Accessible by Design: Integrating accessibility in Extended Reality (XR) applications and services.

We are recruiting new Doctoral Researchers to our EPSRC funded Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) PhD studentships starting 1 October 2023. Applications are invited for the project Accessible by Design: Integrating accessibility in Extended Reality (XR) applications and services.

Successful applicants will receive an annual stipend (bursary) of approximately £19,668, including inner London weighting, plus payment of their full-time home tuition fees for a period of 42 months (3.5 years).

You should be eligible for home (UK) tuition fees there are a very limited number (no more than three) of studentships available to overseas applicants, including EU nationals, who meet the academic entry criteria including English Language proficiency.

You will join the internationally recognised researchers in the Department of Computer Science

The Project

This exciting research project is focused on Extended Reality (XR), which is a mix of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality, is expected to generate up to 2.4 million new jobs and up to €65 billion in Europe by 2025. However, unlike other types of media, XR lacks established guidelines for making content accessible to all users. This research will investigate novel approaches to making XR applications accessible by design by looking into how XR environments can support users by personalised responses or real-time simulation of impairments.

Please contact Dr Fotios Spyridonis at fotios.spyridonis@brunel.ac.uk for an informal discussion about the studentships.

Eligibility

Applicants will have or be expected to receive a first or upper-second class honours degree in an Engineering, Computer Science, Design, Mathematics, Physics or a similar discipline. A Postgraduate Masters degree is not required but may be an advantage.

Skills and Experience

Applicants will be required to demonstrate their experience in in the use of relevant software packages (Unity or similar) is essential. A track record of developing games and/or VR solutions will be an advantage.

You should be highly motivated, able to work independently as well as in a team, collaborate with others and have good communication skills.

How to apply

There are two stages of the application:

1.Applicants must submit the pre-application form via the following link https://brunel.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/epsrc-dtp-23-24-pre-application-form-brunel-university-lon-3 by 16.00 on Friday 26th May 2023.

2.If you are shortlisted for the interview, you will be asked to email the following documentation in a single PDF file to cedps-studentships@brunel.ac.uk within 24hrs.

• Your up-to-date CV;
• Your Undergraduate degree certificate(s) and transcript(s) essential;
• Your Postgraduate Masters degree certificate(s) and transcript(s) if applicable;
• Your valid English Language qualification of IELTS 6.5 overall (minimum 6.0 in each section) or equivalent, if applicable;
• Contact details for TWO referees, one of which can be an academic member of staff in the College.

Applicants should therefor ensure that they have all of this information in case they are shortlisted.

Interviews will take place in June 2023.