PhD position on measuring social interaction, physical activity, and sense of belonging in high schools

This project aims to model the social and physical activity of high school students, measured through sensors and a smartwatch application, in relation to the social, cultural and physical environment. This will allow you to better understand the school environment and to propose interventions to make the school more inclusive.

In recent work, we showed that a smartwatch application can be used to capture meaningful data about children’s play in primary school playgrounds. This data can be analysed to understand how the social, cultural, and physical environment influences children’s activities for better and for worse.

In this project you will bring this approach to high schools, to better understand the lived experience of high school students. You will especially focus on how vulnerable youth such as students with autism experience their school environment. By analysing the data through machine learning approaches, you will develop a system that can help schools see the weaknesses in their school environment, and predict the effect of possible interventions to improve the environment.

You will collaborate closely with another PhD student addressing the problem from psychology and education perspectives. Furthermore, you will collaborate in a large multidisciplinary team spanning several universities and other organisations. You will perform high-quality and internationally visible research that gets published at top-tier conferences and journals.

Requirements:

• You have, or will shortly acquire, a master’s degree in human Computer Science; Interaction Technology; or a related degree with a focus on intelligent digital systems.
• You have experience in collecting, processing, and analyzing sensor data and machine learning techniques.
• You have experience with or interest in the psychological and pedagogical aspects of students attending high school and are enthusiastic about doing research together with users throughout the project
• You have good scientific programming skills and are capable of developing and modifying applications
• You are proficient in English for communication, both in writing and speaking.

Salary Benefits:

• As a PhD candidate at UT, you will be appointed to a full-time position for four years, with a qualifier in the first year, within a stimulating and exciting scientific environment;
• The University offers a dynamic ecosystem with enthusiastic colleagues;
• Your salary and associated conditions are in accordance with the collective labour agreement for Dutch universities (CAO-NU);
• You will receive a gross monthly salary ranging from € 2.872,- (first year) to € 3.670,- (fourth year);
• There are excellent benefits including a holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary, an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%, and a solid pension scheme;
• A minimum of 232 leave hours in case of full-time employment based on a formal workweek of 38 hours. A full-time employment in practice means 40 hours a week, therefore resulting in 96 extra leave hours on an annual basis.
• Free access to sports facilities on campus
• A family-friendly institution that offers parental leave (both paid and unpaid);
• A training programme as part of the Twente Graduate School where you and your supervisors will determine a suitable plan for education and supervision;
• We encourage a high degree of responsibility and independence, while collaborating with close colleagues, researchers and other staff.

40 hours per week

Drienerlolaan 5