Doctoral Researcher (Gamification / Games / XR / GenAI / Emerging Media for Engagement with Sustainable Futures), 1-3 positions Tampere University in Finland

Tampere University is recruiting 1–3 Doctoral Researchers in gamification, games, XR, GenAI, and emerging media for work on engagement with sustainable futures. The positions sit within the Research Centre of Gameful Realities, a trans-disciplinary research environment focused on gameful technologies, immersive media, human-computer interaction, and sustainability-oriented applications.

Successful candidates will develop their own doctoral research agenda within either the CLIMETA project or the broader OPEN theme. CLIMETA focuses on VR, metacognition, and climate change engagement, including avatar embodiment, perspective-taking, AI-supported reflective agents, bioadaptive media, and methods for assessing meta-engagement in immersive settings. The OPEN positions invite proposals on how games, XR, AI, gamification, conversational agents, and related media can support learning, reflection, participation, wellbeing, behavior change, public engagement, creativity, and social cooperation in sustainability-related contexts.

The call is especially relevant for applicants interested in laboratory and experimental research, but interdisciplinary and design-oriented projects are also welcome. Methods may include VR development, design and participatory design workshops, LLM conversational agent design and evaluation, interviews, psychometric measures, and psychophysiological measurements. The role includes research planning, data collection and analysis, article writing, dissemination in academic and public-facing venues, collaboration within the research group, and participation in further funding activities.

Applicants should hold a Master’s degree in a relevant field by 2027-01-01 and must be fluent in English. The advertised background areas include computer science, HCI, affective computing, information systems, cognitive science, media and communication studies, design, health technology, behavioural sciences, educational sciences, economics, and human-environment interaction. The university notes that candidates may apply before doctoral programme admission; the selected researcher(s) must enroll in and be accepted to an appropriate doctoral programme before employment begins.

The appointment is full-time and fixed-term for four years. The salary is based on the Finnish University Salary System, with a typical starting salary of approximately €2,800 per month, increasing according to experience and doctoral progress. The position offers staff benefits including occupational health care, flexible working hours, and campus sports facilities. Depending on topic, the researcher will be based at Tampere University’s City centre campus or Hervanta campus and collaborate across faculties within RCGR and the UNITE flagship consortium.

Application deadline: 2026-10-15 (23:59 EEST). Applications must be submitted online in English as PDF attachments. Required documents include a CV, list of publications if any, one or two academic writing samples, and a motivation letter with a short research idea and earliest starting date. Applicants should clearly indicate whether they are applying for CLIMETA, OPEN, or both. An optional design portfolio may also be included.