Available thesis proposals:
- User-centered interaction design
- Human-Computer Interaction and e-Learning
- Augmented and Virtual Reality
- Digital Making
- Critical Interaction Design, Artifacts and Interactive Art
- Co-design of open source educational material
- Synthesis and analysis of facial images and human voice
- Critical and Speculative Data Visualization
- Analysis of Japanese video games (ゲーム) through the lens of platform studies
| Thesis proposals | Researchers | Research Group |
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User-centered interaction design Human-computer interaction (HCI) is organized around three main elements: design, technology and people. It mainly focuses on the definition, design and evaluation of interactive products, tools and systems from a user-centered perspective. Interaction design researchers explore, design, build and test interactive products and systems with user-experience goals in mind. HCI provides a set of models, methods and techniques to user centered interaction design research that take into account the design process and key activities such as user research, ideation, interaction definition, prototyping and user testing. This line explores research around interaction design processes and methods, interaction co-design, conversational interfaces, gesture interfaces or tangible interaction. |
Mail: emor@uoc.edu Mail: jsoleradillon@uoc.edu |
DARTS |
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Human-Computer Interaction and e-Learning This research proposal is focused on the relationship between HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) and TEL (Technology-Enhanced Learning): how design and technology impact students and their learning. Interaction design and human-centered design can transform learning experiences and provide e-learning environments, learning resources and educational tools that take into account learners’ needs, wants and limitations. Therefore, this research proposal focuses on design, technology and learning in order to provide interactive and user-centered technology-enhanced learning. This research topic includes:
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Mail: emor@uoc.edu
Mail: jmelenchonm@uoc.edu
Mail: lblascos@uoc.edu
Mail: qberga@uoc.edu
Mail: jchaconp@uoc.edu
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Augmented and Virtual Reality are more and more present in our personal and social lives. They define a new media, requiring real-time technologies where the interaction is essential, but also where the interface plays a key role, allowing 3D interaction in Immersive Virtual Environments.
This research aims to focus not only on the technological aspects, but also on other aspects such as usability, ethical issues, or human factors. It intends to encompass all areas related to virtual reality (VR), including augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and 3D user interfaces (3DUIs).
Moreover, it focuses on advances and novelties in theories and methods but also on applying existing ideas to solve interesting problems with an innovative approach or on the experience learned from developing effective systems integrating such techniques and technologies.
Keywords: 3D User Interfaces, Augmented Reality, Avatars, Diversity and gender issues, Embodied agents, virtual humans and (self-)avatars, Ethical issues, Human factors and ergonomics, Immersive / 360° video, Immersive games, Immersive Virtual Environments, Perception and cognition, Presence, body ownership, and agency, User experience and usability, Virtual Reality.
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Mail: pbourdin@uoc.edu |
GAME |
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Digital making’ is a keyword that is used regularly in discussions about technology education and it has a twofold meaning: “making digital things” and “making things using digital tools”.
Although the term is descriptive, creating artifacts with digital technology, the focus of its use encompasses everything from creating software and hardware using, through to designing and constructing physical objects using digital fabrication tools – CNC machines, 3D printers and laser cutters.
This research proposal pays special attention to the relationship between digital making and technical education for no STEM students, exploring the potential of digital making tools in order to nurture technical knowledge for digital creation such as creative coding, generative art and design and digital fabrication.
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Mail: stesconi@uoc.edu |
Mussol |
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Critical Interaction Design, Artifacts and Interactive Art This research proposal focuses on critical interaction design in order to explore functional, non-functional, aesthetic, cultural, speculative and political dimensions of interfaces. Speculative, critical and discursive design constitute the methodological approaches to explore critical interaction design. The research in this area includes discursive, contextual and analytical research and also prototyping, development and building artifacts as means to test ideas and validate hypotheses. This research topic includes interactive media archaeology; interaction for social good and justice vs. dark patterns and surveillance capitalism; measuring agency on interactive artifacts and/or conversational interfaces; user-centered interaction design in interactive media art. |
Mail: emor@uoc.edu Mail: jsoleradillon@uoc.edu
Mail: lblascos@uoc.edu
Mail: pgonzalezd@uoc.edu
Mail: qberga@uoc.edu
Mail: jchaconp@uoc.edu
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DARTS |
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La proposta de tesi s'emmarca en l'àmbit del digital making i cerca generar investigacions finalitzades al disseny i fabricació de materials educatius de codi obert mitjançant l'ús de tecnologies CAD/CAM.
Les investigacions s'iniciaran en col·laboració amb el professorat de centres educatius i es duran a terme amb dinàmiques de co-disseny. El codi font dels productes i tota la informació necessària a la fabricació estaran publicats en obert i podran ser descarregats per a la seva fabricació per qui hi estigui interessat.
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Mail: stesconi@uoc.edu |
Mussol |
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Realistic generation of talking faces for natural interaction. Depending on the interests of the doctoral student, the image or audio part can be developed to different degrees.
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Mail: jmelenchonm@uoc.edu |
DARTS |
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Data visualization is a multidisciplinary field that impacts a wide range of domains. Every data visualization is inherently subjective, embodying a specific perspective of the world; it presents reality in a particular way by highlighting certain aspects of the information while omitting or concealing others. This doctoral thesis proposal considers both the study of visualizations and their interaction interfaces, as well as the creation of critical and speculative visualizations. Developed through a methodology rooted in hands-on practice and reflective analysis, and adopting a critical, situated, and contextual theoretical approach, the theses in this proposal may focus on the following topics:
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Mail: lblascos@uoc.edu
Mail: jmelenchonm@uoc.edu
Mail: qberga@uoc.edu
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DARTS |
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Video game platform studies research how platforms, both hardware and software, shape game development and player experiences, covering a range of topics, spanning platform-specific technical limitations to the cultural and social impact of platforms. In that regard, Japanese video games have unique characteristics that differentiate them from other international productions, such as their gameplay and their graphic and narrative style, which can sometimes be limited by technical and design decisions. To this end, developers create specific graphics engines and tools to assist them in the development of their games. This line of research aims to analyse and understand the technical, creative and strategic factors that Japanese video game companies take into account to overcome the limitations of the specific hardware on which their video games will run, while maintaining their creative essence.
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Mail: jarnedo@uoc.edu |
GAME |