PhD student in social robotics with focus on child wellbeing and mental health

Are you interested in working with social robotics for child wellbeing and mental health applications, with the support of competent and friendly colleagues in an international environment? Are you looking for an employer that invests in sustainable employeeship and offers safe, favourable working conditions? We welcome you to apply for a doctoral student position at Uppsala University.

The Department of Information Technology holds a leading position in both research and education at all levels. We are currently Uppsala University's third largest department, have around 350 employees, including 120 teachers and 120 PhD students. Approximately 5,000 undergraduate students take one or more courses at the department each year. You can find more information about us on the department of Information Technology’s website.

At the Vi3 Division, we have a unique combination of expertise in human-machine interaction, computerized image analysis and computing education research.

In the Human-Machine Interaction (HMI) unit we study the interplay between people and machines (e.g., information technology, automation, robots and intelligent interfaces). From a global perspective, we aim to improve the relationship between people and technology and foster positive social change through technology.

Project description
The PhD project will investigate the use of social robots in child wellbeing and mental health applications.

The PhD project is part of the large collaborative project MICRO (Measuring children’s wellbeing and mental health with social robots), recently funded in the CHANSE-NORFACE Enhancing Well-being for the Future call.

The MICRO project aims to advance knowledge on how linguistic abilities and the ability to successfully engage in social interactions affect children’s wellbeing and mental health. To achieve this objective, the project will explore the use of social robots as new tools to measure children’s wellbeing and mental health in a school context. This will be done with a particular focus on vulnerable groups that are potential targets for preventative interventions, such as children with developmental language disorder and refugee children.

The PhD project will focus on (1) Human-robot interaction design for the measurement of child wellbeing and mental health, and (2) Child-robot interaction studies with vulnerable groups.

This is an interdisciplinary project which will be supervised by an interdisciplinary team with expertise in social robotics and human-robot interaction (Ginevra Castellano, main supervisor), child health and welfare (Georgina Warner), and developmental psychology (Gustaf Gredebäck).

The PhD project will involve collaborations with the other partners of the MICRO project’s consortium at the University of Cambridge (Hatice Gunes, Jenny Gibson, Tamsin Ford), ETH (Emily Cross) and Bielefeld University (Friederike Eyssel), as well as other stakeholders (e.g., BRIS - Barnens Rätt i Samhället, European Commission’s Centre for Advanced Studies, UNESCO, etc.).

Duties
The successful candidate will work with social robots in child wellbeing and mental health applications. The candidate is expected to program robots to develop robot’s capabilities and conduct empirical human-robot interaction studies for data collection and evaluation. The PhD project will focus on (1) Human-robot interaction design for the measurement of child wellbeing and mental health and (2) Child-robot interaction studies with vulnerable groups.

The candidate will join the Uppsala Social Robotics Lab at the Vi3 Division of the Department of Information Technology, Uppsala University. Our vision is to develop computational social abilities that allow robots to behave in a socially intelligent way in natural interaction with humans. The natural testbeds for our research are socially assistive scenarios where robots provide not only physical, but also social support to humans, where robotic technologies have the potential to bring benefits to the society we live in, for example in application areas such as education and assistive technology, by enhancing the lives of children and other groups that require specialised support and intervention. The lab is equipped with a range of different robotic platforms, including Furhat, Pepper, NAO and Cozmo.

A Ph.D. student is expected to devote their time to graduate education mainly. The rest of the duties may involve teaching at the Department, including also some administration, to at most 20%.

Requirements
To meet the entry requirements for doctoral studies, you must

• hold a Master’s (second-cycle) degree in computer science, human-computer interaction, robotics or related areas relevant to the PhD topic, or
• have completed at least 240 credits in higher education, with at least 60 credits at Master’s level including an independent project worth at least 15 credits, or
• have acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way.

For special entry requirements, please see the subject’s general study plan

We are looking for candidates with

• a strong interest in interdisciplinary research and an understanding and/or interest in human-robot interaction and wellbeing and mental health
• good communication skills with sufficient proficiency in oral and written English,
• excellent study results,
• personal characteristics such as a high level of creativity, thoroughness, and/or a structured approach to problem-solving are essential.

Additional qualifications
Proficiency in programming (preferably Python) and documented ability to conduct user studies are valued. Experience with human-robot interaction studies is valued.

Rules governing PhD students are set out in the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5, §§ 1-7 and in Uppsala University's rules and guidelines.

Application
The application must include:

1. a statement (at most 2 pages) of the applicant’s motivation for applying for this position, including a self-assessment on why you would be the right candidate for this position;
2. a CV;
3. degrees and transcript of records with grades (translated to English or Swedish);
4. the Master’s thesis (or a draft thereof, and/or some other self-produced technical or scientific text), publications, and other relevant documents;
5. references with contact information (names, emails and telephone number) and (if possible) up to two letters of recommendation.

Applicants who meet at least one of the entry requirements are strongly encouraged to apply. All applicants should state their earliest possible starting date.

Rules governing PhD students are set out in the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5, §§ 1-7 and in Uppsala University's rules and guidelines.

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position according to the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5 § 7. Scope of employment 100 %. Starting date 31 March 2025 or as agreed. Placement: Uppsala.

For further information about the position, please contact: Professor Ginevra Castellano (phone: +46 704250200, email: ginevra.castellano@it.uu.se)

Please submit your application by 5 December 2024, UFV-PA 2024/3931.

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