DeUCoE

Decentralized Ubiquitous Computing in Everyday Environments

A 3-year fully-funded PhD position is available at the Mobile Media Group at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany.

This position is part of the DFG-funded project "Decentralized Ubiquitous Computing in Everyday Environments" (DeUCoE), and focuses on research in the context of ubiquitous computing, at the intersection of mobile peer-to-peer communication, spatial tracking, and computer vision.

Objectives

The goal of this project is to enable Weiser's original vision of ubiquitous computing in arbitrary, non-instrumented environments. A core aspect of this position will be to develop a decentralized spatial tracking solution, using peer-to-peer communication technologies and smartphone sensors to enable ad-hoc spatial interaction between co-located mobile devices and fixed infrastructure such as smart home devices. This allows us to enable advanced interaction concepts such as proxemic interaction, mixed reality, or tangible interaction in everyday environments beyond the lab.

Qualifications

Required:

  • Master's degree in computer science or equivalent field
  • excellent English language skills
  • strong interest in collaborative work and team-player skills

Desirable:

  • prior experience in computer vision and/or spatial tracking
  • academic writing experience, esp. for ACM conferences and journals
  • programming skills in Java and C++

We invite applications from excellent candidates with an inquiring mind, self-motivation, and the ability to work both independently and in a team. Candidates are invited to enroll in the PhD degree programme at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. The position will be paid according to German university tariff level TV-L 13, at a base salary of approx. 44.000 €/year.

About the Lab

The Mobile Media Group, led by Prof. Dr. Florian Echtler, has been established in 2014. The focus of our lab is on decentralized, setup-free interaction between co-located mobile devices and interactive public displays. The lab is equipped with state-of-the-art computing and electronics facilities: mobile devices and embedded sensor platforms, interactive tabletops, MR glasses, smartwatches, an electronics workbench, etc. Visit https://www.uni-weimar.de/medien/mobile for more informations about our lab.

About Weimar

Weimar is a small, lively city close to the geographical center of Germany, about 2 hours by train from Berlin. But despite its small size and picture-book qualities, it is by no means a sleepy, backwater town. And although Weimar is famous for its cultural history of Goethe, Schiller and the Bauhaus, the city has something for everyone - whether you’re an art and culture lover, night owl, sport enthusiast or gourmet. And all of this in downtown Weimar where nothing is further away than a ten-minute walk. You can look forward to visiting more than 20 museums, four cinemas, the Deutsches Nationaltheater, several small theatre venues, various gyms, student clubs and concert events.

Applications

Applications are invited by March 3rd, 2019. Later applications will be reviewed until the position is filled. The planned starting date is April 1st, 2019. Please send your CV as a PDF along with a short motivational statement to maria-theresa.hansens@uni-weimar.de, and include the keyword "M/WP-02/19" in your subject.

Bauhaus-Universität Weimar is committed to a family-friendly hiring policy which promotes equality. One of the university's strategic goals is to increase the proportion of women on its research and teaching staff, which is why we explicitly encourage qualified female researchers to apply. Disabled applicants will be given preferential treatment in cases where academic qualifications are comparable.

Data Protection

As we currently cannot guarantee successful reception of encrypted emails, we ask you to send sensitive documents in your application in an encrypted ZIP-file, using the keyword "M/WP-02/19" as password. We note that if you send unencrypted applications, the confidentiality of your documents in transit cannot be guaranteed. If you send an electronic application, we assume your consent that your email as well as its attachments will be automatically scanned for malicious code, viruses, or spam content, that your data will be temporarily stored, and that further communication will be conducted by email. Additional notes about data protection according to article 13 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) can be found at https://www.uni-weimar.de/de/universitaet/aktuell/stellenausschreibungen/