Join the ADvanced AIRspace Usability (ADAIR) project!

Aviation is rapidly changing: In the next 15 years, the number of air passengers and the number of aircrafts will double compared to their levels in 2017. New flight deck technologies are urgently required to sustain this expected growth. Polytechnique Montreal, McGill University and Ryerson University joined together to design the flight deck of the future. We work in human factors, user-centered design, mixed reality and avionics systems, and you can be part of that team.

We are currently looking for top-minded researchers and students to join our research program and transform the way pilots interact with the cockpit.

Open research positions

• 2 Post-doctoral fellows or research associates (the latter with Canadian work visa or NAFTA eligibility). Full-time position. Salary + benefits negotiable, commensurate with relevant experience. Duration 3 years.
• 5 PhD students. Scholarship of CAD 22,500/year. Minimum duration 3 years.
• 2 Master's students. Scholarship of CAD 20,000/year. Duration 2 years.

The project will start in September 2022 for a duration of three years.

What you will work on

• Investigate the future tasks of pilots and how technology will change aviation in the next 15 years.
• Design multimodal interactions for the flight deck of the future on one of the following topics: trajectory-based operations (TBO), airport taxi navigation, data management and datalink communication.
• Prototype human-machine interactions on a flight simulator and test your designs with real pilots.
• Publish and present scientific articles to share your findings.
• Post-doctoral fellows will also be responsible for test readiness on the flight simulator, project management, coordination between academic and industrial partners and mentoring of other students.

We planned the project such that you can focus your work on one research topic in a specific interaction domain.

• Multimodal interactions will design the user-facing interactions between the pilot and aircraft technologies on head-down formats. It will investigate different interaction modalities, such as visual, tactile, or auditory to improve pilot's task performance, experience and operational safety.
• Avionics integration will study how to implement on avionics software and hardware the interactions developed by the Multimodal team for the topics of TBO and data management. It will study logical and physical architecture for efficient data exchange between avionics functions.
• Flight deck interactions will study pilot's interactions in the future airspace and will develop assistive technologies to improve task automation.

Why you should join us

• You will gain direct experience working on real-world problems of user-centered design, human factors and avionics.
• Gain research experience in collaboration with industrial partners: You will work with the talented engineering teams of our six partners on human factors, flight deck design and avionics. These companies have already hired several of our graduates following their degrees.
• New to aviation? We will subsidize registration fees for aviation classes to help you obtain your Private Pilot License (PPL).
• Join our teams of graduate students from diverse backgrounds ranging from industrial design to engineering.

How to Apply

To apply, please email Jeremy Cooperstock, preferably including:

1. A brief letter of application, describing your qualifications and relevant experience to the position of interest, along with your dates of availability.
2. Detailed CV with links to online papers and/or project portfolios.
3. Three (3) reference letters (sent separately).

The positions are available immediately, with a reasonably flexible start date. Informal inquiries are welcome. Note that we have recruited a cohort of graduate students but are still seeking several candidates for post-doctoral and/or research associate positions (for the latter, you must have a Canadian work visa or possibly NAFTA eligibility).

About us: The Shared Reality Lab conducts research in audio, video, and haptic technologies, building systems that leverage their capabilities to facilitate and enrich both human-computer and computer-mediated human-human interaction. The lab is part of the Centre for Intelligent Machines and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of McGill University. McGill, one of Canada's most prestigious universities, is located in Montreal, a top city to live in, especially for students.

McGill University is committed to equity in employment and diversity. It welcomes applications from women, Aboriginal persons, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, persons of minority sexual orientation or gender identity, visible minorities, and others who may contribute to further diversification. In Quebec, "Postdoctoral Fellow" is a regulated category of trainee. Notably, a postdoctoral candidate must be within five years of graduating with a Ph.D. For more information, please consult www.mcgill.ca/gps/postdocs/fellows.