About the Project

There is no funding attached to this project. All tuition fees and any other associated costs (including bench fees) must be financed by the student. Please consider this before submitting your application.

The College of Business, Technology and Engineering draws on talents, expertise and facilities across Sheffield Hallam University. The vision is to be the leading provider of applied research excellence delivering computing, science and engineering innovations meeting the development needs of industry.

PhD Research Topic

Our lives are busy and complex, we can often get distracted from what is important: our wellbeing, what we eat, how much exercise we get, our work/life balance and education. This PhD project investigates constructive competition (ethical competition) as a way to gamify our daily lives and boost our engagement with what matters. The goal is to help people optimise their performance within aspects of their life that they value most.

Gamified applications are commonplace on mobile devices and examples can be found that attempt to address welbleing, physical health, educational engagement, and professional practices in the workplace. However, most rely on simple points, achievements and leaderboards and avoid the more powerful motivational levers of competition. Previous attempts to harness the power of competition have often resulted in negative outcomes for users, similar to the harms encountered in commercial gambling applications. A lack of ethical competitive design guidance hampers safe application of competition.

The PhD project investigates constructive competition, a more ethical approach to gamification that can boost engagement and the natural enjoyment of competing with our peers, but without the potential harms associated with traditional competitive design. The aim is to develop examples and guidance for creating compulsive engaging applications that can have real world positive impact in peoples’ lives.

Aims and objectives

1. Design and implement applications to support people in the areas of wellbeing or professional training or education.
2. Evaluate the casual link between gamified competition and user performance, engagement, and satisfaction in chosen fields, while also monitoring for and avoiding potential compulsive harms.
3. Develop best practice frameworks so others can implement ethical constructive competition methodologies to move the field forward.

Focus of study

1. Self-referential Performance Benchmarking - mitigating toxic social comparison and protecting user self-esteem using virtual avatars.
2. Non-Zero-Sum Incentive Architectures - Designing competitive frameworks where one participant's success enhances, rather than diminishes peer outcomes.
3. Extrinsic Reward Decoupling - intrinsic motivation using virtual rewards.
4. Affective State Flow Autoregulation - Dynamically modulating game difficulty to maintain the individual within the optimal "flow zone".
5. Prosocial Status Signalling - Repurposing traditional dominance-based mechanics to reward altruistic and supportive behaviours.

Possible applications: physical health, wellbeing, education and professional training.

Eligibility

Applicants should hold a 1st or 2:1 Honours degree in a Computing related discipline. A Master’s degree in a related area is desirable. We welcome applications from all candidates irrespective of age, pregnancy and maternity, disability, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief, or marital or civil partnership status.

English language requirements of IELTS 7 with a minimum score of 6.5 in all test areas (or equivalent) are mandatory if English is not your first language. Qualifications should have been taken within the last two years.

How to apply

All applications must be submitted using the online application form.

As part of your application, please upload:

• A research proposal (max. 1500 words) in your own words, briefly outlining the proposed research, the current knowledge and context referencing key background literature; a proposed methodology or approach to answer the key questions, and any potential significance or impact of the research
• A two-page (maximum) CV (submitted as a single PDF file with the research proposal)
• Copy of your highest degree certificate and transcript.
• Non-UK applicants must submit IELTs results (or equivalent) taken in the last two years and a copy of their passport.

Applicants must provide 2 references, with at least one to be academic. References must be received directly from the referees.

We strongly recommend you contact the lead academic, Dr. Mark Featherstone (m.featherstone@shu.ac.uk), to discuss your application.