Job: Job Openings in Game AI and Interactive Storytelling

Hi everyone,

we at the Digital Creativity Labs in York (UK) are hiring two research associates (postdocs), one in AI and Games and one in Digital/Interactive Storytelling. Feel free to contact me for details.

Here are the links:

Research Associate in Artificial Intelligence & Data Analytics
https://jobs.york.ac.uk/wd/plsql/wd_portal.show_job?p_web_site_id=3885&p_web_page_id=266782

Research Associate in Digital Storytelling/Narratives in Interactive Media and Games
https://jobs.york.ac.uk/wd/plsql/wd_portal.show_job?p_web_site_id=3885&p_web_page_id=267334

And here are the descriptions:

## Research Associate in Digital Storytelling/Narratives in Interactive Media and Games
https://jobs.york.ac.uk/wd/plsql/wd_portal.show_job?p_web_site_id=3885&p_web_page_id=267334

We are seeking an enthusiastic and motivated researcher in digital narratives and storytelling to join our team in the Digital Creativity Labs (DC Labs), bringing a desire to work across disciplines, alongside some of the world’s leading experts, to change people’s lives through research in digital creativity.  DC Labs is a major (£18 million) investment by three UK research councils, four universities and over 80 collaborative stakeholder organisations to create a world centre of excellence for impact-driven research in digital creativity, focusing on digital games, interactive media and the rich space where they converge. The main DC Labs are led by University of York and build upon other projects including the £12 million EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Intelligent Games and Game Intelligence (www.iggi.org.uk) and the Centre for Digital Heritage (www.york.ac.uk/digital-heritage/). York is uniquely placed to host the DC Labs as the UK’s only UNESCO City of Me!
dia Arts, one of only 8 such cities across the world.

The Role

You will be a key team member within the DC Labs, conducting world-leading interdisciplinary research in interactive screen-based narratives – stories which draw upon traditional film and linear TV, on one hand, and non-linear storytelling in video games, on the other. You will bring specialist knowledge in aspects of digital narratives such as interactive narratives, storytelling in games, interactive TV, multi-platform content distribution, remixed content, user-generated content, or social media. Your research will harness the huge potential of interactive media and digital games for economic, social, scientific and cultural impact. You will bring a multidisciplinary approach and an ability to motivate and work with interdisciplinary teams of researchers, and a desire to broaden your own knowledge outside your main discipline area.  You will have experience of computer programming in one or more languages such as HTML5 and Java Script (preferably), Java, Prolog, Python,!
C#, C++, Unity, with experience in delivering prototypes and enthusiasm for involvement in implementation and delivery.

You will bring a record of high quality scientific publications and, a desire to develop your career through participating in research grant writing and teaching.  You will have a desire to work with external stakeholders to co-create research and achieve impact. You will have good communication skills relevant to both academic and non-academic audiences. Ideally you will have experience of delivering impact, working with the creative industries. Within the DC Labs you will grow your entrepreneurial skills and learn more about these industries by working closely with them to develop impact-driven collaborative projects. As some of the projects will be delivered to partner organisations you will be willing to travel and undertake placements in partner organisations.

The post is based at the main DC Labs site at the University of York, with a vibrant community of interdisciplinary researchers. You will also engage with our University partners in London and Cornwall. You will contribute to projects across the DC Labs network, delivering solutions primarily in digital narratives and storytelling. The substantial investment in digital creativity at the University of York and our partners provides an excellent Launchpad to an academic research career or a career in research in the creative industries.

## Research Associate in Artificial Intelligence & Data Analytics
https://jobs.york.ac.uk/wd/plsql/wd_portal.show_job?p_web_site_id=3885&p_web_page_id=266782

We are seeking an enthusiastic and motivated researcher in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and/or data analytics in games to join our team in the Digital Creativity Labs, bringing a desire to work across disciplines, alongside some of the world’s leading experts, to change people’s lives through research in interactive media and digital creativity.  The Digital Creativity Labs (DC Labs), a major (£18 million) investment by three UK research councils, four universities, and over 80 collaborative partner organisations to create a world centre of excellence for impact-driven research, focusing on digital games, interactive media and the rich space where they converge. The main DC Labs site is York, with “spoke” sites at the Cass Business School, Goldsmiths (University of London) and Falmouth University. The DC Labs builds further upon other current projects led by the University of York including the £12 million EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Intelligent Games and!
Game Intelligence (www.iggi.org.uk) and the Centre for Digital Heritage (www.york.ac.uk/digital-heritage/). The City of York is uniquely placed to host the DC Labs as the UK’s only UNESCO City of Media Arts, one of only 8 such cities across the world.

You will be a key team member within the DC Labs, conducting world-leading interdisciplinary research in games, bringing specific expertise in Artificial Intelligence for game behaviours, and/or Data Mining in games. Research will harness the huge potential of digital games and interactive media for economic, social and cultural impact, through working with external stakeholders, and through asking important questions such as “How can we harness gameplay data to understand player psychology/learning/societies?” and “How can we combine gameplay data and decision search algorithms in order to create more engaging AI players?”. You will work across disciplines and co-create research and impact with users.  You will also preferably have direct experience in one or more of: Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS), Machine Learning (ML), and Deep Neural Networks (DNN). You will have an enthusiasm for games research, preferably with an understanding of the production and development!
methods of the creative industries. You will bring a multidisciplinary approach and an ability to motivate and work with interdisciplinary teams of researchers, as well as a desire to broaden your own knowledge outside your main discipline area.  You will have a First degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience and you will have a PhD in Artifcial Intelligence/Machine Learning or equivalen experience. You will have experience in software engineering and be able to program well in one or more languages such as C#, C++, Python, Java, or Lua, preferably with experience also in using the game engine Unity 3D.

You will have a record of high quality scientific publications, and a desire to develop your career through participating in research grant writing and teaching. You have a desire to work with external stakeholders to co-create research and achieve impact. You will have good communication skills for both academic and non-academic audiences, as well as understanding of the importance of communication in motivating other members of the team. Ideally you will have experience of delivering impact, working with the creative industries. Within the DC Labs you will grow your entrepreneurial skills and learn more about these industries by working closely with them to develop impact-driven collaborative projects and explore opportunities for commercialisation and/or for generating social and cultural outcomes. As projects will be delivered in collaboration with partner organisations you will be willing to travel and undertake short placements in these partner organisations.

The post is based at the main DC Labs site at the University of York, with a vibrant community of over 20 interdisciplinary researchers. You will also engage with our University partners in London and Cornwall. You will contribute to projects across the DC Labs network, delivering solutions primarily in the AI for Game Behaviours and Data Analytics themes. The substantial investment in digital creativity at the University of York and our partners provides an excellent opportunity for you to build and work with a large research team, helping to establish a strong position as a Launchpad to an academic research career or a career in research in the creative industries.

Informal enquiries about this post may be directed to jobs@digitalcreativity.ac.uk

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

Best
Sebastian