriate medicines information for children and families, developed in collaboration with Great Ormond Street Hospital. The project examines how QR code platforms can support clearer and more accessible communication at the point of dispensing.
 
A wider aim of this work is to connect physical and digital information in ways that are simple, low-cost and immediately useful. Cards, bracelets, labels, stickers, medicine packaging and printed materials can all become gateways to personalised, multilingual and contextually relevant digital information.

Grants and funded projects

CPHC Special Projects Grant
Project title: Empowering Neurodiverse Learners in Computer Science: A Personalised AI Framework for Dyslexic Students
Awardee: Professor James Ohene-Djan, Goldsmiths, University of London
Date of award: 4 December 2025
Amount awarded: £4,680
Role: Principal applicant
This project investigates how personalised AI can support dyslexic students studying computer science. It explores how AI-driven tools can provide adaptive explanations, alternative learning formats, spelling support and more accessible approaches to computing education while maintaining academic rigour.
Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity Lift Off Grant: Patient Focussed Research
Project title: Digital Medicines Information
Reference: Lift_Off_PB_015 / VS2521
Amount requested: £72,267.10
Amount awarded: £72,268.00
Dates: 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025
Lead applicant: Stephen Tomlin, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
Co-applicants: Sara Garfield, UCL School of Pharmacy; Professor James Ohene-Djan, Goldsmiths, University of London
Role: Co-applicant – Digital / Computing expertise
This project focuses on the development and feasibility evaluation of a QR-code platform for multilingual, age-appropriate paediatric medicines information at the point of dispensing. It brings together digital health, medicines information, human-centred design, accessibility and paediatric patient communication.

Professional and civic roles

James’s work extends beyond the university into public service, charity governance and community engagement.
He serves as a magistrate, contributing to the justice system and to public life. He is a trustee of Steps 2 Recovery, a charity supporting people affected by drug and alcohol dependency, and has contributed to recovery-focused technology and communication projects. He is also involved with Mulberry Schools Trust, supporting educational opportunity, aspiration and routes into higher education for young people.
These roles are closely connected to his academic work. They reflect a commitment to public service, social justice and the practical use of knowledge to support people, families and communities.