All posts by Elise van den Hoven

Elise van den Hoven

About Elise van den Hoven

Elise van den Hoven has a background in human-computer interaction and interaction design research and studies how to Materialise the digital in everyday environments through tangible and physical interaction. Her favourite range of application areas has to do with Memories, in particular supporting everyday human remembering activities. That is how she came up with this project and its name: Materialising Memories. Elise is professor in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology of the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, and associate professor in the Department of Industrial Design of the Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands. In addition, she is associate investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders and honorary senior research fellow at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, University of Dundee.

Fridge magnets and remembering

Publications, , , ,

Our Materialising Memories alumnus Dr. Annemarie Zijlema was recently interviewed by the UK newspaper The Guardian about (some of) her PhD research. You can find out more in the second half of this lovely article on Fridge magnets, which can be impactful tangible memory cues:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/mar/18/fridge-magnets-can-be-cool-aid-to-holiday-memory-recall-study-finds

For anyone keen to learn more about Annemarie’s research, take a look at her PhD thesis and publications on our Publications page: https://www.materialisingmemories.com/publications/

Open call for PhD applicants for Materialising Memories

Positions

UTS (University of Technology Sydney) has a yearly application round for PhD scholarships, for both domestic and international applicants. If you are interested in doing a PhD in the context of Materialising Memories than find more information here for an open call titled “Embodied interaction design in the context of materialising memories”:

https://www.uts.edu.au/about/faculty-engineering-and-information-technology/research-faculty-engineering-and-it/research-degrees-and-scholarships/research-scholarships

On that website you can also find links to the application deadlines and process. Do not hesitate to get in touch.

Two (PhD and/or Postdoc) positions on Muscle Memory and Interaction Design

Positions, Publications

The Exertion Games Lab (exertiongameslab.org) in Melbourne (directed by Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller) and the Materialising Memories research program (www.materialisingmemories.com) in Sydney (directed by Prof. Elise van den Hoven), are seeking exceptional PhD and Post-Doc candidates to research the design of interactive muscle or motor memory systems.

We are looking for two candidates who value an interdisciplinary design studio environment. You will be highly motivated, willing to learn a variety of skills, extremely creative as well as technical, and also have highly developed analytical and communicative skills. Prior research experience (publications, etc.) is desirable and so are people-centered design skills, hardware prototyping abilities (Arduino, etc.) and/or programming skills. We are looking at potential for creativity, excellence, drive and people who are a pleasure to have on the team.

The focus of the research will be to understand the design of interactive muscle memory (motor memory) systems: The candidates will study how people use muscle memory in everyday life, will prototype interactive muscle memory systems and study their use in order to understand what designers can learn from remembering activities that involve the active human body in regard to designing interactive systems. This project will utilize the Exertion Games Lab’s Qualisys motion capture system and the electronic muscle stimulation system (amongst others). The candidates will engage with prototyping equipment to invent a series of future muscle memory experiences and study the associated user experiences.

See also our CHI2020 workshop: motorhci.com

Entry requirements for PhD candidates:
You will need to have a four-year degree that includes a thesis or a three-year Bachelor and a Master’s degree by research, for exact details see the link below. Typical backgrounds are interaction design, human-computer interaction, game design, computer science, industrial design, electrical engineering, human movement, sports science, performing and media arts but we are curious to hear what you can contribute. All nationalities are encouraged to apply.

All PhD positions are full-time, 3 years, available to all nationalities, onsite, and by thesis, i.e. conclude with a thesis in the field of interaction design/HCI supervised by Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller and Elise van den Hoven. Scholarships are available according to the standard Australian Postgraduate Award rate of approx. AUD 28,000 per year.

Post-Doc openings:
The Post-Docs (Research Fellows) positions are for 3 years and are paid on Academic Level B ($AU 97,203 – $115,429 pa, plus 17% employer superannuation).

First, applicants will apply with an expression of interest to the email below. After the internal interview with the Exertion Games Lab and Materialising Memories program, the candidate will need to apply to the general university admissions office. This two-step process ensures that we are able to endorse your application.

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The Exertion Games Lab researches the future of interfaces for playful experiences. Our research is focused on the merging of play, technology and the active human
body, drawing from research streams such as interaction design, human-
computer interaction and computer games research. We publish mostly at CHI, CHI PLAY, DIS, TEI, Ubicomp (IMWUT), and UIST.
The culture in the Exertion Games Lab is one of interdisciplinary work. At the Exertion Games Lab, we do not just philosophize and write about the future, we actively invent it. We emphasize the development of working prototypes in order to fully understand what play is, why we play, and how we will play in the future. We do this because we believe playing is a fundamental part of what makes us humans who we are, and an understanding of this brings us closer to our vision of a better world filled with interactive technologies that support human values.

The Exertion Games Lab also hosts weekly presentation, writing and reading group activities to support the candidate. We are also offering a large space to research and design in an open plan lab environment.

You might find it useful to read about the lab’s vision: Mueller, F., Byrne, R., Andres, J., Patibanda, R. Experiencing the Body as Play. Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. (CHI 2018). ACM. Talk video. Best Paper Award (top 1%).

The Computer-Human Interaction and Creativity (CHIC) group at Monash (which was in the top 20 institutions at CHI’19, with a similar result to be expected at CHI’20 with 21 conditionally accepted papers): https://www.monash.edu/it/our-research/strengths/chic

The Materialising Memories research program (www.materialisingmemories.com) uses design research to study and support people in their everyday remembering practices. We investigate remembering and forgetting, the effects of physical objects, the body and digital media on memories in everyday life and the creation and curation of these objects and media. Our insights are used to design and evaluate innovative objects and interactive products that facilitate remembering and forgetting in everyday life, during and after major life events, for those with healthy memories and for those with memory challenges.
Materialising Memories is a multidisciplinary team distributed between University of Technology Sydney, Australia, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands and University of Dundee, UK.

This paper introduces the Materialising Memories research program: Hoven, E. van den (2014). A future-proof past: Designing for remembering experiences. Memory Studies, vol. 7, issue 3, July 2014, pp. 373-387.

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PhD entry requirements: https://www.monash.edu/graduate-research/faqs-and-resources/content/chapter-two/2-1
PhD information: https://www.monash.edu/it/our-research/graduate-research/how-to-apply

Please submit your expression of interest, including CV and portfolio website if available by email to “info at exertiongameslab dot org” and “elise dot vandenhoven at uts dot edu dot au”, with subject line “Application: Muscle Memory”.

Please also check our websites for additional information regarding the openings.

Looking forward to reading your applications!

Thanks,
The Exertion Games Lab & The Materialising Memories research program
http://exertiongameslab.org & https://www.materialisingmemories.com

PhD position available in Human-Computer Interaction, Product Design, Interaction Design: “Meaningful Metadata: The things I wish I knew”

Positions

Wendy Moncur, Siân Lindley and myself (Elise Van Den Hoven) are looking for a great PhD student to work for us on a Microsoft-funded PhD, starting early 2017. Application deadline is 14 November 2016, please spread the word.

You will find the full ad and how to apply here on FindAPhD.com.

Project Description

Applications are invited for a fully funded PhD scholarship at the University of Dundee, within Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, supported by a prestigious Microsoft Research PhD Scholarship, and in collaboration with the University of Technology Sydney.
You will have a background in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Product Design, Interaction Design, or a related area. You will join a growing interdisciplinary research group with backgrounds in HCI, Computing, Design, Psychology and the Arts, with a strong international research track record. You will be supervised by: Dr Wendy Moncur, University of Dundee; Professor Elise van den Hoven, University of Technology Sydney, Australia; and Dr Siân Lindley of Microsoft Research UK.Project:
You will focus on the diverse digital materials that are generated around a significant life transition across four strands – ‘personal’, ’social’, ‘organisational’, and ‘environmental’/ Internet of Things (IoT). These digital materials are usually scattered across multiple physical storage sites (e.g. laptop, cloud storage, mobile phone, server) and multiple sets of files. (Example: A life transition of emigration to a new country may generate digital materials that include electronic flight tickets, posts to friends on social media, and communications with government departments.)You will explore how these digital materials and their associated metadata can be exploited in novel ways, both for functional purposes creating long-term utility, and to create new experiences that enable creative, evocative, and contextual uses of personal data – for example, by developing rich personal narratives from the data.As a Microsoft Scholar:
You will be invited to Microsoft Research in Cambridge during the course of your PhD, for a PhD Summer School that includes a series of talks of academic interest and poster sessions, which provides the Scholars the opportunity to present their work to Microsoft researchers and a number of Cambridge academics.You should have a first class degree or good 2:1 and/or a Masters or equivalent experience in Human-Computer Interaction, Product Design, Interaction Design or a related area. Good spoken and written English is essential. The ability to employ a range of fieldwork techniques to inform the design of novel interfaces is desired. The ability to develop functional digital prototypes is essential.
Following interview, you will also need to apply and meet the University of Dundee’s entry requirements for PhD study.

The award is open to all nationalities, although funding for fees will only be paid at the rate charged to UK/ EU nationals. You will be required to meet the University of Dundee’s English Language requirements and will be asked to provide a copy of the certificate.
There is a stipend of £14,296 per annum for 36 months (full time), increasing annually in line with RCUK guidance (http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/skills/training/). In addition, you will receive a fixed hardware allowance and conference allowance.

Some of the Scholars may also be offered—at the sole discretion of Microsoft Research—an internship in one of the Microsoft Research laboratories. Internships involve working on a project alongside and as part of a team of Microsoft researchers. Scholars are paid during their internship—in addition to their scholarship bursary. Interested Scholars can apply through the Microsoft Research careers page.

Further information:
Microsoft PhD Scholarships https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/academic-program/phd-scholarship-europe-middle-east-africa/
Professor Wendy Moncur http://www.dundee.ac.uk/djcad/staff/wendymoncur/
Professor Elise van den Hoven http://www.uts.edu.au/staff/elise.vandenhoven
Dr Siân Lindley https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/sianl/

Funding Notes

Applicants should submit a CV and a two-page statement describing their interest in pursuing a PhD and their experience as it relates to the topic in the first instance to Fiona Fyffe-Lawson, Administrator for Research, DJCAD – 
Informal enquiries can be directed to Dr Wendy Moncur – 

References

Relevant research:
Digital Possessions: http://hxd.research.microsoft.com/work/digital-possessions.php
Living Digital: http://livingdigital.ac.uk/
Materialising Memories: https://www.materialisingmemories.com/