Research Fellow in Computer Science, Interactive Software

Agents, Interactions & Complexity

Location:  Highfield Campus
Salary:   £32,348 to £39,745 per annum
Full Time Fixed Term for 3 years
Closing Date:  Saturday 22 October 2022
Interview Date:   To be confirmed
Reference:  1937822FP-1R

PhD in Computer Science with skills in Software Applications, experience/interest in Human Computer Interaction, mixed reality, especially but not exclusively for health.

We are looking for creative people with experience in software to help us develop novel interactive technologies to help #makeNormalBetter for all – at scale.

Core projects and research questions you’d be engaged on include:

• INCIDENTAL INTERACTION (priority project). We are looking at how do design and deploy tangible devices that can transform everyday objects and interactions to support wellbeing. Research questions include: How design interactions to help use daily strength moves, like standing, reaching, grabbing, pulling to build the strength needed to make life easier and have independence sustained longer; where the person can be guided, have feedback, and share experiences with others – without that interaction getting in a person’s way. These questions underpin this EPSRC project. How would you approach these questions?
• THRIVALIST INTERACTION – how put a personal health skill lab in one’s pocket? How support testing knowledge. How make qualitative tracking as effortless as possible for effective reflection? What is the interaction to help someone connect how they FEEL with what they are DOING? How develop such an app that lets people build the skills so they can abandon the app? These questions are based in our Inbodied Interaction approach, & on our Experiment in a Box methodology and our Experiment in a Box app. What are your ideas? How would you test them?
• VIRTUAL PRESENCE – Synthesising co-presence – COVID let us know the power of online meetings, but also their limitations. What makes in-person interaction more intimate and challenging than online meetings? What signals and qualities in human-to-human interaction might we synthesise to create better quality interaction when remote? And especially, what does the awareness of and interaction with these signals look like? Where would you begin?
• NON-VISUAL AUGMENTED & MIXED REALITY – Movement and memory go together. How can we leverage and augment movement over and through our environment to build new skills – from second language acquisition, to social interaction. How use computational augmentation like mixed reality – and in other modes than vision – to help us build knowledge, skills and practice to learn how to thrive without reliance on that technology? What would your software do?

KEY SKILLS for this POST.

• Experience with software development to prototype and test research ideas using for example Javascript and React for iOS and Android.
• Having knowledge of mixed-methods research and experience running user studies. A background including human computer interaction is a plus.
• Having the statistical skills to design appropriate data analysis from these studies.
• Comfort in integrating your software with sensors or other electrical kit also welcome
• Evidence from past projects and peer reviewed research in particular will be expected.

MISSION While the research challenges above have multiple generalisable applications, in the WellthLab, our focus is on “wellth” – as supporting health and wellbeing for all, particularly in a work context – indeed we are keen to explore how our technologies can support for a truly healthful future of work from individual, to group to infrastructure. The WellthLab is interdisciplinary – our members are mainly situated in the Electronics and Computer Science School of the University of Southampton. We also collaborate with academics in Physiology, Psychology, Humanities, Arts and Sociology.

We are looking for people who are excellent researchers, motivated to collaborate with these teams, and who are keen to build their research leadership skills, to develop innovative, strong research contributions, and to become a field leader in these approaches to help #makeNormalBetter for all, at scale.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR LAB MEMBERS: researchers in our group have opportunities for rich collaborations and international networking. There are always opportunities for international travel and collaborations, including presenting work at conferences, developing workshops, invited talks and related. Our goal is to ensure our research fellows have all the support and opportunities they need to develop skills and build their careers.

If you have the drive to do the challenging work to succeed at an international level, you’ll be in great company. While you help us #makeNormalBetter for all at scale, we are committed to help you build your career. Where would you begin? You can find background information on our research and theory on the WellthLab website. If you have any questions, please contact prof m.c. schraefel directly at hrit-rf@nopain2.org

Application Procedure 

You should submit your completed online application form at https://jobs.soton.ac.uk . The application deadline will be midnight on the closing date stated above. If you need any assistance, please call Lauren Ward (Recruitment Team) on +44 (0) 23 8059 2750 or email recruitment@soton.ac.uk . Please quote reference 1937822FP-1R on all correspondence.