Performance augmentation

Performance Augmentation seeks to bridge the dissociative gap between abstract knowledge and its practical application, researching radically new methods to connect knowing something ‘in principle’ to applying that knowledge ‘in practice’. We will speed the refinement of new methods to integrate them to be used for polished performance.

Within a narrative in which Artificial Intelligence and Robotics are said to threaten jobs, Performance Augmentation is focused on identifying, developing, and validating solutions that meets the need of modern industry for access to expertise, professional development to a level of mastery; ensuring regulatory compliance at lower cost. Top experts are scarce, time is value, and travel a risk. Immersive and wearable technologies enable us to rethink personal computing to embed knowledge directly into what people experience, enriching the world beyond the visible to allow the creation of novel and powerful forms of feedback on performance.

It is our mission to create the new new interface and extend the performance-relevance of human-computer interaction (HCI). We will research mixed reality interactive content and establish interoperability in order to improve user experience and human performance, while at the same time lowering entry barriers and providing safe routes for R&D investment.

With this research programme, we will pilot novel experience capturing and guidance technology, holographic artificial intelligences, and human performance analytics with real-time applications to respond to the open knowledge and innovation challenges of the 21st century; with increased affective attachment, immediacy, utility, and accuracy.

In a sense, we seek to build, with wearable and pervasive computing, super powers that allow the user to thrive and act at a level of proficiency otherwise only acquirable at greater cost.

One of our exciting research facilities at The Open University is the Jennie Lee Research Laboratory complex, which provides state-of-the-art Open XR Studios facilities for research in educational technology and related areas. Open XR Studios will feature state-of-the-art equipment to capture, reproduce and render 4D imagery. It will deliver immersive and reality-embedded learning to students in their homes, which will enable the OU to create authentic contexts for skills development. The studio will also serve as a research platform to better understand how to engage students across a range of extended reality learning scenarios. This will create partnership opportunities with the wider higher education sector, placing the OU at the forefront of utilising these technologies in a responsible and equitable manner.

Entry requirements

Minimum 2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent) and an MA or research methods training at MA level (or equivalent). If you are not a UK citizen, you may need to prove your knowledge of English.

Current/recent research projects

• Augmented Reality Instructional Design for Language Learning: ARIDLL | Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University
• Extending Design Thinking with Emerging Digital Technologies: ExtenDT² | Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University

Potential supervisors

• Professor Fridolin Wild

Fees and funding

PhD fees

Professional doctorate fees

Some of our research students are funded via the Faculty or The Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership others are self-funded.

For detailed information about fees and funding, visit Fees and studentships.

To see current funded studentship vacancies across all research areas, visit Current studentships.

Links

• Performance Augmentation | Institute of Educational Technology
• IET Research