Research Fellow in Computer Science

ABOUT THE ROLE

Working as part of an interdisciplinary team, you will support the Project Lead in delivery of research activity on the externally-funded project Sonic Intangibles: Northumbria and Newcastle Universities Sonification Hub for Innovation in Sound and Meaning. The Project Lead is Professor Paul Vickers in the in the Department of Computer & Information sciences with Co-Leads at Northumbria University and neighbouring Newcastle University. The position is funded for the duration of the project which is expected to commence in January 2025.

This two-year project seeks to bring intangibles, such as distant galaxies, computer network traffic, the earth's magnetosphere, or the quantum states of materials into our audible experience.

As well as studio and experimental work the project also engages a wide range of the public from school children to adult audiences. The project includes funding for conference attendance.

You will work on the Sonic Intangibles project with a primary focus on developing research using sonification in the fields of astronomy, materials science, computing, and space weather. You will have a background in computer science and have demonstrable expertise in computer programming and the use of team-based environments such as GitHub.

The project team will include another full-time Research Associate at Newcastle University with whom you will work in close collaboration. Familiarity with sonification practice and research will be essential in developing the interdisciplinary collaboration with the wider team.

This is an exciting opportunity to collaborate on a new area of interdisciplinary research. For further information about the other position, please see Newcastle University's vacancies page.

Since the research is highly collaborative and interdisciplinary you will have demonstrable commitment to interdisciplinary working.

ABOUT THE TEAM

This Research Project is being led from within the Department of Computer and Information Sciences and with Co-Leads in the Department of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering (Dr Lucy Whalley and Dr Dan Ratliff) at Northumbria University and in the School of Arts and Cultures (Dr Bennett Hogg) and the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics (Dr Chris Harrison) at neighbouring Newcastle University. Prof Vickers (Project Lead) is President of ICAD, the International Community for Auditory Display. The project team has led/is leading on sonification projects with interdisciplinary themes, including; the Leverhulme Trust RADICAL project, a collaborative three-year research project on the relationships between sonification design and listener experience (PV+BH); the international Audio Universe project which has enabled astronomy data sonification for researchers, educators, science communicators and specialised accessibility applications (CH); and the early-stage project Singing Materials for sonification of quantum-scale vibrations (LW+PV). Related interdisciplinary projects with emphasis on ethnography and embodied listening include the Landscape Quartet, which utilises the sonic arts to create site-specific audiovisual exhibits for natural landscapes (BH) and the Leverhulme Trust project Bee-ing Human, which works with historians, Early-modern literary theorists, computer scientists, and biologists to bring apiculture into the digital era (BH).

ABOUT YOU

Applicants should hold a PhD (or equivalent experience) in Computer Science or a relevant cognate discipline and have demonstrable specialist expert knowledge in methods and techniques suitable for collaborative software development with online repository environments and have familiarity with methods and techniques in data sonification and auditory display. You will have a demonstrable ability to lead in the design, organisation, and running of experiments, interviews, focus groups, and related activities with the team and research participants. You will also have a demonstrable ability and commitment to working cooperatively as part of an interdisciplinary team, including participating in research meetings and working on joint research projects.

Further information about the requirements of the role is available in the person specification.

If you would like an informal discussion about the role, please contact the Project Lead, Professor Paul Vickers at

To apply for this vacancy please click 'Apply Now'. Your application should include a covering letter and a CV that includes a full list of your publications/outputs.

Interviews are expected to be held in the week commencing 21st October.

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