2012-10-11: Job: PhD Position in Information Visualization / CSCW at INRIA, France

http://www.aviz.fr/Research/FitocPHDPosition

The Aviz research group at INRIA, the French National Research Institute for Computer Science, welcomes applications for a full-time PhD student position. The group conducts work at the intersection of information visualization, visual analytics, HCI, and CSCW. Our goals are to improve the analysis and visualization of large and complex datasets by combining analysis methods with interactive visualizations (see http://www.aviz.fr/).

TOPIC AREA

The general research area of this PhD position is focused at the intersection of Information Visualization and Computer Supported Cooperative Work.

TOPIC DETAILS

The goal of this PhD is to find ways in which single-user and multi-user data analysis tools can be effectively integrated. There are many ways the future PhD student can begin to tackle this problem. For example by doing research on:

technological infrastructure to support the transition (e.g. tangible interfaces, multi-display environments) software infrastructure (toolkits) to help others implement visualization tools with both single- and multi-user aspects data representation and interaction techniques that help to build a bridge between individual (asynchronous) and team work for visual data analysis qualitative studies of how people switch between individual and collaborative work

A contribution of this PhD will be to derive a first set of design considerations on how to support the transition between individual and collaborative work with visualization and interaction.
Visit http://www.aviz.fr/Research/Fitoc for more details on the project.

WORK PLACE

The PhD student will work as part of the Aviz team at INRIA lead by Jean-Daniel Fekete. INRIA is the French National Research Institute for Computer Science and Automation and as such highly regarded worldwide. The team is located on the campus of the University of Paris Sud near the town of Orsay, 30km outside of Paris.
Aviz welcomes and does its best to promote women researchers.

The PhD student will formally sign up as a student at the University of Paris Sud the most highly ranked university in France (and 7th in Europe). He or she will be co-supervised by Petra Isenberg and Jean-Daniel Fekete. The student will also be able to work closely with a postdoc hired on this project and conduct joint projects if desired.

REQUIREMENTS

Candidates should hold a Master's degree and have experience in Human Computer Interaction, CSCW, Information Visualization, or a related discipline. The student should be able to produce working prototypes, be enthusiastic, and be capable of working both independently and within a group.

REQUIRED SKILLS

Background in collaborative work or visualization (experience in both areas is an advantage but not necessary)
Ability to effectively code prototypes
Good communication skills in English (the lab communicates in English, French skills are not required)

DETAILS

The duration of funding is 3 years with the possibility of a 6-month extension
The student will be paid through INRIA and will receive approximately 3000EUR a month before deductions (taxes and social security). The net income (you see on your bank account after all deductions) will be approximately 1600EUR. This is enough to live comfortably in the Paris area. Please contact one of our current PhD students if you have questions or concerns about the cost of living (find them under people).
Enrollment at the University of Paris Sud costs approximately 400EUR in tuition per year.
Start date for the PhD is preferably between now and January 2013 but can be negotiated.

CONTACT

Please contact petra.isenberg@inria.fr for further details.