[This post contains calls for applications for two related positions at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences from our colleague Ilona Heldal; information that applies to both positions follows the separate calls. –Matthew]
Call for Applications:
PhD Research Fellow in Human-Computer Interaction with focus on Serious Games
Department of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Mathematical Science
Western Norway University of Applied Sciences
Bergen, Norway
https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/231163/phd-research-fellow-in-human-computer-interaction-with-focus-on-serious-games
Application deadline: September 21, 2022
Department of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, has a vacancy for a PhD position in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) with a focus on Serious Games for a period of 3 years.
The PhD research fellow will be part of the PhD programme in Computer Science: Software Engineering, Sensor Networks and Engineering Computing (https://ict.hvl.no). The research programme in Computer Science currently includes 20 professors and associate professors, more than 30 PhD and post-doctoral fellows, and more than 80 master’s students.
The place of employment is Campus Bergen. The period of the fellowship is three years.
ABOUT THE PHD PROJECT:
This PhD fellowship is financed by HVL, but associated within the EMPOWER project, which is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and innovation program under grant agreement No 101060918.
By using gamification and elements from serious games, new technologies promise better support for education and training. The EMPOWER project focuses on developing and investigating such technologies by considering children’s capabilities, the educational settings, and involving teachers. The vision is to produce evidence about the usefulness of these technologies and provide methods to implement them in education. A specific focus is on the education of children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), who can experience difficulties with language and speech, motor skills, behavior, memory, learning, or other neurological functions, including vision deficits. The project involves a large number of researchers from various universities and expertise and utilizes advancements from psychology, cognition science, vision science, education, human-computer interaction, software engineering, AI, serious games, visualization, etc., to develop improved software applications. These applications will be included in a supportive platform for NDD children and help their learning and training. The EMPOWER project will develop a proof-of-concept product, test it in operational settings, and examine possibilities for implementation. This will open new paths for research in developing evidence-based technologies for education.
The candidate needs to understand data and information from current evaluations from psychology and education regarding children’s health. These results have to be considered to create supportive applications and define suitable methods by utilizing gamification, Serious Games, and Eye-Tracking technologies. These applications and methods can contribute to improved data and information collection and aim to produce better indicators for identifying and supporting deficiencies related to NDD. The candidate for this position must hold at least three of the following background knowledge and have a good and relevant publications track:
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Serious Games
- Visualization and XR (Virtual, Augmented, or Mixed Reality), Eye-tracking technologies
- Deployment of (existing) AI models
- Software development and/or deployment.
The candidate is also expected to be able to integrate new solutions and further develop or consider existing applications in a platform. Documented experiences in software development, evaluations, and deployment are appreciated. The candidate will collaborate with several universities to further develop and demonstrate the usefulness of the platform.
QUALIFICATIONS:
The PhD research fellow must hold a master’s degree in computer science or in a closely related field. Candidates who have submitted a master’s thesis (but who has not yet been awarded a master’s degree) may also qualify for the position provided that the master’s degree is awarded within 4 weeks after the application deadline. A solid background in Software Engineering, Human-Computer Interaction, information and/or sensor data fusion and analyzes will be considered an advantage when candidates are ranked. Candidates already holding a PhD within this field are not eligible for this position. Applicants must have excellent skills in oral and written English.
Personal and relational qualities will be emphasized. Research experience, ambitions and potential will also count when evaluating the candidates.
In addition to the required educational and scientific background, the following criteria will be evaluated: competence and grades on completed course work, quality of the master’s thesis (excellent grade, equivalent of grade B or better on the ECTS grading system), publications (if any), research and teaching experience, practical software engineering skills and experience. A possible outline of a research plan for a potential PhD project will also be taken into account.
The candidate must be diligent and display the ability to work independently, collaboratively, supplemented with regular guidance, and is expected to carry out high-quality research and to publish the results in international workshops, conferences, and journals.
The PhD research fellow must enroll in the PhD programme in Computer Science: Software Engineering, Sensor Networks and Engineering Computing at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, and must meet the formal admission requirements for admission into the PhD programme.
The PhD candidate will be assigned two academic supervisor(s) at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. An application for enrolment should first be submitted after an appointment is made and the supervisor(s) will help with this procedure. The candidate must be enrolled as a PhD student within 3 months from the start of the employment.
CONTACTS:
- Professor Ilona Heldal, Phone: +47 55 58 75 24, email: Ilona.Heldal@hvl.no
- Professor Jerry Chun-Wei Lin, phone: +47 55 58 70 43, e-mail: jerrylin@ieee.org, chun-wei.lin@hvl.no
- Professor Håvard Helstrup, Coordinator of Ph.D. Programme on Computer Science, phone: (+47) 55 58 75 61, e-mail: Havard.Helstrup@hvl.no
APPLICATION PROCEDURES AND MORE DETAILS:
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Call for Applications:
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Evaluating Serious Games Supporting Children with Special Needs
Department of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Mathematical Science
Western Norway University of Applied Sciences
Bergen, Norway
https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/231160/postdoctoral-research-fellow
Application deadline: September 20, 2022
The Department of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, has a vacancy position for a research fellow (Postdoctoral Research Fellow) in Human-Computer Interaction, Serious Games for a period of 1 year for a full-time position or 2 years for part-time (50%).
The Postdoctoral research fellow will be part of the PhD programme in Computer Science: Software Engineering, Sensor Networks and Engineering Computing (https://ict.hvl.no). The research programme in Computer Science currently includes 20 professors and associate professors, more than 30 PhD and post-doctoral fellows, and more than 80 master’s students.
The place of employment is Campus Bergen.
MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
This Postdoctoral fellowship is within the research within the EMPOWER project, which is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and innovation program under grant agreement No 101060918.
By using gamification and elements from serious games, new technologies promise better support for education and training. The EMPOWER project focuses on developing and investigating such technologies by considering children’s capabilities, the educational settings, and involving teachers. The vision is to produce evidence about the usefulness of these technologies and provide methods to implement them in education. A specific focus is on the education of children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), who can experience difficulties with language and speech, motor skills, behavior, memory, learning, or other neurological functions, including vision deficits. The project involves a large number of researchers from various universities and expertise and utilizes advancements from psychology, cognition science, vision science, education, human-computer interaction, software engineering, AI, serious games, visualization, etc., to develop improved software applications. These applications will be included in a supportive platform for NDD children and help their learning and training. The EMPOWER project will develop a proof-of-concept product, test it in operational settings, and examine possibilities for implementation. This will open new paths for research in developing evidence-based technologies for education.
This Postdoctoral project will investigate how digital assessment-intervention games can be evaluated and adjusted to consider health (NDD) and educational and contextual requirements for successful implementation. This project will focus on defining evaluation methods for new solutions in education, evaluating user experiences and performing usability tests, and exploring the role of eye-tracking technologies, gamification, and serious games. Eye-tracking technologies provide supplementary indications of basic eye movements, e.g., regarding the focus of attention and measurements for specific capabilities and experiences. An emphasis is on analyzing the users’ eye behavior during activities with computer-generated interfaces by utilizing eye-trackers to understand their capabilities and provide access to relevant information and recommendations based on this data.
The candidate for this position must hold a PhD degree in information system, computer science, or other relevant fields and have a good and relevant track of publications. Background in developing evaluation studies is appreciated. It is also beneficial to have experiences with technologies such as eye-tracking, virtual-, augmented-, or mixed reality technologies. The candidate needs to understand how to work with data and information from current evaluations considering results from psychology, and education regarding children’s health. These results of this Postdoctoral project will produce evidence of how serious games application indicators support deficiencies related to NDD. The candidate for this position should have the following background:
- Tests and evaluation of software programs
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Technology implementation and acceptance
- Visualization utilizing extended realities (Virtual, Augmented, or Mixed Reality)
- Eye-tracking technologies
- AI techniques and deployment methods
The candidate is also expected to be able to develop tests for integrating new applications and technologies into an existing platform. The candidate will collaborate with several universities to further develop and demonstrate the usefulness of the platform.
QUALIFICATIONS:
The Postdoc research fellow must hold a PhD degree in information systems, computer science or in a closely related field. Background in performing evaluation studies is required. Background in Software Engineering, Human-Computer Interaction, Serious Games, information and/or sensor data fusion, and technology deployment will be considered an advantage when candidates are ranked. Experience with serious game design and development and deploying AI techniques are an advantage. Applicants must have excellent skills in oral and written English.
The candidate’s personal skills will be emphasized, e.g., being motivated and responsible, being able to work interactively and in team settings, and having a strong commitment and enthusiasm for research. It is expected to carry out high-quality research and publish the results in international workshops, conferences, and journals.
CONTACTS:
- Professor, Iilona Heldal, 55 58 75 24, email: Ilona.Heldal@hvl.no
- Professor, Jerry Chun-Wei Lin, 55 58 70 43, email: chun-wei.lin@hvl.no
APPLICATION PROCEDURES AND MORE DETAILS:
https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/231160/postdoctoral-research-fellow
About Western Norway University of Applied Sciences
With about 16,000 students, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences is one of the largest higher education institutions in Norway. A broad range of academic programmes are offered at Bachelor, Master and PhD levels, spread out on five campuses Førde, Sogndal, Bergen, Stord og Haugesund.
Our ambition is to build stronger and more solid academic and research environments that will interact nationally and internationally. The aim is to become a recognized actor on the international higher education arena. Increased international cooperation and engagement in externally funded projects will work towards this goal.
The Faculty of Engineering and Science has approximately 300 employees and approximately 3,200 students. The faculty has a broad educational offer at both bachelor’s and master’s level in engineering and science, as well as PhD education in computer technology. The Mohns Center for Innovation and Regional Development researches innovation and offers master’s education in innovation and entrepreneurship. The diving education offers a one-year vocational school education.
The main part of the faculty’s activities are in Haugesund, Bergen, Sogndal and Førde, but we also offer decentralized education in Stord.
The faculty’s activities are internationally based and take place in close collaboration with regional companies, clusters, health trusts and the public sector, including other institutions in the university and college sector. This applies to research, development, innovation and not least education with student projects at all levels.
RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT
The computer science research environment at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences has a strong focus on use-inspired and applied research, and on ICT as an enabling technology. The research environment has cooperation with many national and international research groups, and with national and regional industry partners. The research programme includes the research themes of software engineering, engineering computing, sensor networks and measurement technologies, grid computing and physics data analysis, machine learning, and interactive and collaborative systems.
The prospective PhD candidate will work in close cooperation with our current PhD students in the intersection of collaborative systems, human-computer interaction, AI, wearable eye-tracking devices, and data analytics.
The prospective Postdoc candidate will work in close cooperation with our current PhD students in the intersection of collaborative systems, human-computer interaction, AI, wearable eye-tracking devices, and big data fusion.