Associate Professor in Computer Games (092020-329)

Located in a modern £300M campus in the heart of Birmingham City Centre, England, the School of Computing and Digital Technology is a thriving, vibrant, and inspiring learning community committed to excellence in research, high quality teaching and impactful industrial engagement. Building on continuous success in student growth and in sustained advancement of research activities, the school has embarked on a programme of extensive expansion funded by substantial long-term investments.

Our growing teams are teaching, exploring and practising in some of the most exciting areas in the field of computing and the processing of digital media.  Our research groups include the Digital Media Technology Lab; data science and big data analytics; cybersecurity and digital forensics; future networks (SDN - software defined networks, NFV - network function virtualisation, distributed computing and the Internet of Things, wireless LAN, ad-hoc wireless and sensor networks); enterprise systems and socio-technical systems modelling. 

We are a practice-based school, making our teaching and research relevant to the evolving market for computer skills by partnering with local and global enterprise in areas such as smart cities, medical applications, the media production industry, and IoT applications. We work in a collaborative and cross disciplinary culture, where interacting freely across the school and with colleagues in other schools is encouraged to gain a unique insight into impactful problem domains.

We invite applications to join our integrated teaching and research teams for the Computer Games Technology course in the School of Computing and Digital Technology. For this role we are particularly seeking applicants who bring skills in one or more area in Computer Graphics, Games Production and Games Visual Effects. 

The Computer Games Technology team at Birmingham City University is composed of members from mixed disciplines; covering development, design, production and technical art. We have a thriving staff-student community with an ethos of project-based and role-based teaching with active groups dedicated to Game Jams and extra-curricular activities. We promote a realistic approach to personal development and actively embrace playtime through weekly Game Night activities. A particular highlight is the staff vs. student gaming tournaments – staff are yet to win. As a result, great inter-personal skills and the ability to link up curriculum to bespoke engagement strategies are required.

The Role

Providing an excellent student experience. Acting in accord with the University’s strategy, policy and procedures. Disseminate and innovate on best practice for learning, teaching, support and assessment methods.Supervise student computing projects at undergraduate and postgraduate level, securing industry-mentored projects for the student body.Lead in the design and development of high quality, up-to-date computing courses.Setting and marking of assessments and providing constructive feedback and feedforward. Take a leading role in management, administration and development of the course provision within the school.Reflective practice as a method for improving performance of yourself and collegiately.Participate in and orchestrate outreach activities to aid in recruitment. Conduct high quality research leading to publications in reputable journals and international conference proceedings.To develop bids and partnerships to secure research funding. 

Essential

Hold a PhD in Games, Computer Science, or a related technical subject, or significant industrial experience.Have a strong record of leading research teams, groups and  conducting research supervisionA proven record of attracting and securing research funding and partnering across your area of practice. Internationally recognised excellence in  creating and writing research publicationsHigh-level knowledge, skill and expertise in Game Development middleware such as Unity or Unreal Engine 4. Applicants should have demonstrated excellent teaching in higher education or have presented regularly to technical audiences in an industry setting.Excellent team working and communication skillsTrack record of successful networking and community managementExpertise in one or more of:

Graphics: 

Ability to demonstrate use of the appropriate tools and techniques for profiling and optimisation of code bases.

Knowledge of shader writing and debugging tools.

Strong C/C++/C#/JS and Python skills. 

Production: 

Experience with industry standard DevOps practices and agile methodologies. 

In-depth knowledge of evolving game market trends, competition and platform developments. 

Technical scripting proficiency.

Game Visual Effects: 

Proficiency with modern art development tools such as Houdini, Maya / 3DS Max / Blender, Photoshop, Substance Painter and sculpting software such as Mudbox or zBrush. 

Experience using large file asset management tool chains and integration of assets into game middleware. 

Desirable

Have a strong record of research and research publications.Strong mathematical background with knowledge of industry standard games artificial intelligence techniques.Knowledge of full stack development to support both web and mobile deployment.A passion for playing, developing and producing video games.Experience with event planning.Interest in complementary disciplines to Games.

We welcome applicants from a diverse background, be it academia or industry. For an informal discussion of the post, please contact Carlo Harvey via email (carlo.harvey@bcu.ac.uk).

As part of your application, please attach your CV, Covering Letter and Highest Qualification. Candidates are advised to remove personal information, including names to ensure a fair and transparent recruitment process.

Please note that the closing date for the above advert and for applications is Saturday 31 October 2020.

Closing Date: 31 Oct 2020
Category: Academic