ENCODE: A platform for modelling users’ bEhaviour iN COnnected DEvices

Description:

Smartphones are ubiquitous amongst daily life, where the user is connected to a number of apps and services on-the-go from communication to health monitoring to entertainment. The impact on users’ health, wellbeing, safety, and privacy are increasing at the same rate. To enable appropriate ubiquity in the use of next generation connected devices, e.g. mixed reality, it is crucial to establish appropriate methods and protocols for data collection beyond lab studies and over the long term. Elevating the capability of in-the-wild smartphone behaviour monitoring for the mutual benefit of users and researchers. Additionally, interest lies beyond Computer Science and crosses into other disciplines including psychology, social sciences, and law.

Aims

The project aims to:

1-     Create a platform to log Android smartphone users’ behavious while interacting with their handset on day to day basis anonymously and in a privacy-preserving manner and make the data openly available for the research community.

2-     Utilise the platform to enable consent-driven data collection at scale.

3-     Investigate the hypotheses for social behaviour markers i.e., wellbeing, and individual behaviour modelling i.e., human operator modelling.

Method

The project starts with a comprehensive review of the behavioral data collected from smartphones, processing such data in a privacy-preserving and anonymised manner, human behaviour modelling in interaction with smartphones, and evaluation techniques used by the most recent and representative research works in the literature. After that, the platform will be created, emphasizing smartphone characteristics and preserving individual’s privacy and anonymity. Then the platform will fulfil the aims (2-3) explained above.

Deliverables

This project provides researchers within and beyond Computer Science with a rich dataset of the most relevant human behaviour in interaction with smartphones. It also delivers hypotheses on social behaviour markers and support for human operator models for future generation connected devices.

Keywords: Human-Computer Interaction, human-operator modelling, statistics, smartphone behaviour, ubiquitous computing, IoT

Academic criteria: A 2:1 Honours undergraduate degree or a master's degree, in computing or a related subject. Applicants with appropriate professional experience are also considered. Degree-level mathematics (or equivalent) is required for research in some project areas.

Applicants for whom English is not their first language must demonstrate proficiency by obtaining an IELTS score of at least 6.5 overall, with a minimum of 6.0 in each skills component.

Application Information: If you would like to be considered for the School Funded Application, please submit your application before the 30th June 2021. 

In the funding field of your application, insert “I am applying for 2021 PhD Scholarship in Computer Science and Informatics”, and specify the project title and supervisors of this project in the text box provided.

Apply online: https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research/programmes/programme/computer-science-and-informatics - Please read the "How to apply" instructions carefully prior to application.