THE HOSTING DEPARTMENT: The Human-Technology Interaction (HTI) group is part of the School of Innovation Sciences within the Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences (IE&IS) at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e).  The HTI group combines expertise in social sciences - in particular psychology - and engineering, studying technology in the service of human wellbeing, within the broader context of a socially and ecologically sustainable society. The psychoacoustic and multisensory research in this department builds on the long tradition of the former Institute for Perception Research, IPO, and has a close cooperation with other acoustic groups in the various departments of the TU/e.  This project will be supervised by Prof. Dr. Armin Kohlrausch.

PROJECT BACKGROUND: The VRACE training network aims at structuring research training in basic and advanced acoustics with a strong focus on Virtual Reality. The VRACE consortium consists of public and private partners covering a wide range from advanced audio and multimedia devices, to fundamental research in musical instruments, physical acoustics and perception. 

The position at the HTI group (ESR 6) has the goal to increase our understanding of human synchrony perception of audio-visual stimuli for a wide range of highly realistic stimulus settings. In particular, the candidate shall extend earlier observations obtained with relatively abstract 2D stimulus conditions to those obtained with state-of-the-art HMDs. One of the concrete scientific questions to be investigated is the effect of stimulus distance on the human tolerance for (physical) asynchronies. This work will be done in cooperation with the consortium partner Facebook Reality Labs (Formerly Oculus) and the candidate will spend an extensive secondment at this partner's site in Seattle (USA).

Requirements

We are looking for a talented researcher with a completed master degree in technical acoustics, physics, electrical or mechanical engineering, cognitive psychology or similar. Of particular relevance for this project is prior experience with acoustic problems, experience with signal processing of sounds (e.g., using Matlab), and experience with or at least a strong interest in human perception and information processing. Prior work on audio-visual perception would be an extra bonus. The candidate should have a strong research interest, experience with experimental research and statistical skills.  

The successful candidate is able to demonstrate a strong interest in perception research, is creative and proactive, has excellent verbal as well as written communication skills in English, and works well in multidisciplinary teams.

We offer:

a challenging job in a dynamic and ambitious University;

full-time employment as a PhD candidate for a period of 4 years, starting in June 2019;

gross salary is based on EU guidelines for Marie Skłodowska-Curie PhD students and will be in the range of €32.447 - €41.582 per annum (on a full-time basis), this includes 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end of year allowance;

a broad package of fringe benefits (including an excellent technical infrastructure, child care, moving expenses, savings schemes, coverage of costs of publishing the dissertation and excellent sports facilities);

The recruitment procedure does strictly comply with the ethical standards described in the Code of Conduct for Recruitment of Researchers (https://cordis.europa.eu/programme/rcn/664087/en).

Women are particularly encouraged to apply! The VRACE network seriously strives for increasing the share of female researchers! Attaining a PhD at Eindhoven University of Technology provides you with excellent career opportunities.