PhD studentships

The Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Built Environment (CEBE) is based at our City Centre Campus in Millennium Point. Research is vital to our University: it enables us to contribute new knowledge, underpins our creative and enterprise thinking and ensures we are delivering leading-edge teaching. Our researchers are making significant discoveries and partnering local, national and global organisations to find solutions to contemporary commercial, scientific and social issues. Many of our academic staff engage in research and/or professional practice, and we have a thriving community of postgraduate research students.

The School of Computing and Digital Technology (based within CEBE) currently has PhD Studentships available in a number of specialist areas that present exciting opportunities to join and study with us. Please refer to the details below for further information regarding each available research project.

PhD Classic Doctoral Training Grant Funding Information

This 36 month (3 year) fully-funded PhD Studentship, in-line with the Research Council values, comprises a tax-free stipend of £15,609 per annum (paid monthly). The bursary is renewable annually for up to 36 months in total, subject to you making satisfactory progression within your PhD research.

This funding model also includes a FT Home fees studentship (£4,500 for 2021-22) for up to 3 years, subject to you making satisfactory progression within your PhD research.

This opportunity is open to UK, EU and International applicants. All applicants will receive the same stipend irrespective of fee status, however, international applicants will be required to meet the difference in fee costs from their own funds.

Information for International Applicants

International applicants must submit a valid English language qualification, such as International English Language Test System (Academic IELTS) or equivalent with an overall score of 6.5 with no band below 6.0. Further details can be found here: https://www.bcu.ac.uk/international/your-application/english-language-and-english-tests/accepted-qualifications

Deadline for Applications

Formal applications should be made on the University's online application form, which can be found under the 'How to Apply' tab of the PhD course page. The form should be accompanied by an initial research proposal of 1,000-2,500 words (fully referenced) explaining your ideas about the topic and how it might be studied - this allows us to match your ideas with staff experience and interests.

To discuss the application process please contact DRC.CEBE@bcu.ac.uk.

Please ensure you include the Project Code on your proposal. To allow due consideration of applications please also ensure you submit your application by 23:59 on 31^st October 2021 for a February 2022 start. See below for details of active studentships.

Haptic Interaction Design: Accessibility in Music-Making Tools

Project code: CEBE-PhD-4

Contact for Application Enquires: Dr Tychonas Michailidis

Email: tychonas.michailidis@bcu.ac.uk

Visual impairment (blind or partially sighted) affects thousands in the UK and millions worldwide. Accessibility to digital information and tools is necessary for engagement and participation within the society, for their educational aspirations and career. Whilst there is a massive effort from charities and organisations to support them, there is a lack of appropriate tools when it comes to computer-based musical creativity (e.g. composition and computer-based performance). Often users are required to adapt to commercially available software to meet their needs. However, such software products are designed for fully able people and not suitable for people with disabilities.  

This project proposes to design a set of novel accessibility tools based on haptics to facilitate the communication between visual impaired users and creative software platforms for music creation. The project will rethink the current production tools and propose new ways for processing and experiencing information through haptics. It will challenge current human-computer-interaction paradigms and machine learning techniques with the aim to devise new ways, in which visually impaired users can process information, navigate, interact and collaborate with other blind and non-blind users during the music creation and performing processes.

Haptic solutions have become more and more integrated into academic research and industrial applications to improve user experience. This includes industries like automotive, wearables, gaming and mobile phones. However, the development process of all software in general and creative music software in particular lacks interaction design conventions when it comes to adopting haptics tools. To address this issue, the project will employ machine learning to predict user behaviours, adapt to their interaction styles in real-time and thus provide the best possible haptic experience.

This project will contribute to:

1. Understanding interaction design approaches for HCI accessibility with haptics for blind users;

2. Developing novel machine learning-based algorithms for real-time user interaction with the screen and audio;

3. Enabling haptic-based accessibility for navigation, screen interaction and collaboration.

The successful applicant will be part of the Digital Media Technology Lab (DMT Lab), and work closely with the Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Research Group (DAAI), at the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Built Environment (CEBE) based at our City Centre Campus in Millennium Point.

Person specification

The successful applicant will have freedom to steer the research towards their interests and strengths:

• A BSc or MSc in relevant field such as Music Technology, Computer Science, Data Analysis and Human Computer Interaction.
• Programming skills
• Good communication skills; especially in written English
• Strong work ethic and the ability to think creatively and independently

How to apply:

To apply, please complete the project proposal form, ensuring that you quote the project reference, and then complete the online application where you will be required to upload your proposal in place of a personal statement as a pdf document.

You will also be required to upload two references, at least one being an academic reference, and your qualification/s of entry (Bachelor/Masters certificate/s and transcript/s).