PhD position in-Interaction Design for Shape - Changing Interfaces

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label Burse autorenew 2025-09-29, 17:01 history_edu Cristian Ion
The Eindhoven University of Technology is one of Europe's leading research universities. The Eindhoven area, in the southern part of the Netherlands, is one of Europe's top 'innovation ecosystems', with many high-tech companies and institutes. TU/e works closely with many of these companies and institutes, and research at TU/e is characterized by a combination of academic excellence and industrial relevance.

The Department of Industrial Design (ID) of the TU/e, founded in 2001, is a rapidly growing and dynamic department with over 600 students, both Bachelor and Master, and around 80 research staff members and about 60 lecturers and supportive staff. ID focuses on intelligent products, systems, and related services in a societal context.

The GHOST project

The PhD research will be carried out as part of a European project called GHOST (Generic, Highly-Organic Shape-Changing inTerfaces), a collaboration between the University of Copenhagen, the University of Bristol, the University of Lancaster, and the University of Eindhoven.



GHOSTs are surfaces with display properties made of malleable materials that can change into and retain arbitrary shapes so as to display output from the system or afford new actions. At the same time, GHOSTs allow users to deform, touch, or otherwise manipulate the shape of their surface to provide input. The GHOST project shall create and evaluate GHOST prototypes, develop relevant technology and design potential applications, and generate relevant knowledge.

The consortium combines expertise in different areas:

(a) the hardware and software for shape change, using combinations of shape actuators and smart materials;

(b) the interaction design for such interfaces, how to make them physically appealing, useful, and usable; and

(c) evaluating the user experience of interacting with GHOSTs, quantifying and modelling users’ performance with and affect towards the interface.