Organisation/Company: Universitat de Barcelona
Department: OPIR
Research Field: Computer science
Researcher Profile: Recognised Researcher (R2)
Positions: Postdoc Positions
Country: Spain
Application Deadline: 10 Apr 2025 - 23:59 (Europe/Madrid)
Type of Contract: Temporary
Job Status: Full-time
Hours Per Week: 37.5
Offer Starting Date: 15 May 2025
Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Horizon Europe
Reference Number: Nº GA 101135025
Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No
In virtual reality or more generally extended reality (XR), the concept of presence can be understood as a synthesis of interrelated psychophysical ingredients where multiple perceptual dimensions intervene. A better understanding of how specific aspects, such as plausibility (the illusion that virtual events are really happening), co-presence (the illusion of being with others), or place illusion (the feeling of being there) impact XR experiences is key to improve their quality. The availability and performance of current technologies do not reach high levels of presence in XR, which is essential to get us closer than ever to the perennial VR dream: to be anywhere, doing anything, together with others, from any place. PRESENCE develops technologies that address these issues.
At UB, we are responsible for evaluating various aspects of the illusion of presence in XR. This means programming virtual environments of various use cases and designing, implementing, and analysing the results of experimental studies.
The successful candidate must have good experience in programming XR applications (e.g., using Unity 3D), and it would be an advantage to have previous experience in experimental studies.
The University of Barcelona obtained a grant for the PRESENCE project, a European project awarded to Dr Mel Slater, Director of the Event Lab (www.melslater.me). The Event Lab is an internationally known research lab in the field of virtual reality, addressing interdisciplinary problems in psychology and neuroscience using virtual reality. Please see publications on http://publicationslist.org/melslater.
Languages: ENGLISH Level Excellent
Research Field: Computer science
Years of Research Experience: 4 - 10
Eligibility criteria:
Minimum score to pass the selection process: 50/100 points.
Selection process: An interview will be conducted if the evaluation committee deems it necessary.
Required documentation:
*Be in possession of the doctor's degree at the time of the formalization of the contract.
Additional comments:
Duration of the contract of employment: 12 months, renewable up to 31/12/2026.
The candidate proposed for hiring must accept the job offer within 3 working days from the date of notification of the selection. Priority will be given to people with disabilities (Law 89/2015 of June 2, reserve of quota 2% in favour of people with disabilities in companies of 50 or more people). Be aware that the starting date set in this offer is an estimate date.
The official starting date will depend on the bureaucratic time that will take the preparation of the labour contract and presentation of the necessary documents to be hired by the selected candidate.
For additional information regarding this offer, please contact Dr. Mel Slater: melslater@ub.edu.
The postdoctoral appointee will be expected to help define the details of the research programme and play a leading role in its execution. All applicants must be highly motivated towards research and publications.
The research will be conducted in English and all appointees will have excellent written and spoken English.
* The salary benchmark is based on the target salaries of market leaders in their relevant sectors. It is intended to serve as a guide to help Premium Members assess open positions and to help in salary negotiations. The salary benchmark is not provided directly by the company, which could be significantly higher or lower.