The Cognitive Science & Artificial Intelligence department is looking for an enthusiastic and well organized Junior Researcher who will primarily support software development in a cross-school collaborative research project. The role concerns the development of a virtual reality application intended for training prospective memory in older adults. The application will also serve as a virtual training platform for training memorisation techniques, such as the method of loci. This appointment is for 0.6 fte for 5 months.

Supporting two grant funded projects from Tilburg Universities School of Humanities and Digital Sciences (TSHD) and School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (TSB), you will work closely with the research team, primarily developing a virtual reality application using Unity. You will work closely with two student assistants in the development, and you will be expected to organise and distribute tasks between the development team. The application you assist in developing will be used in multiple data collections, commencing Q3 2024. 

Tasks

• Design, develop, and maintain virtual reality application using Unity game engine
• Optimise and debug virtual reality application for best performance on a potential variety of platforms
• Contribute innovative ideas to enhance visual and interactive aspects of the virtual reality application
• Organising and distributing tasks with the development team
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to translate requirements into deliverables
• Communicating progress and milestones with the wider research team

Profile
We are looking for a candidate who has the following qualities:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, game development, or related field, or equivalent experience.
• Experience developing virtual reality applications in Unity.
• Experience with source control (e.g. Git)
• Strong organisational and communication skills
• Works well in a multidisciplinary team
• Self-directed learner
• Passion for virtual reality and a commitment to creating engaging user experiences
• Proficiency of English

• the position will be ranked in the Dutch university job ranking system (UFO) as ‘ICT Ontwikkelaar 5’ (IT-Developer 5).  
• the starting gross salary for a full-time appointment for an IT Developer 5 is (minimally) € 3.072,- (step 0 in scale 8) up to (maximally) € 3.539,-, (step 3 in scale 8) gross per month. 
• the position is parttime, 0.6 fte for 5 months. The start of the employment will be as soon as possible.

 Tilburg University is rated among the top Dutch employers and has excellent terms of employment. The university offers very good fringe benefits (it is one of the best non-profit employers in the Netherlands), such as a holiday allowance of 8% and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3% (annually), an options model for terms and conditions of employment. The collective labor agreement of the Dutch Universities applies.

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