Research projects in Information Technology

Agent-based computational simulations are now widely employed to study the evolution of behaviour, e.g., predator-prey simulations, the evolution of cooperation and altruism, the evolution of niches and food chains. These methods implement evolutionary processes in virtual populations of software agents and explore the evolution of their behaviour in diverse environments. Many behaviours that are not well understood in biological systems, that are difficult or impossible to measure in real environments, can be accurately captured and understood using these techniques.

"A picture is worth a thousands words"... or so the saying goes. How much information can we extract from an image of an insect on a flower? What species is the insect? What species is the flower? Where was the photograph taken? And at what time of the year? What time of the day? What was the weather like on the day the photograph was taken? This project aims to extract useful ecological and/or horticultural data from digital images by analysing their content.

In this project we are interested in exploring new paradigms for solving Combinatorial Optimisation problems, and generally NP-hard ones. One direction of research could consist in using approximation algorithms for deriving dual bound within a branch-and-bound algorithms. Other directions could use Machine Learning or new decompositions. This subject is generally quite open so it is important to be highly creative.

The brain is a complex machine and brain function remains yet to be fully understood. This project works at the intersection of dynamical modelling, statistical signal processing, statistical inference and machine learning to develop subject specific mathematical models of the brain that can be used to infer brain states and monitor and image the brain. This work is centred around a  neurophysiological variable estimation framework we have been developing that can be applied to all kinds of brain activity recordings.

We are seeking a highly motivated and innovative PhD student interested in exploring the opportunities for using AI to enhance personalisation of services and resource recommendations, ultimately optimising the overall user journey. This project will improve the care pathway experience for young people and families accessing mental health services through the headspace website.

Possible approaches to addressing this challenge might include:

This project explores the role of technology in facilitating playful eating experiences, developing a novel understanding of how interactive technology can – and should – be designed to promote positive eating experiences. 

The rise of technology that supports a partnership between user and computer highlights an opportunity for a new era of “human-computer integration”, contrasting the previously dominant paradigm of computers functioning as tools. This project focuses on embodied integration, where a computer tightly integrates with the person’s body. 

#digitalhealth

There is an opportunity to prototype interactive muscle memory systems and study their use in order to understand what designers can learn from remembering activities that involve the active human body in regard to designing interactive systems. 

There is an opportunity to prototype digital water play systems and examine users’ aquatic body-environment interactions to derive an understanding of digital technology’s opportunities to facilitate novel bodily water play interactions in-water, on-water and underwater. 

An interest and experience with water-based activities, interactive technology, hardware prototyping (including actuators), human movement/performance and aquatic culture (including diving) is desirable. This work is in collaboration with Dr. Sarah Jane Pell (sarahjanepell.com).

With drones getting smaller and smaller, we regard them as physical pixels that can be placed anywhere in space, allowing us to experience digital content in the physical world in novel playful ways.

These projects will utilize the lab’s Qualisys motion capture system and Crazyflie mini quadcopters. A passion for robotics including hard- and software design for quadcopters and motion capture is desirable.

The result will be a thesis in the field of interaction design, contributing to our understanding of experiencing the human body as play.