<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b> </b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt">Applications are invited for a 3-year funded PhD studentship supported by the School of Engineering and Applied Science (</span><a href="https://www2.aston.ac.uk/study/courses/phd-eas" style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(68,114,196)"><u><span style="color:rgb(47,84,150)">https://www2.aston.ac.uk/study/courses/phd-eas</span></u></a><span style="font-size:11pt">) under the supervision of Dr Ulysses Bernardet (</span><a href="https://research.aston.ac.uk/en/persons/ulysses-bernardet" style="font-size:11pt;color:rgb(68,114,196)"><u><span style="color:rgb(47,84,150)">https://research.aston.ac.uk/en/persons/ulysses-bernardet</span></u></a><span style="font-size:11pt">).</span><br></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The successful applicant will join a dynamic group working on interactive virtual human systems and bio-inspired HCI at the Cybernetic Human Lab (<a href="cs.aston.ac.uk/chl" style="color:rgb(68,114,196)"><u><span style="color:rgb(47,84,150)">cs.aston.ac.uk/chl</span></u></a>).</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Aston University Birmingham, UK</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">School of Engineering and Applied Science</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Computer Science</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Start July or October 2020</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b>Project details</b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Virtual Reality-based training has become an integral part of education, e.g. in the form of flight simulators and rehearsal of safety operations procedures. VR-based training systems that focus on social awareness and skills are still relatively new. Consequently, they are not well investigated in terms of their training efficiency, which in turn means that tailoring the training simulation to individual trainees to achieve maximum learning effect is difficult. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The objectives of the project are to analyse existing training data to identify markers of training success and to develop a learning management system in the form of an AI-based adjustment of difficulty levels. The difficulty level will be adjusted via the overall situational complexity as well as the complexity of the social agents the trainee is interacting with. The latter aspect is of particular interest and directly grounded in the supervisor's work on Artificial Social Agents. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This PhD project is a collaboration with a regional company that has developed software for the training of first response staff.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b>Knowledge and skills required in applicant </b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Background in VR programming and/or background in HCI/psychology. We are aware that the combination of both skills is unusual, so a strong background in either and a strong interest in the other will be sufficient for an application to be considered.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span style="color:rgb(38,40,42)">How to apply</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Details about the application process can be found here: <a href="https://www2.aston.ac.uk/eas/research/prospective-research-students/how-to-apply" style="color:rgb(68,114,196)"><u><span style="color:rgb(47,84,150)">https://www2.aston.ac.uk/eas/research/prospective-research-students/how-to-apply</span></u></a><u><span style="color:rgb(47,84,150)"></span></u></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b>Contact information</b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">For informal enquiries about this project, contact Ulysses Bernardet by email at <a href="mailto:u.bernardet@aston.ac.uk" style="color:rgb(68,114,196)"><u><span style="color:rgb(47,84,150)">u.bernardet@aston.ac.uk</span></u></a><span style="color:rgb(47,84,150)">.</span></p></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><font face="verdana, sans-serif">Dr Ulysses Bernardet</font></div><div dir="ltr"><font face="verdana, sans-serif">Lecturer in Computer Science</font></div><div dir="ltr"><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div dir="ltr"><font face="verdana, sans-serif">cybernetic human lab</font></div><div dir="ltr"><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><a href="http://cs.aston.ac.uk/chl" target="_blank">cs.aston.ac.uk/chl</a></font></div><div dir="ltr"><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div dir="ltr"><font face="verdana, sans-serif">School of Engineering & Applied Science</font></div><div dir="ltr"><font face="verdana, sans-serif">Aston University, Birmingham, UK</font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>