Research Fellow

Job Description

Research Fellow: Grade: 7

Department: UCL Interaction Centre, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences & Computer Science: Location: 66-72 Gower Street, Bloomsbury, London.

Reports to

Nadia Berthouze, Professor of Affective Interaction and Computing, Director of UCLIC

Context

UCLIC is a world leading Centre of Excellence in Human-Computer Interaction teaching and research, studying interactions between people and technology, drawing on the best scientific traditions in Computer Science and Human Sciences, and working collaboratively with the research community and industry. UCLIC is unique in this space since it straddles Computer Science and Psychology.

We are proud of our work in EDI and outreach, promoting equity, diversity and inclusion across our community and aiming to inspire, empower and engage people from all backgrounds. With Athena Gold and Silver awards in Computer Science and Psychology respectively, we are committed to creating a fair, inclusive and supportive environment for all staff and students.

Main purpose of the job

This exciting research position is part of XR-SENSE: Next-Generation Visuohaptic Media Representation, Coding and Interactive Rendering for Immersive and Inclusive XR, a major EU Horizon-funded project bringing together leading research and industry partners across Europe.

XR-SENSE aims to develop the next generation of immersive technologies, creating realistic, scalable, inclusive and affect-aware visuo-haptic experiences. The project combines advanced sensing, streaming and rendering technologies with human-centred affective computing and interaction models.

Based primarily at UCLIC, the successful candidate will play a key role in developing affect recognition and modelling approaches to enable personalised XR experiences. They will work within a highly interdisciplinary European consortium, collaborating with researchers and industry partners across multiple countries and contributing directly to the development and evaluation of innovative immersive technologies.

The role offers opportunities for international collaboration, travel to consortium meetings and research events, publication of high-quality research, and contribution to project reports and deliverables for the European Commission.

This post-doctoral researcher position is full time (1 FTE) for 2 years starting in November 2026 or soon after.

Duties and responsibilities

Design affect-elicitation protocols and conduct data collection studies using a range of sensing technologies, including RGB cameras, physiological sensors, and touch and motion-sensing devices.

Process, curate, synchronise, and analyse multimodal data collected through these studies, as well as datasets provided by consortium partners or made available by the wider research community.

Develop novel architectures, algorithms, and machine-learning models for multimodal affect recognition.

Design and conduct experiments to evaluate the performance, robustness, and generalisability of the developed models.

Support the integration and deployment of affect-recognition models within the platforms and systems developed by the consortium.

Collaborate closely with consortium partners and other researchers to define technical requirements, exchange data and methods, and support joint research activities.

Ensure that all data collection, storage, processing, sharing, and use comply with relevant ethical requirements, data-management procedures, and GDPR regulations.

Prepare and maintain appropriate technical documentation, including experimental protocols, data-processing pipelines, model documentation, and research outputs.

Contribute to project reports, deliverables, and other documentation required by the funding body, and regularly communicate research progress to consortium partners and colleagues.

Disseminate research findings through publications in high-quality academic conferences and journals, as well as presentations at project meetings, workshops, and relevant scientific events.

Contribute to the development and maintenance of reproducible research code, datasets, and experimental pipelines where appropriate.

Participate in project meetings, research planning, and other activities required for the successful delivery of the project.

General

Follow and actively promote the UCL Ways of Working.

Takes responsibility to carry out duties in a way that embodies UCL's environmental and social sustainability values, actively supporting UCL's Sustainability Strategy, policies and objectives within the remit of their role.

Carry out any other duties within the scope, spirit and purpose of the job as requested by the line manager.

This job description may be reviewed and be subject to amendment in consultation with the post holder.

Person Specification

Note to job applicant: copy and paste the following criteria into your “Statement in support of your application” and describe underneath each criteria how you meet it, giving examples. You will be scored on how you meet each criteria.

Essential Criteria: Assessment method (Application form/ Interview / Practical Test)

Qualifications, experience and knowledge

PhD, or equivalent experience, in Affective Computing, Machine Learning, Computer Vision, body gestures recognition or a closely related discipline. Candidates who are close to completing their PhD may also be considered, depending on their relevant experience.: Application form/ Interview Experience developing affect recognition models, including preprocessing and analysis of multimodal (including touch behaviour) or physiological sensor data.: Application form/ Interview Knowledge and practical experience in computer vision and machine learning, particularly for analysing human affective behaviour, body and touch movement and gestures, or related non-verbal signals. Use of LLM for verbal data analysis is also expected.: Application form/ Interview Experience designing and conducting human-participant data collection studies using physiological, behavioural (movement and touch), visual, or other sensing technologies.: Application form/ Interview

A strong research track record, demonstrated through peer-reviewed publications in Affective Computing, Machine Learning, Computer Vision, or a related field.: Application form/ Interview

Skills and abilities

Strong interpersonal, collaborative and networking skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with researchers and partners from different disciplines and backgrounds.: Application form/ Interview Excellent written communication skills, including the ability to contribute to academic publications, technical reports and project deliverables.: Application form/ Interview Ability to manage competing priorities, work to deadlines and maintain a high level of accuracy and attention to detail.: Application form/ Interview Ability to work independently, take initiative and make well-informed decisions, while contributing effectively within a collaborative research team.: Application form/ Interview

UCL Ways of Working

Developing resilience strategies and supporting healthy resilience in the wider team.: Application form/ Interview Using evidence and quality data to support approaches.: Application form/ Interview

A clear understanding of and commitment to promoting equality of opportunity and an understanding of how that can be implemented within the scope of the role.: Application form/ Interview

Others

Willingness and ability to travel within Europe to attend meetings with project partners.: Application form/ Interview