ICT Innovation, Human Computer Interaction and Design (HCID) – (M.Sc.)

Contents

Human Computer Interaction and Design (HCID) major specialisations in the second year

User Modelling for Advanced Human-Computer interaction - Aalto University

Aalto offers a specialisation in User modelling for advanced human- computer interaction with courses in experimental user interfaces, statistical signal modelling and selectable topics including machine learning and neural networks, digital image processing, speech recognition and language technology. The students will learn how to apply advanced machine learning techniques for modelling users and their interactions with computers. The specialisation is offered by two departments, the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, the Department of Media Technology and the Department of Information and Computer Science, a pioneering institution of research in statistical pattern recognition, neural networks and machine learning.

Mobile and Ubiquitous Interaction - KTH Royal Institute of Technology

KTH offers a specialisation in mobile and ubiquitous interaction with courses in design, development and implementation of mobile and physical interaction. The two schools involved, ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and CSC (Computer Science and Communication) are leading and complement each other in mobile technology, user-centred design and physical interaction. KTH is well fitted for this specialisation with a strong research background in areas like CSCW, mobile computing and User Centred Design of communication media. Furthermore KTH offers a unique and integrated education and research environment with world-leading telcom industries located in Stockholm / Kista.

Multi-Modal Interaction - TU Berlin

TU Berlin offers a specialisation in multi-modal interaction with courses in speech recognition, emotion and situation recognition, image analysis, vision-based interaction, and biometrics. The focus will be on innovative interaction paradigms, both from the technical as well as from the user side. TUB is particularly suited for educating this topic, as it disposes of a multidisciplinary group of professors and researchers with a background ranging from electrical engineering and computer science to psychology and design. Study and Master theses projects can be performed on campus in conjunction with Deutsche Telekom Laboratories (T-Labs) as an EIT partner, as well as with numerous scientific institutions intensively collaborating with TUB in the near surroundings (DFKI, Fraunhofer institutes, etc.).

Multimodal interaction will be particularly important for smart spaces and digital cities, but of course future media and content delivery will also be a target of this specialization. Topics for master theses and projects will span from the user-centric development of new multimodal interaction paradigms on mobile devices, the usage of 3D audio and visual interaction paradigms, towards the automatic classification of context on the basis of multimodal sensory input in order to provide adative and personalizable services.

Situated Interaction - Univ. Paris-Sud (UPS)

UPS offers a specialisation in situated interaction: students will learn how to design, develop and evaluate interactive applications and interfaces tailored to the user needs and adapted to their contexts of use. They will be trained to the state-of-the-art in novel interaction techniques, including mixed reality, tangible interfaces, multimodal interaction, immersive environments, interactive visualization and collaborative interaction. UPS also offers an advanced course in design and evaluation of interactive systems with a multi-disciplinary approach involving psychology, creativity and statistics. UPS students will also benefit from unique research platforms: the large- scale, multi-user, multi-sensorimotor immersive Evolutive Virtual Environment (EVE system) the WILD room, featuring a large ultra-high resolution wall display, a multitouch table and a motion tracking system. Both platforms will be included in the DIGISCOPE network of high-end visualisation rooms for collaborative interaction that just got funded by the French government (http://www.digiscope.fr).

This specialisation is particularly relevant to the thematic areas that feature specific contexts of use, including Digital Cities, Smart Spaces, and, to a lesser extent, Health and Wellbeing. For Digital Cities, which is led by Paris- Sud, projects and master theses will focus on mobile interaction, augmented/mixed reality and the use of information visualization for supervision, monitoring and decision-making. For Smart Spaces, projects and master theses will focus on ubiquitous/tangible interaction, immersive interfaces and collaborative systems.

Intelligent Systems - 3TU - TU Twente

Context-aware agents and decision support systems that perform automated reasoning and learn automatically from the user and the environment. We look at tools and methods that can deal with incomplete, uncertain and ambiguous real-life data, obtained unobtrusively from the user, at cognitive architectures and mental models that define the internal reasoning of the agents, You will learn to apply strategic interaction styles and to use existing platforms to design and develop multi-agent systems.

Intelligent agent-based systems will be applicable within most of the thematic areas, such as Smart spaces. Within the Eindhoven node the emphasis will be on Health and Wellbeing, in particular on personal sensor networks that will diagnose and monitor bodily parameters and will provide the user with advice and feedback for a healthier lifestyle.

Cognitive interaction - LITE - University College London (UCL)

LITE offer a specialisation that brings a strong human-centred and cognitive perspective to HCI practice. The core expertise will be contributed by the University College London Interaction Centre (UCLIC), which runs an existing Master‘s programme in Human-Computer Interaction with Ergonomics. This is the longest running and largest of its kind in the UK. The centre has excellent links with practitioners in London and elsewhere, and students get involved with practice from the start of the course — through practitioner seminars, through coursework that addresses problems developed in conjunction with local industry, and through student placements for MSc projects. The students' practical work is underpinned by strong theoretical foundations, drawing from cognitive, social, affective and design sciences, so that they acquire an understanding that is transferrable to novel and unfamiliar situations. Elective modules from other MSc courses in UCL Computer Science complement the human-centred syllabus.

Summer & Winter Schools and Camps

All students take part in an EIT ICT Master School kick-off and a joint summer programme. Summer and winter schools support each individual study programme with a multidisciplinary and international dimension, and create a clear EIT ICT Labs joint touch to our education. A set of thematic oriented camps with integrated technical and business focus are organized in co-operation with research and business activities. They summer and winter schools bring together various stakeholders in our eco-system at EIT ICT Labs. Integrated competitions and camps on innovation aspects provide focused hands-on experience for our students, young faculty and post-docs.

Funding details

For the most highly ranked admitted students (as a minimum 30%), we will provide fee waivers. EIT ICT Labs has also reserved funding for scholarships covering personal expenses on the level of 9000 Euro per year and student, however a formal decision by the European Commission is pending in this matter.