Lecturer/ Senior Lecturer in Computer Science/ User Experience Design

The Role

The School of Computer Science and Mathematics seeks to appoint a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Computer Science/User Experience Design with an ambition to join the academic team in the department that hosts a thriving UX community along with a games development programme, computer animation and cyber security provision.

You will be creating engaging learning material using latest UX trends, evaluation, design principles and techniques for interactions in 2D and 3D interfaces and adopting current design methodologies and practices. You will join an interdisciplinary team to supervise, support and advise on student projects and pursue active collaborations with industry and other partner organisations. 

You will be required to maintain and progress your professional profile - so crucial for the delivery of the courses - including by collaborative efforts and sharing expertise within the team of specialist academics. You will be supported in this endeavour by our internal system and by the lively research environment. This is a career-defining opportunity and we seek to appoint a candidate with significant competence in design and development of user interaction innovations, including using AI - to extend the research and teaching expertise in the School. You will be expected to publish regularly in learned journals and to prepare for the REF 2029 submission.

The School houses a state-of-the-art Centre for Augmented and Virtual Reality, CAVE Studio – where you will be engaging in immersive media and an ambitious application programme of augmented and virtual reality, AR and VR. The School pursues academic excellence in other areas such as cyber security and artificial intelligence – and holds a Silver Award by the National Cyber Security Centre, NCSC (GCHQ) for its Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Education.

The Person

The successful candidate is expected to demonstrate knowledge in the relevant areas of user experience/HCI and will be ready to adopt and practice innovative pedagogic methods and develop their research potential and professional practice to produce outputs of the standard required for REF submission and/or KEF(Knowledge Exchange Framework) engagement. It is essential that the candidates have a doctoral level qualification and appropriate research and professional skills in a relevant area of User experience/HCI.

The provision of high-quality, student-centred, innovative teaching on our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes will be the focus. You will be organizing hands-on workshops, practical demonstrations, videos, and group projects to provide students with practical experience in various industry-standard software, tools, and techniques. You will participate in relevant research and professional practice, contributing to the advancement of the field of user experience/UI development and promoting interdisciplinary approaches. You will take a lead in learning and teaching in core computer science/user experience/HCI topics and participate in the development of courses. You will make a strong contribution to the profile of the School through demonstrable excellence and leadership in research and teaching. Constantly seeking to improve, you will scrutinise your own work, build networks, and work collaboratively to enhance the faculty’s reputation. You will work with a team of talented lecturers to deliver vibrant, relevant education to your students, using a variety of technologies and approaches to develop their Future Skills.

By the end of the probation period, you must have achieved the relevant level of PSF recognition (if this has not already been obtained), typically a Fellowship of Higher Education Academy. For those new to teaching, this will be through our accredited Introduction to Learning and Teaching and for those experienced in teaching, through our Kingston Academic Practice Standards Framework.

The Faculty

There are few faculties across the UK university landscape as varied in their scope. We teach and research across a wide range of subjects, allowing for real cross-discipline innovation and creativity.

Our Lecturers are experts – working at the forefront of their fields and actively engaged in research so they can bring advanced knowledge to their teaching. Our state-of-the-art facilities include specialist laboratories, a public outreach centre, a specialist virtual reality centre, a rocket lab, and flight simulators. For future scientists and engineers, this combines to create the ultimate real-life space for practical learning. For academic professionals, this all adds up to a truly vibrant, exciting environment in one of the largest and most diverse STEM faculties in the sector.