PhD Studentship in AI for Feelings

At the Mixed Reality Laboratory, School of Computer Science, University of Nottingham

Closing date:  28^th March 2025, interviews will take place in April and May

Department: Computer Science

Eligibility

This studentship is open to Home (UK) students only.

Details of Studentship:

We are recruiting a fully-funded PhD student to work alongside our new UKRI-funded £6.5M research programme in Somabotics: Creatively Embodying Artificial Intelligence led by Professor Steve Benford.

The topic of this studentship is AI for Feelings – we wish to explore the role of ‘feelings’ in our interactions with AI. Feelings occupy an ambiguous place between our conscious cognitive thinking and our pre-conscious emotions and sensations – they are perhaps the point at which our emotions become apparent to ourselves, so we can name and describe them. They are fluid ambiguous, subjective, and open to ongoing reflection by ourselves, dialogue with those we are close to, analysis by therapists, and expressive interpretation by artists.

The PhD will look beyond current research in emotion detection and affective computing to explore how AI and robots can engage messy and ambiguous world of human feelings through applications spanning art and wellbeing. How, for example, might AI help us better understand and engage with our own feelings? This might involve capturing novel datasets about feelings, creating AI models based up these, and/or exploring applications in art or wellbeing.

This PhD will be in partnership with and supported by our partner Blueskeye , an AI company who developing emotion recognition for applications including Healthcare, Well-being, and Social Robotics. This initial description is just the starting point and we are keen to hear your own interpretation of the idea.

The PhD will be part of the wider Somabotics programme that is exploring new kinds of creative interaction between humans and AI, especially robots. You will join a multidisciplinary team of twelve researchers and renowned artists who are creating, touring, and studying high-profile artworks to demonstrate how humans can interact with robots in more meaningful ways. You can find out more about Somabotics  here on our recruitment webpage  and explore examples of our recent work here in Professor Benford’s website.        

You will benefit from:

• Being part of a new world-leading research programme at the cutting edge of AI, robotics, HCI and creativity.
• A fully-funded four-year PhD programme that integrates a leading-edge research project with research training in multi-disciplinary research.
• Being part of an exciting research environment to support your PhD research and help you establish your profile and career
• Being part of a multi-disciplinary team of twelve researchers based in the Mixed Reality Laboratory  in Nottingham’s School of Computer Science 
• Access to the state of the art facilities in the University’ Cobot Maker Space,  Virtual and Immersive Production Studio, and Mixed Reality Laboratory .
• Gaining highly sought after interdisciplinary skills and experience.

There will be extensive opportunities for travel, including for additional training activities (e.g., Summer Schools and Doctorial Colloquia), participating in conferences, and visits to international and industry partners.  

Entry Requirements:

Key studentship information

Entry requirements

Minimum of a 2:1 bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline to the research topic. Studentship is open to home (UK) students only

Start date

Between 1^st June and 1^st October 2025

Funding

Annual tax-free stipend based on the UKRI rate (currently £19,237) plus fully-funded PhD tuition fees for the four years

Duration

4 years

Application Process:

Applicants to initially email their applications to Steve Benford: Steve.benford@nottingham.ac.uk.  

Following discussion with Steve, formal applications will then be submitted via the University’s PhD application website, My Nottingham. More information on how to apply can be found here .

• Note the supervisor is Professor Steve Benford
• Include a CV
• Submit a personal statement covering your background, general motivation to undertake a PhD, specific motivation to undertake a PhD as part of the Somabotics programme in, and a personal PhD proposal that responds to the vision of the programme and the four example PhD topics below.

[S(1]https://www.blueskeye.com/

[S(2]https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/computerscience/work-with-us/somabotics-at-nottingham.aspx

[S(3]https://stevebenford.com/

[S(4]https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/mixedrealitylab/

[S(5]https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/computerscience/

[S(6]https://cobotmakerspace.org/

[S(7]https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/mixedrealitylab/

[S(8]https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/pgstudy/how-to-apply/research.aspx