A lot of what drives my research interests and that of our group is the basic notion that advanced systems of the future will sense the human user, the user’s state, and adapt to it (in whatever way is useful and suitable for a particular application). In particular, the young field of affective computing and its interaction with Human-Computer/Robot/Machine Interaction (HCI/HRI/HMI) is an area of research focus and future direction. A fundamental focus is on computational modelling of affect and behaviour, or as a very lofty title “Machines Understanding Humans.”
Along the way, we need to solve quite a number of problems, be it in affective computing, human-centred artificial intelligence/machine learning, computer vision, signal processing, robotics, bio-engineering, speech processing or others. The aspect of multimodal, multi-sensor systems also plays a central role, where the multiplicity leads to more accurate and more robust systems, capable of being used in real-world applications, that outperform single modality, single sensor systems.
I collaborate closely with a number of researchers at local institutions (other departments/schools at the University of Canberra, ANU, ADFA, NICTA, CSIRO Data61, Australian Institute of Sports) as well as nationally (CSIRO, UNSW/Black Dog Institute Sydney, University of Western Sydney, Flinders University, University of South Australia, University of Adelaide) and internationally (Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Maryland, IBM TJ Watson Research Center, Augsburg University, University of Ulm, Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics). Postgraduate students often spend 3-6 months of their PhD studies as a visiting researcher at one of these institutions.
Note 1: The following list is in no particular order. The topics are not set in stone and it is certainly possible to combine parts of different topics listed here to form a new project.
Note 2: If you would like to provide your own topic proposal, that is OK as long as it roughly aligns with my research interests.
Note 3: I am currently in the process of updating a list of potential project topics, so watch this space for updates. In the meantime, the above-mentioned areas of interest should give a good guide. As always, projects should be jointly developed between the student and supervisor(s) to ensure mutual interest and a win-win situation.
Roland Goecke 