Applications are invited for 8 PhD positions for the Doctoral Network 'Co-designing a Home with Dementia' (HOMEDEM) a Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network that will provide high-level training in design and dementia caregiving, to high achieving, early-stage researchers. What makes taking part in such a funded European doctoral network so compelling, is that the team of doctoral researchers work not only on their own topic, but collectively to answer the questions posed by the consortium through cross-discipline collaboration. The successful candidates will study across Europe, attending workshops with their fellow researchers and taking on secondments at some of Europe's leading research institutions and dementia care organizations. This experience-based perspective will not only strengthen HOMEDEM's outcomes, but will lead to insights that are relevant to multiple locations, care-constellations and care systems across Europe.

Key background info
This project has received funding from European Union's EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Europe Horizon Europe (HORIZON) Marie Skodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Networks (MSCA-DN) under the grant agreement 101072827. More on HOMEDEM can be found at www.homedem.eu and https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101072827.

Number of positions available: 8 PhD positions
Candidates can apply for a maximum of 3 positions, provided they have the required background and previous experience to apply. Candidates must mention the positions that they want to apply for in their cover letter.

Link to these 8 vacancies is https://www.homedem.eu/the-8-phd-positions 

The following vacancy text relates to one of the 8 PhD vacancies, namely
Doctoral Researcher 4, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands

General requirements

• Doctorate Candidate (DC) i.e., must not already be in possession of a doctoral degree at the date of the recruitment. DC must have a master degree.
• The candidate must agree to do the foreseen secondment(s) in the associate partner of the hosting institution (see the following section for further details).
• Recruited researchers can be of any nationality and must comply with the following mobility rule: they must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the recruiting beneficiary for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before their recruitment date (counting back from the date of recruitment so, potentially February-April 2020). Compulsory national service, short stays such as holidays and time spent by the researcher as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention are not taken into account.

Research fields
Co-design, design research, design for dementia, design with people with dementia, care for people with dementia, design for health, design for wellbeing, service design, care ecosystem design, care economics, dementia care, gerontology, psychology, education, social sciences.

Desired profile:

We are looking for someone with affinity for and skills in design research, with an strong interest in the dementia field; from Human-Computer Interaction, Industrial Design, Computer Science or similar;  We want you to be able to make or support making physical and digital prototypes;

Objectives:

This individual research project will focus on person-centered design of Warm Technology (www.ecdt.nl) that contributes to initiative and autonomy of people with dementia in the living environment. Warm Technology is a frame for inclusive, user-friendly, empowering, and non-stigmatizing technology. The DC will co-design technologies to augment human autonomy and enhance ability and quality of life. The DC will explore the balancing act between human intelligence and machine intelligence through design in the context of dementia. The technology co-evolves with the person with dementia, and is a continuous process of mutual learning and adaptation between person and technology that becomes better attuned to needs and abilities. The research will provide insight into the interaction design and interfaces that allow for such dynamic learning.

Specific Objectives:

1. to understand the context and the dynamics of the needs of PwD and their care constellation in the different phases of dementia related to initiative and autonomy;
2. explore and develop experiential technologies that co-evolve with PwD to support initiative and autonomy through a warm technology perspective;
3. to experiment with the technologies in context via field evaluations with PwD and their care constellations. These will converge into guidelines for designing co-evolving technologies and an understanding of human-machine interaction in the context of dementia.

Desired attitude: We want you to bepro-active, capable of working independent with a sensitivity for collaboration within the project team and the stakeholders involved; strong in organizing and communicating; because of interactions with participants, it is preferable that the candidate also speaks Dutch, or has a willingness to learn Dutch and engage with the local context.

Desired skills: Preferred skills that are (but not limited to) Design research, design in practice, participatory design, Co-design experience, conducting field research with prototypes; academic writing skills; professional presentation skills.

Important requirements:

• Doctorate Candidate (DC) i.e., must not have a doctoral degree at the date of the recruitment. DC must have a master degree.
• The candidate must agree to do the foreseen secondment(s) in the associate partner of the hosting institution (see the following section for further details).
• Recruited researchers can be of any nationality and must comply with the following mobility rule: they must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the recruiting beneficiary for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before their recruitment date (counting back from the date of recruitment so, potentially February-April 2020). Compulsory national service, short stays such as holidays and time spent by the researcher as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention are not taken into account.

Secondment(s): Archipel (The Netherland - 4 months); FhP-AICOS (Portugal - 3 months)

Gross salary: Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale P (min. € 2.541,- max. € 3.247,-).