PhD Studentship in Production Technology

Work Integrated Learning (WIL) is University West’s overarching profile and basic principle applied to learning, the exchange of ideas, and educational development. The government has assigned the distinguished task of developing WIL to University West. Work integrated learning in education and research develops new, relevant and advanced knowledge both within the academy and among its partners, which also benefits society in general. University West offers a wide variety of study programs, has a good number of applicants and the students show a high entry rate on the labor market. The main research environments at University West are Production technology, Learning in and for the new working life and Child and youth studies and is conducted in collaboration with the surrounding society. Campus is centrally located in Trollhättan with about 15,000 students and 675 employees.




The scientific work in the PhD project

The doctoral project focuses on exploring how emerging wearable interaction technologies in the shape of Augmented Reality (AR) glasses can help improve ergonomy, quality, and efficiency in existing workflows characterized by collaboration and knowledge sharing a) across individuals working in production worker teams and b) across individuals and supporting semi-automated digital systems providing just-in-time guidance in different phases of the production process.

While the project has clear connections to the area of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), the focus is on Artificial Intelligence(AI)-driven Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). The project aims at defining a new interaction paradigm for subtle just-in-time communication between on the one hand a) support production quality through an AI system monitoring work progress through wearable and embedded sensors and augmenting the environment with more or less subtle cues (e.g. shown on the AR display) when appropriate, and on the other hand b) production workers largely free to modify and exchange experience and knowledge about continuously evolving work procedures with each other. The long-term goal of the intended AR-based AI system is the ability to acknowledge, adapt to, and support this kind of work integrated learning within and across teams through different kinds of assistance mechanisms.

The focus of the project is the identification of subtle, implicit, ways for the AR system to provide guidance and information in general. Emerging AR glasses with incorporated gaze tracking solutions offer a unique opportunity for subtle gaze direction (Bailey et al., 2009) and is expected to be an important system component to enable seamless guidance although other methods will also be explored. This aspect of the project demands a consideration of human perception and in particular attention mechanisms. Essentially, the project is expected to contribute to a better understanding of how interactive systems could interface to unconscious cognitive processes, a largely unexplored area within HCI.

Doctoral degree program: Production Technology

Research center: Doctoral students in Production Technology become members of the research group PTW (Production Technology West). The group collaborates with the engineering industry in the region at the Production Technology Centre, which houses an advanced research laboratory. For more information about our research center, go to https://www.hv.se/en/research/research-environments/production-technology/

Job description: The research program includes, in addition to participation in third-cycle courses and other activities, implementation of an independent thesis work. Doctoral students shall primarily devote themselves to their own education. A doctoral student may, however, be engaged to a limited extent in education, research and administration, mainly within Production Technology. Such duties, before a doctorate has been conferred, may not occupy more than 20 percent of full-time working hours. (Higher Education Ordinance (SFS 1993:100) Chapter 5 section 2).

Qualification requirements: The basic eligibility requirements for doctoral programs as set out in the Higher Education Ordinance are as follows:

- A degree at master’s level,
- completed courses totaling at least 240 university credits of which a minimum of 60 at master’s level or,
- substantially equivalent knowledge gained in some other way whether in Sweden or abroad.

To fulfil the special eligibility requirements for a doctoral degree in Production Technology, a student must hold a degree at master’s level in a subject relevant to the doctoral degree subject. This degree may be in Production Technology or some related discipline, The eligibility requirements may be fulfilled by studies in Sweden or abroad.

For more information please read 3.1 and 3.2 in General syllabus for the third-cycle programme in Production Technology, Ref. No 2015/1343 B 25: https://www.hv.se/en/research/research-education/courses/production-technology/

Selection: The basic factor for selection from among qualified applicants is the ability to profit from such a program. For more information please read 3.3 in General syllabus for the third-cycle programme in Technology in Production Technology, Ref. No 2015/1343 B 25.

Qualifications of merit for this position: To be successful in this project the applicant should be highly motivated, possess a structured way of working, and have good communicative and collaborative skills. The applicant should have excellent skills in software/hardware prototyping, experience from using quantitative and qualitative methods for evaluating interactive systems, and a will to acquire deep understanding of human perception and cognition. Previous experience from (designing for) construction work industry workflows is valuable, as is formal education in HCI, interaction design, and/or AI at university level. Good ability to communicate both verbally and in writing in English is also a merit.

Read the entire announcement and apply for the position here: https://hv.varbi.com/se/what:job/jobID:350454/type:job/where:4/apply:1

The application should reach University West no later than 2020-10-18

Documents that cannot be sent digitally, mark the application with ref.no: 2020/148 and should be sent to:

University West
HR
461 86
Trollhättan Sweden

Welcome with your application!