Research Scientist Intern, Audio User Experience (PhD)

The Meta Reality Labs Research Team brings together a world-class team of researchers, developers, and engineers to create the future of virtual and augmented reality, which together will become as universal and essential as smartphones and personal computers are today.

In particular, the Meta Reality Labs Research Audio team is focused on two goals: creating virtual sounds that are perceptually indistinguishable from reality, and redefining human hearing. These two initiatives will allow us to connect people by letting them feel together despite being physically apart, and to converse in even the most difficult listening environments. We are seeking interns to help us understand, in depth and in context, how future users make sense of and live with these audio technologies — what they notice, what they struggle to describe, and what matters to them in their own words.

This role requires a background in psychology, cognitive science, anthropology, sociology, communication, human-computer interaction, human factors, or a similar field. Successful candidates will have strong skills in qualitative human subjects research, with an interest in how people emotionally experience audio, how immersion and presence feel from the inside, and how those experiences are remembered and recounted afterward. Relevant methods include in-depth and elicitation interviewing, diary and longitudinal studies, contextual inquiry, field and in-home research, think-aloud protocols, and interpretive analysis of rich experiential data.

Our internships are twelve (12) to twenty-four (24) weeks long and we have various start dates throughout the year. Specific projects will be designed in collaboration with successful applicants to align the intern's skills and experience with current research needs.

Responsibilities

Exploratory and generative qualitative research on how people emotionally experience audio in augmented and virtual reality, including what feels present, moving, intimate, effortful, or disorienting, and how those feelings shape whether a technology is adopted or abandoned.
Design and execution of qualitative studies, interview protocols, diary studies, contextual and field research, participatory sessions to understand how people experience new audio technologies.
Analysis of qualitative data (transcripts, observational notes, audio/video, open-ended responses) using thematic, grounded-theory, or discourse-analytic approaches, and synthesis into frameworks, journeys, and experiential models.
Collaboration with and support of researchers, engineers, and designers across disciplines, including partnering with quantitative colleagues to triangulate findings.
Clear and compelling communication of research framing, progress, and interpretation, including narrative, verbatim, and visual storytelling that moves product and research decisions.

Qualifications

Currently has, or is in the process of obtaining, a PhD in psychology, cognitive science, anthropology, sociology, communication, human-computer interaction, human factors, or a similar field
2+ years of experience conducting qualitative or mixed methods human subjects research, preferably with a focus in or adjacent to emotional, sensory, or immersive experience
2+ years of experience designing qualitative protocols and conducting interpretive analysis at the doctoral level, including hands-on experience with qualitative analysis tools or practices such as Dovetail, NVivo, ATLAS.ti, Dedoose, or systematic coding in spreadsheets
Expertise in one or more of the below research areas: emotion and affective experience, presence and immersion, autobiographical or episodic memory and how experiences are recalled and recounted, attention and distraction, interpersonal connection and social closeness, or sensory and listening experience
Must obtain work authorization in the country of employment at the time of hire, and maintain ongoing work authorization during employment Experience studying how people experience sound, listening, or music, including research on listening effort, soundscapes, or audio-mediated communication
Familiarity with AR/VR technologies and/or hearables and wearable audio technologies
Experience with longitudinal, diary, in-home, or in-the-wild research, including recruiting and building rapport with participants from varied backgrounds
Experience eliciting hard-to-articulate experience, for example emotional reactions, bodily or sensory responses, or recollected moments, using methods such as think-aloud, elicitation interviews, photo or audio diaries, or participatory sessions
Proven track record of achieving significant results as demonstrated by grants, fellowships, patents, as well as first-authored publications at leading venues such as: ACM CHI, CSCW, Frontiers in Virtual Reality, or similar
Experience working and communicating cross functionally in a team environment, and translating qualitative insight for engineering and quantitative audiences
Intent to return to a degree program after the completion of the internship/co-op