Senior Research Associate in Immersive Futures Centre for Sociodigital Futures

The role

This is an exciting opportunity for a Senior Research Associate (SRA) to join the ESRC Centre for Sociodigital Futures www.bristol.ac.uk/censof. The Centre is a £10m investment in cutting-edge interdisciplinary research across Social Sciences, Engineering and the Arts. We are seeking four technical experts to join us in addressing critical questions about futures that are currently ‘in the making’ across a range of application areas and how these might be tipped towards fair and sustainable ways of life. 

The role of this Senior Research Associate will be to explore the future of Immersive Technologies through a series of experimental and future-scoping projects to understand how Immersive Technologies could impact our future within some of our application areas. The Senior Research Associate will be developing these projects collaboratively within an integrated and interdisciplinary research team.  

What will you be doing?

• Playing a leading role (with support) in the design, development and implementation of the Immersive experimental projects;   
• Collaborating with researchers from across the Centre to design, co-ordinate and deliver research and other relevant activities;
• Collaborating with the Centre’s strategic partners to develop a programme of research that explores some of their concerns and challenges; 
• Playing a leading role (with support) in the preparation of publications, other outputs (including blogs, social media, etc.), and wider impact and engagement. 

You should apply if

You have: 

• A PhD in Computer Science, Human-Computer-Interaction, or a closely related technology discipline, or extensive relevant industrial/commercial experience in immersive technologies. 
• A strong research track record in immersive technologies and an ability to innovate. 
• Experience of exploring social and political questions around innovation in immersive technologies. 
• Awareness of latest developments in the field of immersive technologies. 
• Extensive knowledge, technical skills, and experience in developing engaging immersive experiences, including the ability to use either Unreal and/or Unity games engines. 
• Ability to work in an iterative co-design and collaborative manner to understand, collect and analyse user experience data, using qualitative and quantitative techniques, in order to develop engaging immersive experiences. 
• Experience of or interest in researching across disciplines and viewpoints & awareness of the challenges involved.  
• Experience in producing academic conference and/or journal papers,  and other written materials (e.g. blogposts). 
• Experience of facilitating academic and cross-sectoral  events.  
• Excellent oral communication skills and the ability to collaborate and communicate effectively with a wide variety of partners. 
• Evidence of ability to work well in a team. 

Additional information

For informal queries, please contact: Professor Kirsten Cater (line manager) kirsten.cater@bristol.ac.uk

To find out more about what it's like to work in the Faculty of Engineering, and how the Faculty supports people to achieve their potential, please see our staff blog:

https://engineering.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/category/engineering-includes-me/

This advert will close at 23:59 UK time on Thursday 11th December.

Interviews are anticipated to take place on Friday 19th December.

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