Research Fellow in Design and Virtual Reality (EPSCV1030)

Are you an enthusiastic and experienced researcher in the broader field of Constructions and Architecture? Are you interested in Virtual Reality? Are you looking for a new and exciting challenge as part of an international collaboration? Do you want to provide practical solutions to disaster risks in the Global South?

Applications are invited for a 12 month research position based at the University of Leeds.  The successful applicant will conduct research on a British Academy funded project entitled “Novel Approach for Vital Infrastructure Post Disaster (NOVA VIDA)”.  The work will be conducted under the supervision of Dr Ornella Iuorio and Prof. Richard Romano from the University of Leeds, and in collaboration with Dr Gustavo Duran at the Department of Public Affairs in FLACSO Ecuador, and Dr Michael Janoschka at the Department of Geography at the University of Leipzig.  

The primary focus of the project is researching into the creation of new bottom-up community-led frameworks for cohabitation, with the potential to transform how post-disaster infrastructure is conceived and deployed. NOVA VIDA follows a multi-disciplinary approach combining qualitative and participative social sciences approaches and engineering tools including:

(i). Case study analysis; 

(ii). Core empirical work through interviews, focus groups and stakeholder  workshops; 

(iii). Design and development of new urban scenarios at the scale of buildings and neighbourhoods; 

(iii). Immersion of people in simulated scenarios using virtual reality.

You will be involved in understanding the resettlement schemes developed after the 2016 earthquake in Ecuador to propose new future scenarios at a building and neighbourhood scale. The scenarios are expected to include a mix of vernacular, post-disaster and seismic resilient strategies, and include a group of building and interiors that can be the scenes for a set of connected storylines. You will also be expected to develop a virtual reality production and perform assessments with survivors and the general public. The assessments will look at the level of acceptance of the simulated scenarios, and how the participants think these scenarios might impact their wellbeing in the short and long-term.

To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact: 

Dr Ornella Iuorio, Associate Professor, School of Civil Engineering

Tel: +44 (0)113 343 2294 or email: O.Iuorio@leeds.ac.uk  

Please note: If you are not a British or Irish citizen, from 1 January 2021 you will require permission to work in the UK. This will normally be in the form of a visa but, if you are an EEA/Swiss citizen and resident in the UK before 31 December 2020, this may be your passport or status under the EU Settlement Scheme. 

Closing Date: 26 Jan 2021
Category: Research