Applications are invited for a PhD fellowship/scholarship at Graduate School of Natural Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark, within the Computer Science programme. The position is available from August 2025 or later.

Title:
Situated Instructions and Guidance: Enhancing Knowledge and Skill Acquisition through Spatial Computing

Research area and project description:
We are seeking one or more PhD students for research on eXtended Reality (XR) interfaces for providing situated instructions and guidance by spatially aligning instructional content where it is most important to users. The research aims to explore the application of situated instructions in medical training, physiotherapy and sports training to enhance skill acquisition, rehabilitation effectiveness, and cognitive load reduction.

By presenting instructional information at the appropriate time and location, situated instruction and guidance interfaces have the potential to eliminate the need for users to mentally map abstract guidelines onto their own actions, leading to improved learning and task execution.

The project will advance three main research areas:

1. Interactive Capturing of Situated Instruction:  Developing methods to efficiently record and encode expert demonstrations in real-world contexts
2. Automatic Situated Instruction Generation: Creating AI-driven systems to generate spatially relevant instructional content dynamically.
3. Situated Instruction Replay: Implementing user-guided 3D reconstruction, activity recognition, view synthesis, and context-aware visualization to deliver real-time guidance.

This project provides an opportunity to contribute to exciting research at the intersection of XR, Computer Vision, AI, and healthcare and sport technology, shaping the future of digital training and rehabilitation tool.

The ideal candidates would have the following profile:

• Background in Visual Computing, in particular Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, HCI, Computer Graphics and Computer Vision
• Experience with AR/VR development, including aspects of computer vision, and machine learning
• Interest in sports technology, medical applications, rehabilitation, or instructional technologies
• Experience with tools like Unity, Unreal Engine, Lensstudio or similar tools
• Strong programming skills

Experience with user studies and empirical research methods

Please upload a project description (½-4 pages). This document should describe your ideas and research plans for this specific project. If you wish to, you can indicate an URL where further information can be found.

Qualifications and specific competences:
Applicants must have a degree in Computer Science, Informatics, Computer Engineering or a related field.  We are looking for strong applications with a background in Visual Computing, in particular Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, HCI, Computer Graphics and Computer Vision.

Place of employment and place of work:
The place of employment is Aarhus University, and the place of work is Department of Computer Science, Åbogade 34, 8200 Aarhus, Denmark.

Contacts:
Applicants seeking further information for this project are invited to contact:

Associate Professor Stefanie Zollmann, stefanie.zollmann@cs.au.dk

Professor Tobias Langlotz, tobias.langlotz@cs.au.dk

How to apply:

For information about application requirements and mandatory attachments, please see the Application guide. Please read the Application guide thoroughly before applying.

When ready to apply, go to https://phd.nat.au.dk/for-applicants/apply-here/ (Note, the online application system opens 1 March 2025)

1. Choose May 2025 Call with deadline 1 May 2025 at 23:59 CEST.
2. You will be directed to the call and must choose the programme “Computer Science”.
3. In the boxed named “Study”: In the dropdown menu, please choose: “Situated Instructions and Guidance: Enhancing Knowledge and Skill Acquisition through Spatial Computing (SIGEKS)”

Please note:

• The programme committee may request further information or invite the applicant to attend an interview.

At the Faculty of Natural Science at Aarhus University, we strive to support our scientific staff in their career development. We focus on competency development and career clarification and want to make your opportunities transparent. On our website, you can find information on all types of scientific positions, as well as the entry criteria we use when assessing candidates. You can also read more about how we can assist you in your career planning and development.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants. All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background.