Tuesday 17 April 2012

PhD studentship - Visualising cultural data - an academic-industrial partnership (London)

Revised announcement, new closing date

A PhD studentship is available at the Royal College of Art in London, funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The funding includes the fees and a living allowance. This is a collaboration with industry, based at System Simulation, a research-led software engineering company in central London with a distinguished record of working with museums and other cultural organisations. The studentship provides a strong base on which to develop an industrial or academic career.


The aim of the research is to reveal new knowledge by visualising diverse large datasets in rich interactive timelines and related graphical displays. Our principal aim will be public understanding of historical and other data - making complex patterns visible at a glance - though the visualisation tools will be adaptable to advanced use by researchers, curators, historians, and others. The work presents a wealth of research problems among which the successful applicant is encouraged to identify a distinctive path.


The right applicant will have a strong desire to combine in-depth study and practical development. Your experience will include the design and development of interactive software. A software engineer may be the ideal candidate, but others with significant development experience are welcome to apply. You will be enthusiastic, and preferably knowledgeable, about visualisation and visual analytics, and have some understanding of working with large datasets. You will be committed to evaluation as well as making, since it is essential that the products of the research are usable and likeable as well as functioning to a high technical standard. See the documents online for further details...

On jobs.ac.uk:
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AEG446/epsrc-funded-phd-studentship/
On RCA site:
http://www.rca.ac.uk/Default.aspx?ContentID=161457&GroupID=161452


Closing date 17 May 2012. Studentship to begin no later than 30 September 2012 - an earlier start is preferred.

To discuss academic / industrial aspects of the studentship, email stephen.boyd-davis@rca.ac.uk
To discuss administrative / financial aspects, email suzanne.strong@rca.ac.uk

An indication of past work by the academic director of this research can be seen here: http://rca.academia.edu/StephenBoydDavis/Papers. The Royal College of Art is a world-renowned postgraduate-only institution. In RAE2008 its research had the highest "world-leading" ranking of all submissions that combined art and design.

You may also be interested in other funded research opportunities listed at the same URL, including The AHRC Knowledge Exchange Hub: Innovation and Knowledge Exchange in Digital Public Space.