[Asis-l] HCI Postdoc opportunity at UBC

[Eric Meyers]

****Cross-posted recklessly and without the usual apologies****

Postdoctoral Fellow with the Designing for People @ UBC Graduate Training Program
University of British Columbia, Canada

Designing for People (DFP -- a pan-university research cluster) is 
seeking applications for a one-year (renewable for a second year) 
postdoctoral fellow to play a pivotal role in designing and delivering 
an innovative cross-departmental graduate program in Human Computer 
Interaction. The position is available immediately at UBC’s Point Grey 
campus in Vancouver, Canada.

Description:

DFP is developing a new two-year graduate enrichment program with first 
phase of delivery targeted for September 2017. The teaching postdoc is 
envisioned to play a multi-faceted role for this program. The two 
primary foci for Year 1 are to work with a faculty team on the design 
and delivery of the program’s two core courses: (1) foundations of HCI, 
and (2) an eight-month externally-sponsored, team-based project in 
user-centered design. Both of these will be done in partnership with a 
network of DFP faculty members. The position has some flexibility – 
candidates who are also interested in building their research portfolio 
will have the option to include DFP research as part of their job 
description. For example, program evaluation is a secondary goal for the 
position, which includes assessment of best practices for ‘team’ 
building and interdisciplinarity. The postdoc could use the DFP 
environment to conduct research on these topics.

Thus, this role will be ideal for an individual who wants to groom 
themself for a professional career in innovative, high-value education, 
rising out of a stellar doctoral research program - for example, as a 
tenure-track instructor, and/or education researcher.

Application Criteria:

- The applicant should hold a PhD in a “Designing for People” 
discipline. We expect to see applicants from, for example, Computer 
Science, iSchools, or human-facing engineering (human factors) design. 
In exceptional cases, a research-type Master’s degree combined with 
professional instructional experience will be considered.
- Start dates are somewhat flexible, but the ideal candidate would start 
by July 2017, or as soon as possible thereafter.
- Applicants must have relevant HCI / user-centered design teaching 
skills, demonstrated by a successful teaching portfolio (e.g., serving 
as a teaching assistant and ideally a lecturer for HCI courses).
- Applicants should also have relevant HCI / user-centered design 
research experience, demonstrated by publications in high-quality venues.
- Applicants should have experience with a variety of human-centered 
research methods (research ethics, questionnaires, qualitative 
interviews, and other education evaluation metrics).

Application submission:

Interested applicants should send the following information to 

dfp-postdoc at cs.ubc.ca:

- a brief letter of application, clarifying interest and fit to the position
- a curriculum vitae
- three reference letters (to be sent separately)

We will review applications as they arrive.


Further information:

For more information about the position contact:
Karon MacLean (maclean at cs.ubc.ca) or
Joanna McGrenere (joanna at cs.ubc.ca)

Designing For People – HCI at UBC is a new research cluster that brings 
together faculty and students from across many units at UBC who are 
focused on designing interactive technologies for human use. Our 
temporary website can be found at: 
http://apsc-hci.sites.olt.ubc.ca/

Vancouver is recognized as one of the most livable cities in the world. 
More information can be found at http://vancouver.ca/aboutvan.htm

UBC hires on the basis of merit and is strongly committed to equity and 
diversity within its community. We especially welcome applications from 
visible minority group members, women, Aboriginal persons, persons with 
disabilities, persons of minority sexual orientations and gender 
identities, and others with the skills and knowledge to productively 
engage with diverse communities.

UBC eligibility for the postdoctoral fellow rank is such that the 
appointment must commence within five years of being awarded a PhD 
(excluding maternity/parental/adoptive leave).