Primary supervisor

Sarah Goodwin

Co-supervisors

Agriculture is a significant contributor to nitrogen and phosphorus in waterways, impacting public health and ecosystems. Understanding and communicating the complex processes governing nutrient exports from agricultural catchments—regions where water collects and drains into a common outlet—are crucial for effective management and policy development. 

This project is a multidisciplinary project between human-centred computing and data visualisation experts and water engineer experts in engineering and chemistry exploring new and immersive visual communication of complex ecosystems.

In this work we explore immersive data visualisation techniques for presenting local ecosystem data for water quality. We aim to provide dynamic visualisations that illustrate flows at different scales and multidimensional data. This can be exploited to let users visualise nutrient hotspots, transport pathways, and the effects of different management policies in a more intuitive manner, from different perspectives. This enhanced understanding can lead to better decision-making and more effective communication among stakeholders.

 

Aim/outline

This thesis project builds on a current prototype in VR that has been developed during prior work. We are looking to continue advance the prototype and for the candidate to evaluate the prototype through a user study as well as gain expect feedback.   

 

Required knowledge

Proficient programming skills;

Unity knowledge or  ability to learn it very quickly; (some C# programming needed)

Clear verbal and written communication skills;

Demonstrated ability to work in a team as well as independently;

Interest in immersive technologies (virtual and/or augmented reality); 

Interest in sustainability, environment and ecosystems; 

Project management skills;