Research Associate in Next Generation Visualization Platforms

Research Associate in Next Generation Visualization Platforms
Specialist and Supporting Academic Research grade 7 from £45585

Research Associate in Next Generation Visualization Platforms

Wolfson School of Mechanical Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering

Full time, fixed term until 31 December 2025

Job Grade: Specialist and Supporting Academic Grade 7

We are seeking a highly experienced person to lead research and development into new approaches to develop novel digital engineering and manufacturing techniques for the purpose of providing advanced visual displays to support smart assembly tooling for the manufacture of large components, such as commercial aircraft wings.

Research will develop advanced assistive visualization solutions involving eXtended Reality (XR), also known as augmented, mixed, and virtual reality to provide ‘at point of operation’ information overlays.

The goal is to assist/guide operators to perform difficult manual tasks by projecting spatially aligned information/graphical overlays with virtual target markers onto large scale manufactured components.

Establishment of use case will help guide the research to deliver solutions that work beyond the laboratory into a real factory. The research will involve designing information for laboratory based augmented reality displays alongside associated human factors evaluations before being refined for evaluation in an aerospace factory.

The research is an integral part of an exciting £20m InnovateUK Programme known as DELTA, co-funded by Airbus and a consortium of Industrial Collaborators. The research will be undertaken as part of a multidisciplinary team across several academic institutions and industry companies. 

Additionally, the role will involve co-supervision of other researchers and doctoral students who’s research is aligned to DELTA. This will include management of major work packages  and resources (e.g. budget, equipment). It will be necessary to communicate research outcomes to the industrial /academic partners and the InnovateUK project monitoring officer.

The research is likely to lead to important new intellectual property which needs to be carefully protected. Although, there will be excellent opportunities to generate high quality scientific reports and papers suitable for publication in International Journals. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to a Nationally important project that will improve the way commercial aircraft are designed in the future.

Key Requirements

• Significant relevant experience within a high-quality research or development environment.
• Significant relevant experience of computer programming

• Experience of taking a leading role in a research lab (either at university or in industry) for 3-4 years, with proven experience of management projects/major work packages  and resources (e.g. budget, equipment, or other people).
• Evidence of advanced technical knowledge, including first authorship of peer-reviewed paper(s)/presentations at internal conferences.
• Evidence of having communicated their research to external industrial partners/major funding bodies
• Representation of research centre’s activities and research outcomes at international conferences or events. 
• Evidence of managed other researchers

For more information refer to the Job Description and Person Specification.

Informal enquiries

Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to Professor Roy S. Kalawsky by email [email protected]  

Application closing date: 18 March 2024