Digital Creativity Labs (DC Labs) has an opening for a Research Associate to explore playful games as tools for learning, with a particular focus on teaching data literacy: interpreting graphs, understanding statistics concepts, identifying patterns in large data sets, finding appropriate data visualisations, etc. We are seeking a highly motivated individual with experience in UX and/or game design with an appetite to apply gaming metaphors to the development of learning tools for data literacy. You will conduct the research element of this project looking at novel interactive experiences that exploit the “consumption” of data by esports and data rich physical sports followers.

You will design, prototype and evaluate interactive experiences that engage learners in data analysis. You will have the excellent opportunity to work closely with the National STEM Learning Centre at York (https:// www.ncetm.org.uk/) and WEAVR (http://weavr.tv/), a £5.8m flagship project that is developing new ways of consuming data and experiencing esports. Specific duties will include: analysis and interpretation of research data; writing up of research results and dissemination through publications, seminar and conference presentations and public engagement and outreach activities; contributing to the identification of possible new areas of research.

You will have a PhD in Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Design, Data Science or other domain relevant to the position or equivalent experience, a record of excellent research, reflected in high quality publications and will bring an appetite for innovation across discipline boundaries and application domains. You will have proven game and/or user experience design skills accompanied by good programming skills (e.g. C, C++, C#, Python, Java, Unity). You will have the opportunity to develop your career in the lively and stimulating environment of Digital Creativity Labs.

Digital Creativity Labs is a world centre of excellence for impact-driven research in digital creativity, focusing on digital games, interactive media and the rich space in which they converge. It brings together researchers from the University of York’s departments of Computer Science, TFTI, Archaeology, Sociology, Electronics, Education, and Psychology, working alongside over 80 external partners and three other Universities. The DC Labs team consists of more than 15 leading researchers who co-create impact-driven research projects along with partners in industry, government, the third sector and members of the public.

This post is available on a fixed term basis until 30 September 2021.

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