Project Assistant in Mixed Realities for a Sustainable Built Environment

Are you interested in applying mixed reality to the built environment to support decision-making for sustainable cities? Guided by building science researchers, this project assistant role sits at the intersection of data science, building performance simulation and human-computer-interaction. Take the chance to work with our innovative group and contribute to exciting research in a collaborative, dynamic environment.

About us

The Sustainable Built Environments Research Area develops the methods, tools, and strategies necessary to transition the built environment toward sustainability. Our work spans from material science to urban planning, bridging the gap between fundamental sustainability science and applied research in collaboration with industry, planners, and citizens.

About the research project

Built environment performance assessment can inform planning decisions across various scales, from individual buildings to entire cities or regions, making it a crucial step toward sustainable cities. However, the potential of built environment performance assessment to inform a wider audience about the impact of planning decisions remains underexplored. The project focuses on visualising these simulations and assessments by combining virtual and physical models using Mixed Reality. The project covers multiple use cases spanning different scales, such as combining wind, air pollution, noise, and energy simulation results for neighbourhood densification, or daylight and embodied carbon at the building level. The technology covers handheld or head-mounted AR, as well as spatial projection, integrated with physical 3D models and touch tables. Your role will be to help develop the handheld and head-mounted AR tools that bring built environment visualisations to users. They will be tested to make early design decisions based on the visualised data.

Who we are looking for

The following requirements are mandatory:

• A master's degree (or equivalent foreign degree) in a field relevant to the project (e.g., Data Science, Visualisation, Architecture, or Urban Studies). Note: This degree must be completed by the time the employment decision is made
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English
• Proven experience in AR/VR/MR software development
• A collaborative mindset and a willingness to support the researchers in the group

The following experience will strengthen your application:

• Experience with major real-time engines (e.g., Unity) and AR/MR development frameworks for handheld or head-mounted devices
• Experience with real-time rendering pipelines, including custom shader development (e.g., CG, GLSL) and adaptation across different graphics backends
• Experience with performance engineering for mobile, AR, or MR platforms, including GPU/CPU profiling, memory bandwidth constraints, and rendering optimisation for large-scale spatial or simulation data
• Familiarity with advanced 3D reconstruction and scene representations, such as point-based, neural, or volumetric methods (e.g., NeRF and 3D Gaussian Splatting), and their integration into real-time rendering pipelines
• Ability to understand building performance simulation data and translate complex spatial datasets into clear, interactive, and intuitive visualisations

What you will do:

• Assist in developing handheld and head-mounted AR applications for visualizing building/neighborhood-scale performance simulations
• Support the integration of simulation data into AR visualisations
• Optimise AR application rendering performance and interaction experience
• Assist with handling spatial positioning, calibration, and tracking within AR scenes, ensuring precise alignment between virtual data and physical models
• Conduct testing across multiple platforms to ensure cross-device compatibility
• Iterate on AR interaction interfaces and visualisation presentation based on test results
• Assist with technical documentation and research reports.

Contract terms

The position is a temporary full-time employment for 6 months. The intended starting date is October 1st, 2026.

Application procedure

The application should be written in English be attached as PDF-files, as below. Maximum size for each file is 40 MB. Please note that the system does not support Zip files.

CV

Personal letter

Other documents (optional): Copies of completed education, grades etc.

Use the button at the foot of the page to reach the application form.

A background check may be conducted as part of the application process.

Please note: The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the application is complete. Incomplete applications and applications sent by email will not be considered. Contact details to references will be requested after the interview.

Application deadline: 18 September, 2026

For questions, please contact:

Name Alexander Hollberg

Email alexander.hollberg@chalmers.se