Three Postdocs on volumetric video for XR-based communication and collaboration

Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) has a vacancy in the Distributed and Interactive Systems research group for talented

Postdocs,

on the subjects of:

• Interaction Design and implementation for XR applications
• Computer graphics and rendering for XR applications
• 3D tele-presence for communication and collaboration

Job description
The group is looking talented and motivated postdocs with an interest on extended reality (XR) technologies. The candidates will collaborate with a team of researchers and scientists in the context of a new Horizon Europe project, TRANSMIXR: "Ignite the Immersive Media Sector by Enabling new Narrative Visions".

TRANSMIXR, a consortium of 8 representatives from the creative and cultural sector and 12 leading industrial and academic partners, combines the necessary interdisciplinary skillsets and domain expertise to create a range of human-centric tools for remote content production and consumption via social virtual reality. The project's TransMIXR platform will provide (i) a distributed XR Creation Environment that supports remote collaboration practices, and (ii) XR Media Experience Environment for the delivery and consumption of highly evocative and highly-social immersive media experiences. The ground-breaking AI techniques for the understanding and processing of complex media content will enable the reuse of heterogeneous assets across immersive content delivery platforms. Using the Living Labs methodology, TransMIXR will develop and evaluate four pilots that bring the vision of future media experiences to life in three CCS domains: (i) news media & broadcasting, (ii) performing arts, and (iii) cultural heritage. The project will contribute to the Media and Audiovisual Action Plan from the European Commission, in particular boosting the adoption of XR technologies, and gaining worldwide leadership in XR technologies while being deeply grounded in European values such as veracity, diversity, connectedness and universality.

The candidates will contribute to the project in different parts, depending on the background, from the design and development of novel creation environments, to the implementation and deployment of advanced rendering pipelines from communication and collaboration, to the definition and modeling of adequate quality metrics.

We expect candidates with proven knowledge on at least one of the following areas: extended Reality technologies, human-computer interaction, computer graphics, tele-meetings and communications; and with publications in relevant conferences (e.g., ACM CHI, ACM MMsys, ACM SIGGRAPH, IEEE VR) and journals.