Outstanding students are invited to apply for a fully funded PhD studentship in the department of Computer Science at UCL.
Start Date: October-December 2022
We are seeking talented PhD applicants who will explore an emerging research area, physiological computing and artificial intelligence (lab website link), with a specific aim to develop physiological computing-powered accessible and assistive technologies, contributing to disability technology innovation.
Supervision
The successful candidate will be primarily supervised by Dr. Youngjun Cho (Associate Professor, UCL Computer Science) at the Global Disability Innovation Hub (WHO collaborating centre for research on Assistive Technology) & UCL Interaction Centre. The successful candidate will benefit from close collaboration with other departments, industrial partners, and external organisations (eg. WHO). This is a full-time programme where students have regular supervision meetings. The supervisor and the department will offer additional training and support when required.
Project Theme: Physiological computing-powered Accessible and Assistive Technology
AI-powered physiological computing is a rapidly growing research area that focuses on enabling technologies that help us to listen to our bodily functions and psychophysiological needs, and contribute personalised interventions. The research field has been helping shape trends of emerging assistive technology products, such as self-care technologies (eg health and emotion monitoring), brain-computer interfaces (BCI) for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), enhanced learning experiences and mobility in daily activities. For example, EEG neurofeedback is shown to be effective in rehabilitating motor skills for people with cerebral palsy and spinal cord injury. And often with using gamification it has been shown to help regulate emotion or improve learning and communication skills for a wider user community including people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety disorder.
This project's main focus will be investigating novel physiological computing-driven accessible and assistive technologies (AAT). In doing so, the candidate will start studying contact-less physiological sensing (e.g remote PPG, thermal imaging and pupillometry) and machine learning for developing new AAT functionalities, and then will attend to user interactions both in controlled lab settings and in-the-wild.
Person Specification
Applicants should be interested in Physiological Computing, Machine Learning, Human-Computer Interaction and Accessible & Assistive Technology.
Applicants must hold a Masters degree in a related discipline. Prospective candidates should also have interest and experience in Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Physiological Signal Processing or Brain-Computer Interface.
Application Procedure
Applicants should submit their applications via UCL Select by 30 June 2022 – NB: Please indicate clearly on your application that you are applying for this studentship by tagging “supervisor: Dr Youngjun Cho” on the application portal and in your personal statement. Also, please notify Aeesha Bhaiyat with your application number when you apply. Applications must include:
1. A personal statement and separate research proposal (2 – 5 pages) describing your research questions within the aforementioned project theme, a summary of some relevant literature, and an outline of the type of research to be conducted (including ideas about which methods would be appropriate).
2. Name and email contact details of 2 referees.
3. Academic transcripts
4. A CV highlighting publications or project experiences.
In-depth interviews will follow our short-listing process.
Note that potential applicants are encouraged to contact the supervisor ([Email Address Removed]) before submitting applications. Also, questions about the studentship can be made to Dr. Youngjun Cho ([Email Address Removed]) while queries about the application process can be made to Aeesha Bhaiyat: [Email Address Removed].
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