CONVERGENCE of Humans and Machines | Tampere universities

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About Convergence

Today, we see that the world is getting filled with various machines, autonomous vehicles, real-time translation tools, wearables and beyond, where the boundary between humans and machines is vanishing. Thus, the main goal of Convergence is to contribute into this future where one can transfer knowledge, expertise, and skills in real-time, and where AI-based actors automatically understand, sense, and proactively & ethically react to humans. We foresee that it will lead into the co-creation and co-existence between modern human and machines, i.e., convergence, which will bring a completely new set of research problems.

Convergence is a new research field that brings together academics from Social Sciences & Humanities and Technology & Engineering to train the next generation of Doctoral Expertise and address future challenges and opportunities of multidisciplinary Convergence of Humans and Machines.

Convergence brings together expertise of natural sciences and engineering and social sciences and humanities in multidisciplinary union.

Doctoral research projects will be related to novel veins of development of technology in eight key areas:

Affective computing
Gamification
Virtualization
Cybernetics
Ubiquitous connectivity
Dispersed computing
AI & machine learning
Robotics & machine perception

Stay tuned for news!

Funding source

Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation

Contact persons

convergence [at] tuni.fi

Latest news

Hiring 16 doctoral students to join the CONVERGENCE of Humans and Machines research field at TAU

A new doctoral research field receives significant funding to study convergence of human and machine

To address these rising challenges, the ITC faculty will be recruiting 16 funded doctoral researchers, and eligible supervisors are now invited to propose the research topic and collaborators to get a chance for a funded doctoral student for 4 years. Join the Convergence programme by proposing a multidisciplinary research topic for a funded doctoral student now! Every student will be supervised by one main supervisor and a co-supervisor – both from different fields (social sciences & humanities and engineering)!

Note, we invite senior scholars from the whole spectrum of the ITC research areas to join the Supervisory team of Convergence spanning from Theater & Arts to Communication, Media and Language Studies and to Computer Sciences, Human Computer Interaction all the way through the Wireless Communications and up to Electrical Engineering!

The main supervisor and the co-supervisor must be from ITC and from different research fields: ENG (engineering) and SSH (social sciences and humanities). However, the supervising team may include other supervisor(s), that is(/are) either from ITC or outside.

Let’s grow a new overlapping expertise from different fields together!

Juho Hamari

Tampere University

Professor

(tietotekniikka)

Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences

+358503186861juho.hamari [at] tuni.fi

Aleksandr Ometov

Tampere University

Senior Research Fellow

Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences

+358503064727aleksandr.ometov [at] tuni.fi

Maija Belliard

Tampere University

Research Specialist

Research and Innovation Services

+358503182543maija.belliard [at] tuni.fi

General recruitment information

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Convergence is the trailblazing doctoral field, aiming at bringing together expertise of natural sciences & engineering (ENG) and social sciences & humanities (SSH) in multidisciplinary union. As many as 16 doctoral research projects are related to the following developments: affective computing, gamification, augmented reality, cybernetics, ubiquitous connectivity, dispersed computing, AI & machine learning, and robotics & machine perception. Each student will be supervised by two leading senior faculty members (and, sometimes, a PostDoc or company/organization representative). The main supervisor and the co-supervisor are from different research fields: ENG and SSH. Check the end of the position description for the supervisory team details.

Join Convergence… And make a change!

Tampere University recruitment system

Convergence positions

Research topics of CONVERGENCE were pre-approved by the Dean of ITC in December 2022. Students are expected to start in September 2023!

ID	Topic	Main supervisor	Co-supervisor	Field
1	AI/Human-generated Worlds: Merging Psychophysiology and Machine Learning for Creating Virtual Realities	Riku Roihankorpi	Moncef Gabbouj	Affective computing
2	Human and Machine Perception of Affect in Speech	Okko Räsänen	Liisa Mustanoja	Affective computing
3	The Future of Human Augmentation in Games	Frans Mäyrä	Ismo Rakkolainen	Gamification
4	Ethical Issues in Pervasive Gamified Software, Datafication, Metrification, and Algorithmic Control of Human Practice	Pekka Abrahamsson	Juho Hamari	Gamification
5	Digital Experience Ecology of Societal Value	Kaarina Nikunen	Markku Turunen	Virtualization
6	Augmented Awareness of Contextual Information	Roope Raisamo	Sanna Kumpulainen	Virtualization
7	Technologically Augmented Embodiment and Contemporary Theatre Performance	Pauliina Hulkko	Jukka Vanhala	Cybernetics
8	Games & Play for Posthumans	Oğuz Buruk	Johannes Riquet	Cybernetics
9	Young People and Future Technology: New Ways to Decrease Social Isolation and to Increase Social Interaction (YouthTech)	Sirkku Kotilainen	Elena-Simona Lohan	Ubiquitous connectivity
10	XR in the Wild – Wireless Technology and the Future of Human Environmental Experiences	Mikko Valkama	Mattia Thibault	Ubiquitous connectivity
11	Combining IoT Sensors and Machine Learning to Detect Emotions and Social Experiences	Johanna Vaattovaara	Jari Nurmi	Dispersed computing
12	Second Skin – A Wireless Artificial Cutaneous Sensing System	Matti Mäntysalo	Veikko Surakka	Dispersed computing
13	The Influence of Algorithms or Bots on Political Communication in Social Media	Pekka Isotalus	Tapio Elomaa	AI & machine learning
14	Explanations, Fairness, and Interactivity of Recommendations	Konstantinos Stefanidis	Thomas Olsson	AI & machine learning
15	Robots as Companions to Support Life-Long Wellness	Kaisa Väänänen	Esa Rahtu	Robotics & machine perception
16	Socially-Aware Machine Perception	Tuomas Virtanen	Maija Hirvonen	Robotics & machine perception

General requirements

The applicant needs to have a Master’s degree in a position-specific field and have demonstrated (during your studies towards the Master’s degree or otherwise) the competence and motivation to pursue postgraduate studies. Please be prepared to provide proof of your merits when requested.

Successful candidates must be pursuing or will be accepted to study towards a doctoral degree in the Doctoral Programme of Humans and Technologies (DPHAT). Please visit the admissions webpage https://www.tuni.fi/en/study-with-us/programmes/doctoral-programmes for more information on eligibility requirements. Please, pay special attention to the language requirements.

Please submit your application through TAU online recruitment system (every position has a separate URL above). The closing date for applications is 15 February 2023 (23:59 EET /UTC +2). Please write your application and all the accompanying documentation in English and attach them in PDF format.

Required documents

Please attach only the following documents (in PDF format) to your application:

A letter of motivation and description of your research interests. Named “Surname_Motivation_Letter.pdf”
- The selected applicant will have to apply and be admitted to the doctoral programme prior to the start of the work. The student needs to write a more detailed research plan at that stage.
Curriculum vitae according to the TENK template. Named “Surname_CV.pdf”
Pdf copy of your MSc and BSc degree certificates, including transcripts of all university records and their English translations (Finnish and Swedish certificates are also accepted).
- If you do not have the certificates yet, please, include the letter from your university that provides the expected graduation date as well as your current transcript of records. Named “Surname_Degrees.pdf”
Certificate of language proficiency “Named “Surname_Lang.pdf”
- The minimum English language test result requirements: Test name: minimum test result (*The previous CAE and CPE have been renamed as C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency): TOEFL iBT / TOEFL iBT Special Home Edition: 92 overall, with no section below 20; IELTS (academic) / IELTS Indicator: 6.5 overall, with no section below 5.5; PTE (academic): 62 overall, with no section below 54; C1 Advanced*: C; C2 Proficiency*: C1; Finnish National Certificate of Language Proficiency (English): Proficiency level 5
- Exemptions to the language requirements: It is possible to be exempted from submitting a language test score if you have completed a higher education degree in English in certain countries. If you apply without a valid language test result, carefully examine the exemptions that your studies fulfil the requirements.
Either 2 Recommendation letters [preferably] OR the contact details of two referees [if the first option is not possible, and with explained reasoning], e.g., your M.Sc. supervisors / employers. Named “Surname_Recommendations.pdf”

For general question about Convergence, contact: Coordinator, Dr. Aleksandr Ometov, aleksandr.ometov [at] tuni.fi