Research Assistant Extended Reality for Space Emergency Medicine

**About us** ------------ The ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, the Center for Space and Habitability at the University of Bern, and the Department of Emergency Medicine at Inselspital are looking for a motivated Research Assistant (50%) to join the interdisciplinary research project HALO-Space for a period of 24 months. The position is particularly suitable for a student enrolled in a relevant Master's programme who is interested in combining their studies with hands-on research at the intersection of biomedical engineering, extended reality, emergency medicine, human factors, and space exploration. **Project background:** HALO-Space investigates how extended reality (XR) and complementary medical technologies can support emergency care during future exploration missions to the Moon and other remote environments. In such settings, communication with Earth may be delayed or interrupted, evacuation may be impossible, and crew members with limited medical expertise may need to manage time-critical emergencies independently. The project therefore focuses on developing safe and usable human-XR workflows for emergency medical support under such constraints. You will be a central member of the project team and support the core project activities from requirements analysis and system development to simulation-based evaluation and scientific dissemination. **Supervisors and Institutions:** Prof Dr. Manuela Eugster 1, Prof. Dr. Thomas Sauter 2, Dr. Valentin Bickel 3 1 ARTORG Center for Biomedical Research, University of Bern 2 Universitätsklink für Notfallmedizin, Bern University Hospital 3 Center for Space and Habitability (CSH), University of Bern **Your tasks** -------------- * Reviewing research and existing technologies in space emergency medicine, XR-supported care, and human-XR interaction. * Defining clinical, technical, and human-factor requirements for the HALO-Space system. * Contributing to the adaptation and further development of the existing HALO-Assist XR platform. * Supporting the design and implementation of XR guidance and clinical data visualisation. * Preparing and conducting simulation-based expert evaluations and feasibility studies. * Analysing usability and human-factor data, including cognitive workload, situational awareness, and interaction issues. * Collaborating closely with an interdisciplinary team from emergency medicine, biomedical engineering, and space science. **Requirements** ---------------- * Currently enrolled in a Master's programme, preferably in one of the following or a closely related discipline: biomedical engineering, medical informatics, human-computer interaction, or a related field. * Strong interest in interdisciplinary research at the interface of engineering, medicine, and space exploration. * Programming and data-analysis skills, experience with XR development, Unity, Python, C#, or similar tools is an advantage. * Experience with experimental studie