Paid internship / Visiting scholar position on "Interplanetary communication through Virtual Reality"

A three month paid internship / visiting scholar position is available here in the Department of Computer Science of the KU Leuven (Belgium). The successful candidate will work on a funded project focused on the simulation of interplanetary communications through Virtual Reality. The proposed starting date is September but depends on the specific situation of the candidate (see below).

=== Details of the Project ===

An essential characteristic of future human colonization efforts will be the desire to communicate with friends and family back home on Earth or in other inhabited outposts. However, an unescapable limit is imposed by the time delay related to communicate across these large distances. Whereas the time delay to communicate from Earth with people on the Moon is a little more than one second, this will rise to 4 to 24 minutes to communicate with Mars, depending on the relative positions in their orbits. A hypothetical settlement on a habitable planet in Alpha Centauri, the closest solar system to our own, will require people to wait for four years for their message to be delivered, and another four years to receive a reply.

We aim to use Virtual Reality to immerse users in a hypothetical settlement on another world. We will use the created environments to study how they approach the challenge of communicating with another party when these time delays are involved (in a manageable way). This will provide some insights into the requirements that such system will have when they are eventually really implemented, and potential implications for VR communications between isolated communities here on Earth.

=== Profile ===

The ideal candidate will have demonstrable prior experience in the design of Virtual Environments with 3D engines such as the Unreal Engine (preferably) or Unity. Some modelling experience will be beneficial. Given the role, a passion for space exploration and knowledge of hard science fiction will undoubtedly help.

The candidate is expected to create a set of Virtual Environments, contribute to the execution of a subsequent VR study (depending on their level of experience), and write a final report.

=== Eligibility ===

This internship / visiting scholar position is ideally aimed at candidates who are already enrolled in a university in Belgium or abroad. Eligibility to work in Belgium for non-European citizens (and the compensation) will depend on the specific situation.

For more information, please send an email to Adalberto Simeone (adalberto.simeone@kuleuven.be). The position will remain available until filled. ​