[Infovis] Funded PhD Studentship - City Sensing and Data Services

[Dykes, Jason]

City Sensing and Data Services - EPSRC PhD studentship, Dundee, Scotland
  http://www.dundee.ac.uk/djcad/programmes/postgraduate/phdmphil/studentships/#CitySensing

Applications are invited for a fully funded EPSRC PhD studentship in Interaction Design/Human–Computer Interaction within Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at the University of Dundee.

The successful applicant will join a growing interdisciplinary research group with backgrounds in Design, HCI, Computing, Service Design and Art, with a strong international research track record, and will have the opportunity to undertake collaborative research with FutureEverything (futureeverything.org).

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Cities are becoming more intelligent with the proliferation of data services and sensor networks. The University of Dundee and FutureEverything are part of an initiative to develop and evaluate a city sensing and data ecosystem in a UK city. This places emphasis on the central place of citizens and local innovation, and of decentralised, open urban infrastructures, in the design and development of future cities.

This PhD project will explore city sensing and data services, through participation in the design, implementation and evaluation of novel services, systems and interfaces. The research will be outward facing and engage citizens, city officials, SMEs and large companies. 

The research project will encompass a number of potential research themes such as:
•	Services, systems and interfaces which alter the relationship between the city and its citizens.
•	Enabling citizens and city officials to visualise and tell stories using data. 
•	Supporting the development of innovative applications using data, by businesses, artists and designers.
•	Analysis and visualisation of various data to enable decision making by city officials and citizens.
•	Engagement mechanisms such as art and gamification, festivals, bottom up defining of challenges. 
•	Service Localisation and Local Ownership of Data.

There will be opportunities for the doctoral researcher to select and develop use cases, communities and challenges.
The research will involve some requirement of travel for field trials in Manchester and other cities and publication of work arising from that.

CRITERIA AND ELIGIBILITY
Applicants should have a first class degree or good 2:1 and/or a masters or equivalent experience in Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, Product Design or Service Design. They shall have expertise in fieldwork techniques and evaluation methods from Design and/or HCI to inform the design of novel interfaces. The ability to develop functional digital prototypes is essential.

The award is open to eligible UK/EU nationals and will cover fees and a stipend of approximately £13,863 per annum for 42 months.
Full information on eligibility criteria for this scholarship can be found on the RCUK web site:
  http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/RCUK-prod/assets/documents/documents/TermsConditionsTrainingGrants.pdf

Following interview the successful applicant will also need to apply and meet the University of Dundee’s entry requirements for PhD study. 

APPLICATION AND FURTHER DETAILS
Application deadline 12th September 2014. PhD expected to commence from November 2014.

Applicants should submit a CV and a two-page statement describing their interest in pursuing a PhD and their experience as it relates to the topic to: 
Fiona Fyffe, Postgraduate Administrator, DJCAD. f.j.fyffe at dundee.ac.uk.

Informal enquiries to Dr Drew Hemment d.hemment at dundee.ac.uk.

Further details and information are available on the University of Dundee website:
  http://uod.ac.uk/djcad-studentships.