[Air-L] 2 PhD openings: Design of Hybrid Virtual Museum Experiences, IT University of Copenhagen

[Anders Sundnes Løvlie]

2 PhD positions in hybrid virtual museum design

The IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark, invites candidates to apply for 2 PhD positions starting in 31 December 2016 or soon thereafter:
https://candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationInit.aspx?cid=119&ProjectId=180790&MediaId=5#sthash.5dGqp8Ta.dpuf

The positions will form part of a project funded by a grant from the EU's Horizon 2020 program, entitled "Meaningful Personalization of Hybrid Virtual Museum Experiences Through Gifting and Appropriation (The GIFT project)". The GIFT project aims to develop a framework with tools, theory and best practice guidelines to guide the development of mobile apps for museums that facilitate personalized experiences of both digital and physical museum exhibitions, along with two prototypes of such applications.

The project includes 5 European research partners beside ITU: Blast Theory (UK), NextGame (RS), University of Nottingham (UK), University of Uppsala (SE) and Europeana Foundation (NL). In addition, the project will work with representatives from 10 museums in 8 European countries: Denmark, Sweden, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy and Serbia.

For more information, see blogit.itu.dk/gift/<http://blogit.itu.dk/gift/>.

Candidates for the positions will be expected to contribute to both the project's outcome and research goals.
The project's outcome goals include:

  *   Formulating a set of best practice guidelines for meaningful personalisation of hybrid virtual museum experiences, based on an action research process with a panel of museum partners;
  *   Contribute to the design of prototypes for hybrid virtual museum experiences;
  *   Study, validate and evaluate prototypes developed by project partners.


In addition, the project has the following research goals:

  *   Develop innovative approaches to the design of playful experiences with art and cultural heritage;
  *   Formulate new perspectives on pervasive games and other playful experiences that incorporate both physical and virtual presence;
  *   Propose new approaches for facilitating personalized experiences with cultural heritage which aim to bridge or problematize the distances between audiences and heritage, e.g. cultural, historical, ideological, aesthetic, or other.


Position number 1: Research through design
This PhD candidate will be tasked with conducting a practical research through design project, aimed at designing games for hybrid virtual museum experiences that allow players to playfully appropriate the museums' physical and digital space. The candidate's design work should support the development of a game prototype developed by the company NextGame, one of the partners in GIFT. The candidate will also contribute to study and validate prototypes developed by NextGame. The PhD project should result in a dissertation incorporating and documenting the design and evaluation work, making a contribution to research in one of the following fields: Media Studies, Design, Digital Arts, Game Studies or other IT-related field.

Qualification Requirements:

  *   Candidates should have an MSc (or equivalent) in a field such as design, media and communication, computer games, computer science, or other cognate area.
  *   Candidates should have a high level of oral and written proficiency in English.
  *   Candidates who can document practical experience with design in the field will be prioritized.


Position number 2: Action research
This PhD candidate will be tasked with conducting an action research project involving the GIFT project's museum partners. The candidate should contribute to the process of conducting user experience evaluation of the prototypes developed by GIFT partners, based on their implementation and use in museum contexts. The candidate will be expected to be able to make substantial contributions to the best practice framework developed by GIFT. The PhD project should result in a dissertation documenting the process and discussing the results as a contribution to research in one of the following fields: Media Studies, Design, Digital Arts, Game Studies or other IT-related field.

Qualification requirements:

  *   Candidates should have an MSc (or equivalent) in a field such as design, media and communication, fine arts, computer science, or other relevant area.
  *   Candidates should have a high level of oral and written proficiency in English.
  *   Candidates who can document practical experience with action research and/or relevant design experience will be prioritized.


Application
The application must be in English and must include:

  *   A cover letter;
  *   A statement of purpose, which includes a project description for the PhD project, providing evidence of independent thinking, novelty and originality, and a state of the art grasp of the targeted research field matching the project description above. This text should be maximum 5 standard pages long (ca. 2400 characters per page, including spaces and notes);
  *   Documentation of academic degree(s); grade transcripts that documents outstanding academic achievement;
  *   Curriculum Vitae, which must include two professional/academic references;
  *   Applications may also include one relevant scientific publication written by the applicant, and/or a portfolio of design work, and/or the applicant's master thesis. Letters of recommendation can also be included in the application


It is understood that qualified applicants will satisfy these requirements to varying degrees, for example because of differences in publication cultures in various research fields.

Early contact with our faculty staff is strongly encouraged.

General information
The IT University of Copenhagen (ITU) is a teaching and research-based tertiary institution concerned with information technology (IT) and the opportunities it offers. The IT University has more than 70 full-time Faculty members. Research and teaching in information technology span all academic activities which involve computers including computer science, information and media sciences, humanities and social sciences, business impact and the commercialisation of IT.

Successful applicants will be employed and enrolled at the ITU University for a period of 3 years.

Salary
Appointment and salary will be in accordance with the Ministry of Finance’s agreement with the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC).

Application procedure
You can only apply for this position through our e-recruitment system. Apply by pushing the button "Apply for position" in the job announcement on our website: www.itu.dk/About-ITU/Vacancies<http://www.itu.dk/About-ITU/Vacancies>

Please read the guidelines for applicants carefully before filling in the application form. You can see the guidelines through this link: www.itu.en/Guidelines<http://www.itu.en/Guidelines>

Applications must be written in English. All other documents, such as transcripts must be accompanied by a translation in English or Danish.

Questions about the positions can be directed to Anders Sundnes Løvlie, e-mail: asun at itu.dk<mailto:asun at itu.dk>, or Miguel Angel Sicart, e-mail: miguel at itu.dk<mailto:miguel at itu.dk>. Questions related to the application procedure may be directed to the Personnel Section, Kristina Køj-Udsen, kuds at itu.dk<mailto:kuds at itu.dk>.

The applicant will be assessed according to the Appointment Order from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of 25 April 2008.

Application deadline: September 20, 2016 at 23:59 CET.

Applications/enclosures received at ITU after the application deadline will not be taken into consideration. If you submit an application, it is your responsibility to ensure that it arrives before the deadline so please allow sufficient time for upload of publications and other documents.

The IT University invites all qualified researchers regardless of age, gender, religious affiliation or ethnic background to apply for the positions.

Job announcement: https://candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationInit.aspx?cid=119&ProjectId=180790&MediaId=5#sthash.5dGqp8Ta.dpuf


Kind regards,
Anders Sundnes Løvlie
Assistant professor,
IT University of Copenhagen
asun at itu.dk<mailto:asun at itu.dk>
+45 40966768