PhD on Foundations for a Design Aesthetics of Intelligent Adaptive Systems
Overview
Job description
We invite applications for a fully-funded 4-year doctoral position situated at the cluster “Designing with Intelligence” on exploring, through designerly research and practice, the relevance of uncertainty for current and/or emerging design aesthetics of intelligent adaptive systems.
Motivation
When considering systems of any type, AI technologies now form core components of their architectures. ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion or Midjourney are obvious examples, but systems of finance, navigation, weather prediction, entertainment and the infrastructures (e.g., cloud services, search engines) underpinning and interconnecting them are equally reliant on AI technologies. In turn, design research and practice are asked to respond and develop new ways of designing with and for the use of such systems, which through AI technologies exhibit adaptive capacities usually associated with intelligence. Yet, design seems to be lagging behind: AI technologies are generally interfaced with via conventional forms (e.g., chatbots) that have little to do with the manifold opportunities that AI technologies present as a design material.
With so much happening in the inner workings—from data processing to probabilistic predictions—of AI technologies and the systems they are embedded in, design researchers and practitioners are still called upon to more deeply explore the aesthetic potential of AI technologies and their components towards evocative1 new possibilities. The technical attribute of uncertainty (i.e., data noise and model variance2) has been proposed as one way to consider AI technologies as a specific design material3 and first conceptual vocabularies4 and designerly explorations5 have been developed. This work has suggested that designing with uncertainty opens opportunities for evocative speculative, playful and explorative design in a way that reflects the specifics of AI technologies and the material infrastructures they are embedded in.
Research Avenues
This PhD will further investigate the relevance of uncertainty for design, specifically towards a foundational understanding of the aesthetics of intelligent adaptive systems. Importantly, in this dissertation foundations are expected to take the shape of readymade resources which can be conceptual and/or practical, but must be relevant for design practice—such as patterns, taxonomies, typologies and/or catalogues. Particularly noteworthy are patterns in the original sense as components of an aesthetic, practical and ethical framework6 seeking patterns for uncertainty and related concerns prompts methodological questions around how they could be derived, on what basis, on what level of abstraction and what for. To conceptualize and make actionable such foundational resources, the candidate is expected to conduct design research7 into the technical aspects of uncertainty as related to AI technologies as well as its broader relevance to and related attributes of computational systems (e.g., precision, recall, entropy, loss).
At the department
To facilitate this, PhD researcher will develop close ties to individual researchers, PhD students, projects, courses, and clusters at TU/e to source and conduct case studies for analysis as well as opportunities for practice-led experimentation and knowledge exchange. Relevant fields that the PhD researcher may find here include explainable AI, more-than-human design, sustainability and repair, sound, material innovation, and autonomous driving. Further, the Industrial Design department and “Designing with Intelligence” cluster will provide various opportunities to participate in research, share project progress and contribute to the research culture. Similarly, the PhD researcher can expect contributing to and leading on publications for leading venues such as ACM CHI, DIS, ToCHI or IUI.
1. Ghajargar, Maliheh, and Jeffrey Bardzell. 2021. ‘Synthesis of Forms: Integrating Practical and Reflective Qualities in Design’. In Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–12. CHI ’21. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445232.
2. Fox, Craig R., and Gülden Ülkümen. 2011. ‘Distinguishing Two Dimensions of Uncertainty’. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3695311.
3. Benjamin, Jesse Josua, Arne Berger, Nick Merrill, and James Pierce. 2021. ‘Machine Learning Uncertainty as a Design Material: A Post-Phenomenological Inquiry’. In Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–14. CHI ’21. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445481.
4. Benjamin, Jesse Josua, Heidi Biggs, Arne Berger, Julija Rukanskaitė, Michael B. Heidt, Nick Merrill, James Pierce, and Joseph Lindley. 2023. ‘The Entoptic Field Camera as Metaphor-Driven Research-through-Design with AI Technologies’. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–19. CHI ’23. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3581175.
5. Sivertsen, Christian, and Anders Sundnes Løvlie. 2024. ‘Exploring Aesthetic Qualities of Deep Generative Models through Technological (Art) Mediation’. In Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, 2738–52. DIS ’24. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3643834.3661498.
6. Alexander, Christopher, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein. 1977. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press.
7. Koskinen, Ilpo K., J. Zimmerman, T. Binder, J. Redström, and S.A.G. Wensveen. 2011. Design Research through Practice: From the Lab, Field, and Showroom. Waltham: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-385502-2.00015-8.
Job requirements
- A master’s degree (or an equivalent university degree) in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Interaction Design, Design Research, Philosophy of Technology, Design/Visual/Philosophical Anthropology, STS or mixed educational degrees.
- Experience with Research-through-Design approaches and prototyping of interactive systems/research products.
- Experience or keen interest in design theory, cultural/philosophical anthropology, and/or philosophies of technology.
- Experience or keen interest in qualitative methods in design.
- An early track record of publications in related research areas is desirable.
- A research-oriented attitude and ability to work in an interdisciplinary team.
- Motivated to develop your teaching skills and coach students.
- Fluent in spoken and written English (C1 level).
Conditions of employment
A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station. In addition, we offer you:
- Full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate evaluation (go/no-go) after nine months. You will spend 10% of your employment on teaching tasks.
- Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale P (min. €2,872 max. €3,670).
- A year-end bonus of 8.3% and annual vacation pay of 8%.
- High-quality training programs and other support to grow into a self-aware, autonomous scientific researcher. At TU/e we challenge you to take charge of your own learning process.
- An excellent technical infrastructure, on-campus children’s day care and sports facilities.
- An allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
- A Staff Immigration Team and a tax compensation scheme (the 30% facility) for international candidates.
Application
We invite you to submit a complete application by using the apply button.
The application should include a:
- Cover letter detailing your experience, motivation and a brief research statement that outlines academic background and research goals (1-2 pages max).
- Visual portfolio of your own practice and/or relevant work (e.g. from design, industry, art) that you think touches on the issue, with annotations explaining its inclusion (2-4 pages max.).
- A CV with brief descriptions of relevant projects and/or publications.
We look forward to receiving your application and will screen it as soon as possible. The vacancy will remain open until the position is filled.
Application Deadline: 1 October 2024
