The Mixed Reality Lab is involved in an EPSRC research programme relating to human-agent collectives.
This award includes funding for a number of full-time project studentships to begin in 2011.

In collaboration with the Universities of Southampton and Oxford and a number of industrial 
organisations, this research aims to establish a new science that investigates the computational 
and human aspects of a society in which people become increasingly dependent upon a plethora of 
smart and proactive computers that we carry with us, access at home and at work and that are 
embedded into the world around us.  It will establish the foundational underpinnings of human-agent
collectives (HACs) and drive these understandings to real-world applications in critical domains 
(see grant details at http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk/ViewGrant.aspx?GrantRef=EP/I011587/1). Three 
researchers are required, particularly programmers and developers with software development 
skills to explore the human issues involved in interaction with agent based systems. The successful
students will join a dynamic multidisciplinary research team exploring the design and development 
of novel applications with a particular emphasis on how user and autonomous systems might work 
together. Areas of particular interest include:
• Interaction between humans and agent based systems including human robot interaction
• Support for large-scale interaction and crowd-sourcing infrastructures
• New ways of presenting information and the activities of autonomous systems
• Exploring new design and evaluation methods that are appropriate to these technologies and applications including the extension of methods based on ethnography and cognitive psychology
• Interactions within a mobile context and how these might relate to agent based systems 
• Applications of novel interactive systems and agent based systems in disaster response settings.

Applications are invited from students with a computer science or other relevant human science 
based background to be involved in this research. Students will benefit from
• A fully-funded three-year PhD programme within a leading-edge research institution
• Supervision from international leaders in the associated disciplines
• Office and laboratory space on Nottingham’s award-winning Jubilee Campus
• Involvement in a multidisciplinary project involving world leading experts in multiple disciplines 
• A personal laptop for use on the project.

Our current industry partners include:  BAE Systems, PRI Ltd and the Australian Centre for Field Robotics.

Students should have an excellent first or preferably postgraduate degree in a relevant subject area. 

Informal enquiries may be addressed to Hazel Glover, tel: 0115 845 6780 or Email: hazel@cs.nott.ac.uk.

Application forms are available from Hazel Glover, and should be returned (preferably by Email) 
with a detailed CV and a statement of research interests to: 
Hazel Glover, School of Computer Science, 
The University of Nottingham, 
Jubilee Campus, Wollaton Road, 
Nottingham, NG8 1BB. 
Email:  hazel@cs.nott.ac.uk.